The dog also walks and hits an anime. No.6] "Miss HOKUSAI" - Experiencing the strange with Katsushika Hokusai's daughter and strolling through the daily life of Edo.

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So Cool! Beautiful Oei is so chic!

Miss HOKUSAI" is a story about a father and daughter, Katsushika Hokusai, a genius ukiyoe artist, and his daughter, Oei. As the subtitle "Miss HOKUSAI" suggests, the main character is the daughter, 23-year-old Oe. She is a female ukiyoe artist who later became known as Katsushika Oei.

There is a funny old man.

The beginning of the film, which begins with a unique line, is exciting. I had never thought that I would be hearing the lines that I had read in a comic book by Hinoko Sugiura.

The daughter who appears shortly after, with a presence as strong as that of her father, who is in the first person "I," is the main character, Oei. The voice of the actress Anne is also good. Her voice, played by the actress Anne, is also good, and it expresses well the strength of will that goes her own way. She is as stubborn as her father. She is dignified but unpretentious. Yet, she has a soft spot for love, and I feel that she is also a lovely woman.

When I saw the visuals for the film, I was surprised to see that Oei was such a character. I was a bit surprised, but that is to be expected. The anime version of Oei is much more beautiful than the original.

This may be controversial, but I think it was probably the right decision. Within five minutes of the start of the anime, I was in love with this Oei. Is this what you mean by "a woman with a slender crotch?"　The background rock music played over the scene where Oei strolls along the Ryogoku Bridge under the blue sky is chic and suits her very well.

As typified by the character design of Oei, the overall picture in this work is clear and "anime-like" in style. Oona, the younger sister of Oei, who plays a major role in this work, is also more distinctive than in the original work, with her cuteness and strong personality.

On the other hand, her father Hokusai, known as "Tetsuzo," Zenjiro, a housemate, and Kuninao, who has a crush on Oei, are characters with a strong taste of the original work. The characters of Hinoko Sugiura are moving! I grinned.

The father and daughter's feelings for their family and the painter's work

When I first heard that Hinoko Sugiura's manga "Hyakuniben" was being made into an anime, I couldn't help but be interested. I couldn't help but be interested.

Her depiction of the Edo world is of the everyday life of ordinary people. Everyone is enjoying their lives, including the colorful love affairs of men and women. There is no premeditated ending to the story. The bizarre and the everyday intersect without warning, surging up and down, and then quieting down again. There is none of the excessive artifice or service that is so common in today's entertainment.

In other words, the stories stand on their own with a solid sense of presence, like true stories told by people who have experienced them. I was interested to see how they would animate that unique world that was depicted in the manga.

As I watched the film, I thought that if Hinoko Sugiura's manga were to be animated, ten different worlds would be depicted by ten different directors. Of course, this is true even if the manga or novel is the original, but it seemed to me that her works would be even more differently expressed depending on how the anime interpreted the parts of the original that the original did not dare to narrate.

One answer that director Keiichi Hara came up with was probably "Miss HOKUSAI".

Simply putting together a series of complete episodes from the original story is not enough to make a film, nor is it the end of the story. Director Hara chose a story featuring Oei as the main character, a story showing the father-daughter relationship with Hokusai, and a story involving Oei's younger sister, the blind and frail Oenawa.

In "Miss HOKUSAI," the emphasis on Onoe is greater than in the original story. That is probably why the episode between Oei and Hokusai gives us a stronger sense of the drama between them and their families than between fellow painters.

If the vertical story that emerges is the family's feelings centering on Onoe, the horizontal thread may be the painter's work.

Oei and Tetsuzo are a father and son who are similarly obsessed with painting. Oei is so skilled that she can even write for her father. As long as father and daughter paint together, they can make enough money to support themselves. The house, which serves as their studio, is a mess because no one cleans up after themselves.

Despite her eccentricities, Oei also falls in love. She is a good painter, but her seriousness sometimes backfires. And the father, who is unconventional and seems to have nothing to fear, is only a little afraid of the smell of death in the family.

Director Hara is a master when it comes to depicting the subtleties of a family's delicate emotional interactions.

This part is impressive!　Memorable scenes

To the extent possible to avoid disappointing those who have not yet seen the film, I will list the most memorable scenes from the film.

First of all, from the episode of the dragon painting at the beginning of the film, I like the slightly devilish looking Oei facing the white paper.

The faint glow of the candlelight, the scene in the room that emerges from the flickering light, the rustling of the air as the storm approaches. The scene is full of atmosphere, and the artist has beautifully captured the scene that would have existed between the frames, not between the lines, of the original work. It is a scene full of atmosphere, and it shows the spirit and talent that Oei puts into her paintings.

The scenes of Oei and Ona touching each other as sisters are all good. The scene on the bridge, the boat ride, and the winter snow scene. Onoe is honest and kind, and Oei shows her tender feelings for her sister in a straightforward manner, which is a relief to see. It is also interesting to see that Onoe, who sees everything with her invisible eyes, is very truthful in her words, such as when she senses her sister's love for her.

Then comes the climax. The episode of Onoe, who corresponds to the "Nomu" in the original story, is also heartbreaking. It is a pity that this episode comes after the depiction of sisterly love that has been built up to this point, but we can't help but be pleasantly carried along by the direction.

Especially, Hokusai's comment after Oei runs away, which is not in the original story, is very touching. It brings out Hokusai's clumsy feelings for his family and his karma as a painter, and convinces us that "Ah, this is Hokusai's goal in this film.

And the film is fun in its details.

All in all, Inu and Zenjiro put on a good show!　They are soothing and move well, and this is the kind of thing I enjoy about anime.

Yoshiya, the male prostitute, was also good. He was open and sexy. This work features both Shunga (pornography of the Edo period) and Yoshiwara oiran (courtesans), but this scene was the most colorful.

There were plenty of amusing touches that only anime can provide, such as ink painting style pictures moving and real scenes somehow becoming famous ukiyoe prints.

In terms of direction, the scene in which Oei runs at the climax of the film using the "background animation" technique is a masterpiece of hand-drawing and adds a strong sense of urgency to the scene. It would be churlish to single out this scene alone for evaluation, but the emotionally charged sensation is a taste that cannot be obtained with CG.

After the movie, I read the original comic for the first time in a long time because I felt that I had read it so long ago that I had forgotten a lot about it. It was interesting to read the original comic again to see how much director Hara selected and cut out from the original work, and how much more he added to it.

For those who are interested in director Keiichi Hara through this film, I recommend his previous film "Colorful" (released in 2010), which was based on a children's literature. You will feel the emotions between the clumsy family members and the unobtrusively piled-up depictions that will work on your heart at the climax of the film.

(Text by YAMAYU)