Tanuki mischief. Tengu justice. The Seven Lucky Gods.
The Eccentric Family takes some of the most notable hallmarks of Japanese mythology and invigorates them in a twenty-first century retelling. What’s old is new again as traditional Japanese folklore finds a new home in modern Kyoto.
I decided to marathon this anime before the fall season after hearing other bloggers’ rave reviews. As a fan of Natsume’s Book of Friends, it was to be expected that I’d instantly fall for this close-knit tanuki family. In both shows, supernatural themes eventually take a backseat to the far more fulfilling drama of human relationships—between siblings, lovers, teacher and student, father and son.
The Eccentric Family focuses on Yasaburo, a shape-shifting tanuki, and the people he loves most. His dangerous crush on Benten, a human woman who eats tanuki hot-pot without a twinge of remorse. His curmudgeon professor, a tengu who can no longer fly. And the mystery of his revered father’s untimely hot-pot death, which he and his family struggle to solve for the duration of the series.
That’s the plot. But what really grabbed me was the vibrant Kyoto backdrop against which it takes place. The Gozan Fire Festival. Urban settings and modern clothing alongside traditional kimono and tatami rooms. The background music, with traditional Japanese strings and flutes. And on top of all of it, the pervading superstition of supernatural creatures that walk among humans.
The Eccentric Family is the latest from Tomihiko Morimi, a manga artist perhaps best known for Tatami Galaxy. A Kyoto native, most of Morimi’s works take place in the Old Capitol. Designed for a Japanese audience, perhaps he’s trying to capture the nostalgia, the old mixed with new that Kyoto is supposed to merge.
But watching as a foreigner, it’s also a fantasy portrayal of a Japan that doesn’t really exist. No more than a show set in the American West with elements of tall tale mythology would have anything to do with America today.
I love the line in Peepo Choo in which Milton discovers that Japan is nothing like his Japanese anime. “Don’t arbitrarily make our country your weird Neverland,” Reiko tells him. It’s a wake-up-call for American otaku who think our problems would be solved if we moved to Japan. It reminds me that I can watch anime all day and still not know a thing about the country it came from.
The Eccentric Family gets as close to that false otaku Neverland as you can get, mixing the best of modern and ancient Japanese humor and beliefs. In some ways, it’s the picture of Japan I see in my head.
I just can’t wait to actually visit Japan some day and see how wrong I was.
You can watch The Eccentric Family on Crunchyroll. Click here for a free Premium trial.
10 Comments.
As someone who has spent time in Kyoto, I can say that as far as the backgrounds and setting was concerned, the show was actually quite realistic. I was struck by how nostalgic it made me, reminding me of walks by the Kamo river and the Gozan Okuribi Festival. I don’t think it is making the city of Kyoto overly fantastical as much as it is romanticizing an actual city with a touch of magical realism. While the characters might be imaginary creatures that don’t exist, the Kyoto in which they live is very much based in reality.
@Emily, thanks for sharing! It’s great to have the input of somebody who has actually been to Kyoto. “I don’t think it is making the city of Kyoto overly fantastical as much as it is romanticizing an actual city with a touch of magical realism.” Love that line.
I studied in Kobe, but went to Kyoto and Osaka also during my stay; and yes, Kyoto is a bit like that. As a city, it’s proud of its temples and shrines and connections to history, but you’ll see all sorts; T-shirts and shorts along with skyscrapers next to indoor ‘arcade’ shopping areas, priests in hakama, university students, and just everything. (And yes I was there for the Gozan too!)
Little surprise I started paneling that year, I suppose…
@Kit, that sounds magical! I love the idea that a city so big has managed to preserve so much of its history. It’s just so different than anything we have in America.
Every time I get curious as to whether something I keep seeing crop up in anime is common in Japan I ask my dear friend who lived there for about seven years while teaching English.
I give her some laughs with things I come up with.
Though she also told me she was some odd things about the U.S. by people she knew in Japan. For example, more than a couple times people asked her if it was true that in the U.S. we all got take out KFC on christmas day. :)
Glad to see you have a Crunchyroll affiliate link now since you often mention a series is airing there.
@Zoe, it’s my first time using it! I’ve basically been working for Crunchyroll for free all this time, figured I should finally do something about it!
Darn right! Heck, you were the one who turned me on to them. Without that I’d have missed some good stuff or… you know, acquired it… So I’m glad you are using it now. It’s a great service and I love being able to both see something as it airs *and* pay for it as I am watching it. :)
I have yet to meet an otaku or even a consumer [of the media] who believes that all Japanese people act as the otaku stereotype or that everything they see in popular media was a realistic portrayal of Japan.
And honestly, I don’t know why people keep perpetuating the sterotype. Is it not a stigma that appeared over a decade ago that has stuck with us?
As I’ve stated in my research (and others have as well), many fans of Japanese popular culture use the media that they consume as a gateway to further explore the culture, history, or any field of interest to them.
I’m contemplating churning out some quantitative research on this, because I would love to see this stereotype decimated. However in the meantime, I (professionally) recommend that journalists take a look at recent (since 2005) academic research papers (not editorials) for further information on this topic.
@Kiichan, this comment really forced me to unpack my feelings about being otaku. Why am I so quick to acknowledge I know nothing about Japan? Why do I keep my head to the ground about my interest in Japanese culture? Well, probably because I live this stereotype. I have an interest in Japan BECAUSE of the pop culture products that come out of it. And I feel the need to continually acknowledge that this isn’t the whole of the culture, that my point of view is that of a thoughtless weeaboo who doesn’t like Japan for the right reasons.
I’m also very conscious, as a white woman, of not wanting to be guilty of cultural appropriation. Here’s a great article about Japanophilia and why it’s problematic for a white person to identify with the culture. http://odorunara.com/2013/07/05/on-japanese-studies-cultural-appropriation-and-hybrid-identities/ So when I say I’m an otaku, I make it clear that my scope of knowledge is only what makes it to America, not anything truly Japanese.
I would love to read some academic papers on the subject. I’ll email you about sending some my way.
[…] 2013 favorite. As I wrote back then, it’s pure escapism to a world that never existed. Now that I know the plot by heart, I spent my […]