The Heike Story: The Complete Season

The HEIKE STORY (Heike Monogatari)An astonishingly poignant Animé featuring Naoko Yamada’s wonderfully nuanced direction and based on the historical events of the Genpei War in the 1180's. Its narrative arc is familiar to every Japanese audience.This production balances the story’s tragedy with measured cartooniness and boundless sympathy for those whose lives supplied its framework. The pacing is a whirlwind, compressing a complex, culturally significant history into the format of a one-season animation production*. Highly recommended for all who take a serious interest in Japanese history. Despite this it never attempts to be a history lesson, aiming at a more existential (Buddhist) horizon. Because of this it may be rather hard for westerners to follow without some reference to its historical context.>The Temple bell’s diminishing reverberation reminds us that everything is impermanent.>The Sal tree’s blossoms, white with grief for the passing of the Buddha, signals that even the most blessed will perish.>Good fortune and ease do not last. They disappear like the delights of a spring night’s dream.>The intrepid and powerful shall eventually meet their end, scattered like dust before the wind.HISTORICAL CONTEXT:The Heian Empire was politically dominated by a few 'Clans' or 'Families'. The Emperor's family was without name (though referred to as the 'House of Yamato'). Some of the offspring of the reigning Emperor, for various tactical reasons, were given a surname. This resulted in the creation of clans that were closely related to the line of the Emperors, but that did not stand in the line of succession. Many of these families were not coherent and suffered from internal factionalism and leadership challenges.In the time before the Genpei war the dominant clans were the Fujiwara, the Genji **(Minamoto), and the Heike **(Taira). The Fujiwara tended to be in administrative and advisory positions, the Genji and Heike in military positions. The 'Military' served as the Empire's police force, protecting it from challenges to the Emperor's power and order.This NARRATIVE:The head of the Heike Clan at this time was 'Taira no Kiyomori' (the older, bald man with thick eyebrows). Though of a commoner bloodline, his father gained access to the Emperor's court and the immediate family supported the Emperor 'Go-Shirakawa' (the other baldy in this depiction) during the preceding Hogen and Heiji disturbances. In reward for the Heike's loyalty against a threat by the Genji, the Heike were installed in many court offices, pushing the Genji and Fujiwara out, which earned the Heike many enemies. Kiyomori was clearly very adept at manipulating the situation and eventually managed to put himself into a position of even challenging the power of the Emperors. Unfortunately the power he amassed for his Clan eventually led to their downfall.After consolidating the Heike power, Taira no Kiyomori took monk's vows (and shaved his head as a sign that he had withdrawn from the affairs of the world), but continued to manipulate the political situation from behind the scenes. Former Emperor Go-Shirakawa had previously renounced the world, retiring in favor of his eldest son. None-the-less he continued to agitate from the sidelines, wielding more power than the reigning Emperor. HIs grandson (Nobuhito) was later installed as 'Emperor Rokujō' while he was yet a small child. The Child-Emperor Rokujō was succeeded soon after by another of Go-Shirakawa's sons (Norihito) who reigned as 'Emperor Takakura' for much of this story.'Taira no Shigemori' was the eldest son of Kiyomori. He had earned the Emperor's favor in his own right. He was the only one of Kiyomori's children who could castigate his father for the latter's increasingly extreme and despotic behavior as he aged. He repents of his father's excesses and tyranny, but is unable to avert disaster. Shigemori's sons (in order of age) are Koremori, Sukemori, and Kiyotsune.***The Kamakura Genji are headed by ‘Minamoto no Yoritomo’, son of Yoshitomo. Yoritomo will eventually become Shogun and usher in the 'Kamakura Era' of Japanese history.Biwa is a character who does not exist in the historical record. Remarkably she does not age until her role is complete. She was apparently introduced by the creators to provide a coherent focus-point for their story, balancing its extreme condensation. For a western audience, following the narrative is none-the-less a challenge as we generally lack familiarity with Japanese history.NOTES:The heraldic symbol of the Heike is a swallowtail butterfly, which helps explain the opening scene. The heraldic color denoting the Heike is red, that of the Genji is white, seen in the war banners.<One man + one woman = one family> is a Judaeo-Christian ideal but in Heian-era Japan was not among the traditions of the ruling nobility. Polygamous relations were typical and more rife than this depiction implies.****The tone of this Animé is very poignant, especially when considered against Naoko Yamada's connection to Kyoto Animation, hit by a devastating Arson Attack in 2019. If you are unfamiliar with this event, look it up. It no doubt had an effect on how this story was told.Best watched in Japanese with Subs. The Japanese voice actors are all among the most talented in the industry. The American dub, though not bad, misses the clarity and understatement of the original, containing unnatural phrasing and some overly exuberant dramatics.For a faithful translation and extensive appendices see Royall Tyler’s ‘The Tale of the Heike’.*For the sake of perspective: the historical narrative of this conflict, collated over700 years ago, is 780+ pages long in English translation. Here the cast of characters has been significantly condensed and somewhat altered for narrative flow compared to the historical record.** The names in parenthesis result from an alternative reading of the character used for that Clan.*** Plus other offspring not depicted.**** See ‘The Tale of Genji’.

The case was damaged with cracks in the top and bottom. It is also badly bent. The sleeve is stained as well. Very disappointed.Edited: Exchanged for a new disc. The sleeve is slightly damaged but the DVD inside is not. Changed rating to reflect this.

The first disc arrived with a large scratch that prevented my player from reading the disc at all.The slipcover arrived badly damaged as well.The anime is one of the best of the current decade, but I can’t give this product a positive review.

If you are interested in Japanese history and culture, this is a series you should like. Based on the the classic "The Story of the Heike" it tells the story of the Heike clan and the momentous happenings in the fall of the clan. Told through the eyes of a young girl who dresses like a boy and has the ability to see into the future, it is an interesting retelling of this period in Japanese history.The animation style is very unique, in that at times it resembles wood block pictures---but with a main character who is drawn in a very unusual way. At first this was quite off-putting, but eventually the style used in portraying the character became much less distracting.This series is well worth the time and attention if one is interested in Japanese history and culture; in that it portrays both the foibles and heroism of some notable characters in the history of Japan, and does draw one into a care and concern for their outcome.