Ushio & Tora

Original Title: うしおととら
Romanized: Ushio to Tora
Literal: Ushio and Tora

Plot Synopsis

500 years ago, a demon plagued the innocent peasants of Japan. He would destroy their homes and eat them. The people were in dire need of assistance. One day, a samurai with the legendary Beast Spear challenged the monster. They fought for four days and four nights. On the fifth day, the stranger pinned the demon to a boulder with the Beast Spear, trapping him, but not killing him. Knowing this was the best he could do, the samurai became a monk and built a temple over the monster, sealing it. Ushio Aotsuki is the decedent of that monk... and he couldn't care less. Mainly because he doesn't believe the story. His Dad keeps telling it to him, and each time he falls asleep. But on one fateful day while cleaning a storage room, Ushio stumbles upon (or into) a trap door containing the infamous monster himself. The built up anger and hatred of the demon is released, attracting monsters from miles around. In a desperate attempt to solve the problem quickly (and before his Dad comes home) he frees the demon to employ his help. However, 500 years of captivity tends to make one a tiny bit disgruntled. Without missing a beat he attacks Ushio only to discover the reawakened power of the Beast Spear merging with Ushio's body. Fearing the Beast Spear, he agrees to help Ushio but promises himself that he will eat our poor hero. Our hero promises himself he will kill the demon, now named Tora. Thus, the ultimate 'buddy' series has begun!

Review

Rating: 4 / 5
Reviewer: Legion
Review Date: 2003-06-25

I'll be the first to admit that no preview or review captures what Ushio & Tora actually is. ADV's previews bills it as a 'hack and slash blood/gore fest that you don't wanna miss'. The reviews say it's not a blood fest but a comedy. In my opinion it falls around in the middle. It's violent all right, and sometimes downright graphic, but it's also got so much more going for it.

The relationship of Ushio and Tora is really quite well done. There are key moments in the series where Ushio and Tora show each other traits that they didn't know existed in one another and they begin to find a mutual respect because of it. You could also find a fair helping of drama as well, not melodrama either, but believable drama. The reason I felt it to be believable was because the characters used really human elements, as opposed to unreal, bitter events in their past. Not to say that sort of thing isn't good, but the more down to earth aspects were quite a pleasant surprise from a series like this. As for the comedy we had some slapstick and some raunchy humour. Such as Ushio's constant poking and hitting of Tora whenever he mouths off and Asako's very own father urging her and Ushio to hit the sack.

The story doesn't seem very unique and could be dismissed as 'too predictable'. While the episodes work as a whole, each episode (or two episodes) have reasonably self-contained stories. People may be turned off by this, not liking the 'monster of the week' sort of deal. However, there are enough references and events linking the episodes that it retains a good amount of appeal and makes it so you wouldn't want to miss an episode. The stories themselves are actually quite interesting and keep you wanting to see more. They are based off of Japanese mythology with enough creative licence used to keep you entertained. Plus it was nice to see the characters develop, especially Ushio and Tora. I did find some flaws, unfortunately. I thought the way the writers chose the hide Ushio's secret was rather sloppily done. Convincing Asako that everything she saw and experienced was 'just a dream' is the same thing I'd expect from a poor Saturday morning cartoon, not anime such as this. Plus, Ushio has a couple big fights in the middle of the street and the onlookers don't seem to remember or automatically assume it's a promotion or a movie. It might work for the third season of the '94 Spider-Man show, but not here.

The characters were quite engaging. Ushio is a nice guy with a bit of a mean streak to him, especially toward Tora. It was also nice to see Tora slowly turn into a likeable sort of good guy (or monster I suppose). I haven't seen a more interesting bad guy turned good guy since Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z. Other characters like Asako and Mayako were simple at first but began to show depth as the events began to effect them. Even the minor characters were engaging, and actually quite funny. Ushio's Dad is a laugh-riot in his whole ridiculously bad parenting skills. It makes you wonder how Ushio turned out to be a fairly normal kid. Asako's father, as mentioned above, wants her daughter to get intimate with Ushio and I couldn't help but find that hilarious.

Artistically Ushio & Tora is very distinct. Everyone was drawn fine, except for Ushio whose eyes are about 2/3 the size of his head and has the funniest nose I've ever seen. His Beast Spear form makes up for it, though. The colours seem a little bland, but it's easy to get used to. On the whole the character designs were fine, and pretty true to the manga. The backgrounds weren't bad, but not spectacular. They seemed to fit right in with the entire feel of the show. The animation was rather nice. The character animation was well done and the fights were well choreographed. Plus, the budget seemed to increase as the show went along. Therefore all technical aspects of the show improved throughout. The fifth volume (eps. 9 and 10) delivered a real finale quality that wouldn't have normally been present. The art was absolutely fantastic, very clean and even Ushio doesn't look as funny as he did in the previous volumes. The colours were lighter, the animation was great and the fights were fast and furious. The eye-pleasing final episodes gave a real satisfying ending to a great OAV series.

The Japanese voice acting was great, simply put. I really enjoyed the casting. Ushio was one of those voices that was the right pitch for a slightly young teenage boy. It wasn't too high and not too feminine sounding, which is a bad habit anime has. Tora, however, really stole the show. His arrogant, mean and nasty personality was fully brought out through his very distinct voice. But you could ever-so-slightly hear how he becomes torn with the life he used to live and the new feelings he develops. There were a few recognizable names in the cast as well. The acting was handled well on both the comedic and dramatic ends. As for the dub, well, since it only yielded the first volume I haven't seen it and therefore can't comment on it.

As for the music, I liked it overall. None of it was bad and some of it was really inspired and pretty key to my liking. The Beast Spear opening is quite possibly one of my favorite anime openings. The last two episodes had some nice orchestral peices in them as well.

Summing up Ushio and Tora has a unique blend of violent action, drama and comedy. You'll have to accept a few hokey plot elements but as long as you don't mind bloody anime as long as it has some intelligence then Ushio & Tora is right up your alley.

Oh, if you're wondering, yes there is a SD theatre on the fifth tape. It's three short stories that are pretty much a parody of the whole Ushio & Tora saga. They poke fun at the series relentlessly. Fans of Dragon Half will get a kick out of this especially. I, myself, couldn't stop laughing.

Related Recommendations

Pretty darn original, but if you like Japanese mythology in anime then you should give Blue Seed a look. Also, the beginnings of this series and the Tenchi Muyo OAV had some similarities, but the shows quickly took their separate paths.

US DVD Review

The DVD Complete Collection includes the entire series, plus some artwork and the "SD Theater" episode.

Content Guide

Rated 15-up by ADV on account of relatively graphic violence.

Violence: 3 - Pretty darn violent at times.

Nudity: 1 - There's some skin, but the good stuff is covered in some form or another.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - Asako's father. 'Nuff said.

Language: 3 - These are ADV subs, so there's probably more profanity then needed.

Notes and Trivia

Based on some early stories in a long running manga by Kazuhiro Fujita (not available in English as of this writing). Apparently the manga develops a solid story about Ushio trying to find his mother. A pity it was never animated.

The bonus SD episode was originally titled "Ushio and Tora - Comical Deformed Theater" (Ushio to Tora - Komikaru Deforume Gekijou / うしおととら コミカル・デフォルメ劇場).

Availability

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store