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Anime Spotlight - The Eccentric Family

by Justin Sevakis,
July 7th, 2013 (JST, Japanese Premiere)

Key Staff

Original Work: Tomihiko Morimi
    (The Tatami Galaxy)
Director: Masayuki Yoshihara
    (Unit Director on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex)
Series Composition: Shotaro Suga
    (Lagrange – The Flower of Rin-ne, Darker Than Black eps 15-25)
Animation Production
P.A. Works






Introduction

Popular author Tomihiko Morimi's novel “Uchoten-Kazoku” is getting its long-awaited anime adaptation! Koji Kumeta of “Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei” and “Joshiraku” proposes character designs for another's work for the first time. The animation production is being handled by P.A.Works, who has brought many masterpieces into the world such as “True Tears,” “Hanasaku Iroha,” and “Tari Tari”!

Set in Kyoto, this uproarious, sophisticated comedy-drama featuring a jumble of humans, tengu, and tanuki is finally revealed!

Story

In Kyoto, humans, tanuki, and tengu live side-by-side.

The Shimogamo family lives in Shimogamo Jinja's Tadasu no Mori. The father, Soichiro, used to be the head of tanuki society, but without warning one day he was made into tanuki stew, and no one knows how it happened.

He left four sons behind: Yasaburo, the third son who inherited a rich strain of his great father's “idiot blood”; Yaichiro, the diligent eldest son who has a tough time pulling through in a pinch; Yajiro, the second eldest who secludes himself in a well as a frog; and Yashiro, the timid youngest brother who shows his tail at the drop of a hat. They all live happily with their mother, a serious Takarazuka fan, with the motto that, “What is fun is good.” After taking care of Professor Akadama, a retired Great Tengu, being manipulated by the beautiful Benten, a human girl with divine powers, and fighting air-battles against their rivals, the Ebisugawa family, in the night sky over the Daimonji Gozan Fire Festival, the Shimogamo family suddenly finds itself in a desperate fix.

Will the truth behind how their father got stewed be revealed?! What does fate have in store for this strongly bonded family?!

Characters

Yasaburo Shimogamo
VA: Takahiro Sakurai
The third son of the Shimogamo family who inherited a rich strain of his great father's “idiot blood.”
Yaichiro Shimogamo
VA: Junichi Suwabe
The diligent eldest son who struggles to carry on his father's legacy but has a tough time pulling through in a pinch.
Yajiro Shimogamo
VA: Hiroyuki Yoshino
The second eldest who has no motivation and secludes himself in a well as a frog.
Yashiro Shimogamo
VA: Mai Nakahara
The timid kid brother who shows his tail at the drop of a hat.
Benten
VA: Mamiko Noto
A beautiful, seductive young woman who can fly through the sky at will thanks to divine tengu powers.
Mother
VA: Kikuko Inoue
The Shimogamo mother who tenderly watches over her four sons and absolutely loves the Takarazuka arts.
Soichiro Shimogamo
VA: Bon Ishihara
Once the head of tanuki society, the father of the Shimogamo family was made into tanuki stew by The Friday Club.
Kaisei
VA: Ayane Sakura
Yasaburo's ex-fiancée who has a most foul mouth and absolutely refuses to show herself.
Professor Akadama
VA: Hideyuki Umezu
A Great Tengu who once wielded incredible power, but has now come down in the world.
Soun Ebisugawa
VA: Nobuo Tobita
The uncle of the four brothers who opposes them as he tries to expand his family's influence in tanuki society.
Kinkaku & Ginkaku
VA: Shuya Nishiji and Kosuke Hatakeyama
Soun's idiot twin sons who speak in confused four kanji compounds. (By the way, their real names are Gojiro and Gosaburo Ebisugawa.)
Professor Yodogawa
VA: Takehiko Higuchi
A member of The Friday Fellows who talks of his love for tanuki even as he eats tanuki stew.

Cast

Yasaburo Shimogamo
Takahiro Sakurai
Yaichiro Shimogamo
Junichi Suwabe
Yajiro Shimogamo
Hiroyuki Yoshino
Yashiro Shimogamo
Mai Nakahara
Benten
Mamiko Noto
Mother
Kikuko Inoue
Soichiro Shimogamo
Bon Ishihara
Kaisei
Ayane Sakura
Professor Akadama
Hideyuki Umezu
Soun Ebisugawa
Nobuo Tobita
Kinkaku
Shuya Nishiji
Ginkaku
Kosuke Hatakeyama
Professor Yodogawa
Takehiko Higuchi

Staff

Original Work
“Uchoten-Kazoku”
GENTOSHA
by Tomihiko Morimi
Original Character Design
Koji Kumeta
Director
Masayuki Yoshihara
Series Composition
Shotaro Suga
Script
Shotaro Suga
Ryou Higaki
Character Design
General Animation Director
Kosuke Kawatsura
Art Directors
Yusuke Takeda
Harumi Okamoto
Director of Photography
Satoshi Namiki
Color Design
Katsue Inoue
3D Director
Kazuya Sugo
Editing
Ayumu Takahashi
Music Producer
Shigeru Saito
Music Production
Lantis
Sound Director
Jin Aketagawa
Animation Producer
Kenji Horikawa
Line Producer
Shoji Soma
Animation Production
P.A. WORKS
Produced by
Uchoten-Kazoku Committee





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