Folktales from Japan: Incomparable

Written by Little_Wolf-18 on August 7, 2012 at 3:10 AM

The title's quite literally meant, as this is different from really anything out there.

“Folktales from Japan” is what it promises: a collection of Japanese fairy tales in anime version. The small stories are well selected and grouped together, with three stories per episode; some of those are funny, some a barely ten-minute crash course on Japanese superstitions, some have their way-obvious morals and some get so wrapped up in the process of story-telling that the moral values are completely mushed. Easy enough to understand and manages to keep your attention quite well at the same time.

There’s only two narrators, so not exactly a wide variety of voices, but I guess since it’s meant for kids, it’s alright... The dialogue is what you’d expect from a fairy tale, easy to follow, mundane, but quite funny here or there, and good overall if you’ve got the nerve for it.

The animation is… unique to say the best, odd to say the least. Each small story has a different art style and about the animation of the good old TV cartoons. The art style varies, giving off impressions from picture-book over watercolour to acryl paintings (and probably a few more I forgot). There is the expected simplicity to each picture and character, e.g. the backgrounds barely moving at all, yet for the fact that the drawings change style as frequently as they do (and they’re nothing short of adorable at times! XD), it’s good enough. Opening and ending songs are well-chosen, and although the music during the series itself could easily be more varied, it does fit.

And now... this anime is generally suitable for all ages, yet the entertainment factor entirely depends on whether you like fairy tales or not. If you like folktales, you’re bound to love this, seeing as the tales animated here haven’t been edited any more than was necessary for the anime adaption, and they’re not only easy to understand but also quite adorable; if you don’t like fairy tales, don’t bother to watch or comment. Personally, even though I tend to get unnerved by morals that jump right into my face (*sighs*), I love this for the simple fact that it is folklore AKA cultural goods, and adorably presented for that matter!

Cheers!~