Nowadays with the inappropriate use of the artwork category, or even its relative, it is difficult to call something a masterpiece, however, if someone asked me what art is today, I would say: Heike Monogatari.
A story about impermanence, Heike Monogatari tells his story during the Genpei War, a civil conflict that divided Japan, the story is told from Biwa's perspective.
After the death of his blind father, Biwa meets Taira no Shigemori, heir to the powerful Taira clan fighting for supremacy in the war. Shigemori also has the power of supernatural vision, with one of his eyes he sees ghosts of the war dead. Because of his abilities, he understands his clan's part in the death of Biwa's father, after Biwa cites a prophecy that predicts the downfall of the Taira clan, he believes she has the same ability.
Shigemori invites Biwa to live with him and his family under the auspices of being a companion to his children, but hopes her power can prevent the Taira clan from falling.
Biwa in turn agrees, but not with the part of using her power, this is because she knows that the Taira were responsible for her father's death.
With this given context, the story will follow the rise and inevitable fall of the Taira.
On the Buddhist theme of impermanence, it is approached with the fall of the powerful Taira clan, responsible for defeating the Minamoto, however, being later defeated by them.
This defeat is conceived because of the arrogance, and carelessness of a clan that once in power, became something terrible.
Impermanence doesn't just fit in the contexts of war, it applies to characters who are not involved in it, as it talks about how relationships cease, governments, countries, companies, all cease, change all the time.
We can perceive impermanence operating in our lives on a daily basis. Contemplating this is extremely useful, as it stops our exaggerated attachment, our exaggerated "grasping".
Everything is ephemeral, nothing is made to get too attached, one day everything will end, just as it did for the Taira.
The animation is eye-catching, each frame lovingly drawn and framed in the same way. The subtle direction to show innocence in the way the characters act, the subversion that the anime causes is impressive. A while ago I wondered if there would still be animations like Sangatsu, Maison, Evangelion, Monogatari, animations that not only fulfill the role of animating and giving life to a story, but go beyond that, creating something new. Nowadays it's easy to watch hyped anime and be impressed as it tries to simulate famous movies, but forget that not only has this been created before, it's been done better. Going back to Heike Monogatari, the animation is spectacular in every way, everything is characterized as a parchment of the time, this perhaps because it is being based on an epic account of the Genpei wars.
The design of the anime, which conveys an idea of a tale, fable, and hits the nail on the head, as Heike Monogatari, again, is based on an old Japanese tale, from the distant year of 52. There is no use of cgi to animate, it is art for art's sake, the only commitment of this work seems to be to perpetuate a history of family, violence and how time is ephemeral. And you can be sure it lasts forever.
The design, as said before, is cohesive with the idea of the original material, however, not only that, it is subversive, whoever thinks it is a story with cute characters for children is wrong. The anime is violent, sad and bitter. The innocent nature of the design only helps to intensify this.
The landscapes in the anime are impressive, I always wondered when I would see something at least like what Shaft does with backdrops again, and here it is, the backdrops are beautiful, watercolor coloring, as if the ink completes the paper.
The anime's music is not limited to typical songs from the Sengoku era and in this case, the Genpei wars, in addition to the koto or in this case, a Biwa. It is worth mentioning that many of the anime's compositions are made in a diegetic way, using wind, string and percussion instruments.
Orchestrated compositions are also used, giving space to a musically immersive, exciting and complex experience.
The sound mixing is exemplary, especially in battle scenes, it's so dry and real that, again, it intensifies the anime's sense of reality.
The voice acting is frighteningly well done, Biwa and Shigemori are so well acted that they frighten. Dramatic scenes that say it, the actress responsible for the voice of Biwa did something similar to what the actor responsible for Rei did in Sangatsu no Lion, hard to see so much soul in a performance as seen here.
Supporting characters are also not far behind, some delivering performances even comparable to the main ones.
4.3
