Animated Classics of Japanese Literature Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-08-18 (updated 2006-08-18)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

This is something you don't see every day: A TV series with episodes based on a variety of (as the title implies) Japanese literature. Educationally speaking, it's rather interesting to see a collection of vignettes ranging from quiet modern character studies to classic, tragic short stories all in compact (the longest of the stories spans 3 episodes), easily-digestible anime format. As far as anime goes, it is underwhelming; although the stories aren't the sort of thing you usually see in anime, most also just aren't very interesting. The fact that it's targeted at children deserves some of the blame, but the stories largely live up to the less-than-exciting reputation Japanese literature has. There is one notable exception: The two-part story of Botchan (by famed Japanese writer Souseki Natsume), a school teacher around the turn of the century moving to a new town, getting harassed by some rascally students and administrators, and exacting a bit of revenge. It's not high drama, but it has a light hearted, slightly mischievous feel that I'd liken to Mark Twain. Past that, there's not much more to recommend. The production values have the low-budget look of much kids' "educational" anime: The art is mostly lackluster, the animation is notably cheap, and neither the music nor the acting is particularly memorable.

All in all, the series offers some educational value, and the story of Botchan is fun, but there is little other appeal to it.

Note that Central Park Media has only released about a third of the series on DVD; I'm not sure if it's the best third or just a cross-section.