The Eccentric Family - Episode 13 (Completed)

As we reach the finale of The Eccentric Family, the tanuki elite and the Friday Fellows are now sharing adjacent rooms in the Sensuiro restaurant.  What could possibly go wrong?

Needless to say, tempers are flaring on the tanuki side of the partition, with Yaichirou not slow to reel off the list of accusations against his uncle, who of course denies them all fervently even with Yajirou on-hand as an (admittedly biased) witness.  When simply flinging accusations turns into something more physical - and more importantly, Yaichirou turns into a tiger - it's no time at all before the partition is knocked down and these two disparate elements come face-to-face.  The timing of this is perfect too, with the Shimogamo family's mother having just been brought in to take her unwelcome place within the Friday Fellows party.

Once a decidedly angry Professor Akadama gets involved, and with his ire further stirred by a cheeky little moment of trouble-making from Yasaburou, chaos soon ensues - as if tanuki running all over the place wasn't chaotic enough, the wind from the Professor's fan literally wrecks everything in its path.  Akadama's warpath offers the perfect opportunity for everyone to escape, although only Benten has what it takes to soothe his rampage before he flattens half of Kyoto.  Thus, all's well that ends well even if the choice of Nise-emon has now become all-but impossible - but maybe a world for tanuki free from politics and self-advancement is exactly what is required?

Some anime series suffered from introducing a feel-good ending, but in The Eccentric Family's case it's just what the doctor ordered via a wonderfully absurd finale that set a literal cat amongst the proverbial pigeons, lit the blue touch paper and stood well back to let the fireworks take care of themselves.  It's an enjoyable ending to a charming series whose only fault is perhaps not delving a little deeper into Benten's psyche given what a fascinating character she is; that aside, this was a series that managed to look beautiful in an unconventional way while also serving up its comedy and drama in an equally unusual manner that was ceaselessly refreshing to watch.  Such is the feeling that this show succeeded in daring to be different that I wouldn't dare to suggest that we need more of the same in the future, as familiarity breeds contempt and perhaps this single, isolated glimpse into the world of tanuki and tengu is all that we need to sustain us for a long, long time.  In a season filled with surprises, The Eccentric Family was perhaps the biggest surprise of them all.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 12

Thanks to Kaisei's intervention at the end of last week's episode, it's up to Yashirou to save the day as the rest of his Eccentric Family are in dire straits.

All of them, that is, except for Yajirou - frog at the bottom of a well he might be, but Yashirou has a cunning plan to lure him out to help his brothers, and like all of the best cunning plans it involves alcohol.  Before we know it, the False Eizan Electric Railway is back in business, and its first stop is rescuing Yasaburou from the clutches of Ginkaku and Kinkaku.  Although this proves simple enough, there's still another trap laying in wait for this tanuki turned runaway train, although Yashirou even seems to have thought this possibility through and saves the day once again.

With a little (okay, massive) just of wind, the now-free brothers literally plough into the midst of the Friday Fellows meeting, causing sufficient chaos to free Yaichirou and send him on his way to the big meeting which will decide the next Nise-emon.  That problem solved, the only remaining question is how the brothers can save their mother, but with Benten playing along Yasaburou manages to ingratiate himself into the Friday Fellows as they relocate their party.... right next door to the tanuki Nise-emon meeting, of all places.

I'm not sure The Eccentric Family could have found a better way to speed onwards to its finale - this crazy and chaotic rollercoaster ride felt like a pinnacle of the series as its titular family come together against the odds to use their idiocy in the name of justice; the result was both occasionally hilarious and feel-good entertainment as it presses all of the right buttons.  Hopefully it still has enough in store to create a fitting finale, and at this moment in time I don't doubt that it will be a thing of beauty as all of its pieces slot into place perfectly.  Perhaps the biggest question of them all is how Benten will fit into the unfolding events, but however it pans out I really can't wait.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 11

His fellow family members kidnapped and surrounded himself, Yasaburou seems like his time is up as the last hope for avoiding a member of the Shimogamo family ending up in the Friday Fellows' hotpot.

This is, however, to reckon without Benten, who happens to be in the vicinity and needs an umbrella in the pouring rain.  Yasaburou naturally transforms and obliges, and Benten offers him salvation from his current predicament, even if she isn't generous enough to help any further with his plans to save his family.  Still, with Yasaburou running into the Professor tasked with finding a suitable "victim" for the hotpot - and carrying a cage no less - it seems that the game is afoot.

Unfortunately for Yasaburou, it isn't the game he was expecting, as this entire scenario is nothing more than yet another trick by Ginkaku and Kinkaku with the explicit goal of capturing him.  With Yaichirou and his mother also captive and caged, Yajirou nowhere to be seen and Yashirou locked away, the game is surely up... until her brothers give Kaisei some valuable information, and she spies an opportunity to allow Yashirou to make good his escape to suggest that maybe not all hope is lost after all.

So ends another great episode of The Eccentric Family, which made good use of its twists and turns to take the viewer on something of a rollercoaster while also adding a little to Benten's mystique yet again and tugging a little at the heartstrings as the family we've followed for all these weeks on the brink of being torn asunder in a web of betrayal and the selfishness of others.  It seems that we're all set for a fantastic finale by the end of this week's instalment, so boy do I hope the series can live up to the possibilities that it has smartly built up for itself over the past couple of weeks.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 10

The big day has finally arrived - not only the anniversary of Souichirou Shimogamo's death, but also the day when the next Nise-emon is selected.

While Yaichirou looks to focus his mind on making the final preparations for this big day, Yasaburou can't help but dwell on Kaisei's vague warning to him from last week's episode - thoughts that continue to prickle at the back of his mind even as he visits Yajirou in his well to shoot the breeze.  Speaking of breezes, a sudden outbreak of gale force winds and storms warns that something less than savory is afoot, but even Yasaburou can't comprehend the exact scale of what is about to transpire.

Of course, it's the Ebisugawa family at the centre of these nefarious goings-on as they seek to kidnap all and sundry within the Shimogamo family starting with Yashirou and working their way up, and by the time he makes it back to the family home Yasaburou finds himself entirely alone.  He does, however, have one ally - Kaisei, who not only informs him that the rest of his family have been snatched away by the rest of her family but also reveals the shocking truth behind Souichirou's ultimate fate.  The real problem for Yasaburou however is the one immediately at hand, and as the full force of the Ebisugawa family set themselves up to descend upon him it appears there may be no escape.

I've pondered several times over the course of this series what The Eccentric Family's ultimate goal might be, and here it is - a full manifestation of the Ebisugawa family's slow-burning hatred and jealousy towards their own fellow tanuki to set up a grande finale in which Yasaburou and, surely, Benten, will play a major part.  It's a pretty heavy and seismic shift in a series that has been pretty gentle and contemplative thus far, but that doesn't make it an unwanted one - I'm actually rather excited to see how Yasaburou in particular behaves when the chips are down to such a massive degree, and this is perhaps exactly what was required of the show to compliment the more thoughtful and heartfelt fare we've been treated to previously.  Roll on next week's episode...

The Eccentric Family - Episode 9

This week's episode of The Eccentric Family begins by filling us in on another slice of recent tanuki history, explaining the links - and later rivalry - between the Ebisugawa and Shimogamo families right the way through to the aborted engagement between Yasaburou and Kaisei.

That aside, the process to choose the next Nise-emon is now looming large, beginning with the two contenders from the rival families stepping forward to claim their role within this race to the Center Stone - a stone which, incidentally, may or may not actually be a stone, but that's another story.  The trouble is, the due process for this entire election may have hit a snag, as it requires the presence of a tengu, and with the usual incumbent in that role crying off sick an alternative is needed.

Naturally, Professor Akadama is the obvious choice, but just as naturally he really isn't interested in going to the effort of filling that role, leaving it to Yasaburou to somehow sweet talking him into changing his mind, which he duly does.  With just days to go until the big day, Kaisei makes an appearance to Yasaburou to warn him (and his family) that her brothers are clearly up to no good - but why is she so unusually apologetic about the whole thing?

After a bit of a slow start, this week's Eccentric Family managed to find its way in a suitably satisfying fashion, delivering some of the needed nuts and bolts of its story while also finally bringing Kaisei into the series in an enjoyable and meaningful way to supplement her previous appearances (well, semi-appearances).  It's the interactions like those between Kaisei and Yasaburou, or Yasaburou and the Professor, that continue to be where this show stands out, and even if recent episodes could maybe have benefited from more appearances from Benten I'm still simply enjoying watching the cast live out this story, especially when backed by an enjoyable soundtrack and animation.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 8

We've already seen throughout this series how heavily the death of their father weighs upon this family, but how will they cope with the revelation that Yajirou was the last to see him and arguably had a hand in the lead up to his demise?

For Yajirou's part, he certainly has no intentions of denying this possibility, and thus he recounts the whole story of the final meeting with his father - a secret meeting to allow Yajirou to discuss the difficulties of his love for Kaisei in spite of her engagement to his brother Yasaburou, to which Souichirou promised to do what he could.  From there, the father and son pair decided to drink away their troubles before engaging in some local tomfoolery before departing from one another, with Yajirou heading home and his father ultimately meeting his demise at the hands (or rather, mouths) of the Friday Fellows.  Of course, as a result of all this his father's demise was enough to leave the normally placid Yajirou in a tailspin, leading to him effectively quitting both his family and life as a tanuki.

In the wake of all this emotion, Professor Akadama has his own postscript to add to the story, having "met" a surprisingly sanguine Souichirou after his demise to say farewell to his friend.  As the Shimogamo family returns home from this difficult evening however, it seems that the Ebisugawa's plan to break apart their rivals has backfired spectacularly, instead only serving to strengthen the ties that bind this otherwise disparate set of brothers.

As per every other week when I write about this series, I still have no idea where The Eccentric Family is headed or what its grand plan is, but it doesn't really matter when it delivers fare like this.  This week's episode was beautifully poignant in a way that anime rarely succeeds in being - heartfelt without being overly maudlin or saccharine, and superbly capturing the bonds of a family in simple yet heart-breaking terms.  Between material like this and the intrigue surrounding the fascinating Benten, it's no surprise that this show continues to be a surprise contender for one of the summer's finest.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 7

While Yasaburou waxes lyrical about the ties that bind the extended tanuki family, younger brother Yashirou has a rather more immediate problem that he's struggling with.

Unsurprisingly, Professor Akadama is playing up without Yasaburou's attentions, refusing to take a bath and quite literally whipping up a storm if anyone tries to persuade him otherwise.  Alongside some other issues, it's all too much for the little tanuki, and so Yasaburou has to come to the rescue to face down Akadama and persuade him that he really has no choice but to join the brothers and take a trip to the bath house.

Once there, Akadama still isn't exactly the perfect guest, but his role is soon overshadowed by the appearance of the Ebisugawa Elite Guard, headed up by Ginkaku and Kinkaku.  The reason for this little visit is obvious - they want to persuade Yaichirou to step down from his attempts to become the next Nise-emon.  This isn't all the two brothers are here to say however, and although their iron underpants (I'm not kidding) don't save them from embarrassment at the hands of Yaichirou, they arguably have the last laugh as they reveal what they claim is the truth behind the events leading up to the death of Souichirou Shimogamo.  Is Yajirou's involvement in those events really true?  Needless to say, Yaichirou in particular is determined to find out straight away...

I'm still not sure where all of this continued focus upon the family's deceased father is leading us, but The Eccentric Family still continues to be entertaining in a wider sense - I'm a big fan of its quirky soundtrack, its visuals continue to be occasionally stunning when Kyoto's streets and landscapes are involved, and the show's characters are hard not to fall in love with from the chilled out Yashirou through to the thick as thieves Ebisagawa brothers.  Aside from a distinct lack of Benten this week, there's still a lot to love here.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 6

The aftermath of the Friday Fellows' meeting-cum-hotpot party continues in this week's Eccentric Family, although not before we get a brief view into Benten's origins as a human school girl before being kidnapped by Professor Akadama and integrated into the world of tengu to ultimately become the enigma that we have before us.

Speaking of Benten, as she continues to flit across the rooftops with one of the Friday Fellows and Yasaburou in her wake it becomes clear that there's something rather melancholy about her demeanour, and ultimately she decides to up and leave, abandoning her guests on a rooftop with no clear way down.  This is, it seems, standard behaviour for Benten, and the conversation between the remaining duo soon turns elsewhere, namely to a strange discussion of the importance of eating and enjoying food, and what it is to both eat and be eaten.

This particular discussion culminates in what we already really knew - the story of how this Professor and Benten came to eat Yasaburou's father.  It's a prospect that leaves our protagonist incredibly conflicted as the night comes to an end - he greatly enjoys the company of this eccentric fellow and respects the fact that he saved the life of Yasaburou's mother, yet at the same time he gleefully gobbled up his father as part of a hotpot.  A similar state of conflict also extends to Benten herself, as Yasaburou tries to come to terms with his crush on her offset against her tanuki-eating ways.  As for Benten herself, she remains as inscrutable as ever...

To be quite honest, The Eccentric Family really has no right to be as good as it is.  Take this episode as a perfect example - virtually nothing happens and there's very little progression made in terms of either time or plot, yet the running time of this instalment flies by in a flash to leave you hungry for more.  Dig a little deeper and you realise that the show's characters are doing a fantastic job of powering the series forward - Yasaburou is likable in all the right ways, and there are few characters in anime more fascinating than Benten, leaving you desperate to get to the bottom of her persona and find out what makes her tick.  I wish I could better explain what's so good about the series, but really putting a finger on the exact secrets of its success has me rather stumped.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 5

After that series of calamitous incidents at the end of last week's episode, nobody can really blame Yasaburou for going on the run from Benten, as he becomes certain that his actions will have lead to him becoming the main ingredient for the next traditional Friday Fellows hot pot.

As a result, hiding out in Osaka seems like a smart move as Yasaburou spends his days on the run working in a second-hand camera shop - however, such is Benten's sphere of influence that nowhere is truly safe from her, and lo and behold before he knows it Yasaburou's location has been shopped to Benten by those pesky Ebisugawa brothers.

Once cornered, Yasaburou has no choice but to turn up at Benten's invitation as the after-dinner invitation for a Friday Fellows meeting - an encounter which goes down surprisingly well, as not only are the group impressed by Yasaburou's shape-shifting abilities, but it also turns out that they really aren't all that keen on tanuki hot-pot and only persevere with it in the name of tradition anyhow.  Indeed, one of their number outright loves tanuki, having saved an injured little critter in the past.  Compared to this meek bunch, it seems as if Benten is the only real threat to Yasaburou and his kin, as her love for the shape-shifting one seems to have morphed into the decidedly odd desire to gobble him up.

Even with its setting taken (at least partly) outside of Kyoto, The Eccentric Family continues to shine - the show manages to be fun even as it remains broadly quite enigmatic (as per Tenten's character) in a fascinating way that is keeping me hooked in a way that I can't get a tangible grasp of.  It's rare to have a show that sometimes feels so directionless, yet remains so engaging as in spite of that lack of direction, but The Eccentric Family has certainly pulled it off so far.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 4

The Shimogamo family have managed to acquire their rather less than leisurely "leisure liner" just in time for the festival, ensuring an evening of celebration that is (hopefully) free from any shame brought about by rival tanuki families.

Despite his protestations, even Professor Akadama comes along for the ride, even if his appearance involves a little charade on his part to make it seem coincidentally, and even though he's quite clearly only there for the booze anyhow.  Unfortunately for Akadama, much of that alcohol is used to fuel the teakettle of the inner parlour which acts as their craft to keep it sky-borne, leaving his glass to be somewhat neglected.

With the family having been regaled of the tale of their father's cunning and sense of mischief which has gone down in legend, neither mother nor two of the three brothers are prepared to be usurped by the Ebisugawa family - they may have a proud and almighty vessel which dwarfs their own little flying shack, but bombarding the Shimogamo craft with fireworks really isn't cricket.  With the realisation that Benten is enjoying herself on the Ebisugawa boat not exactly helping the mood either, it's only a matter of time before things escalate... and boy do they escalate, with fireworks soon becoming munitions in this undignified battle over the skies.  Perhaps Benten hasn't quite picked sides as blatantly as it seems however, as she appears to have left something of a "secret weapon" for Yasaburou...

I still can't quite pin down what it is that's so wonderful about The Eccentric Family, but wonderful it most certainly is - the series is still meandering without any real sense of what its broader purpose is, but I can't say I mind that too much when it treats us to such wonderful visuals while springing forth a real sense of fun from its fantastically well-built world.  From its regaling of old stories through to its childish battle with fireworks, I was engrossed from beginning to end - even if it doesn't have a grand plan, this show really seems to be onto a winner with the elements currently in its possession.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 3

It's almost Fire Festival time in Kyoto, and that means a day of celebration for more than just humans, as tanuki also have their own festival traditions, that being flying so-called "leisure liners" through the sky as they take their party into the clouds.

This does, however, pose a problem for the Shimogamo family, namely the lack of a suitably craft to call upon.  In the past, this would be their father's domain, but in his absence even the normally reliable Yaichirou has failed in his attempts to bag a suitable vehicle for the occasion.  Thus, there's nothing for it than to leave Yasaburou in charge of procuring a liner in time for the big event.

Although Yasaburou things he has the perfect plan in mind to overcome this dilemma, it seems that he's made rather a big miscalculation, as the flying "inner parlour" he was planning to borrow from Professor Akadama has been given away... given away to Benten, no less.  Thus, off head Yasaburou and his terrified younger brother to try and persuade this enigmatic lady to loan them this inner parlour for the festival.

This week's episode of The Eccentric Family might not have had quite the same impact upon me as last week's instalment, but it's still immensely satisfying in ways that it's a little hard to put into words - somehow, the entire endeavour works really well as a character-driven vehicle, filled with fascinating or just plain likeable characters who fill the screen with their presence, only occasionally stepping aside to let the show's backgrounds and locations take some of the applause.  So varied and beautiful are these locations that they also add a whole other dimension to proceedings, creating what is quite simply a joy to watch.  I still feel like I'm not entirely sure what I'm watching, but I do know that I'm enjoying doing so a whole bunch.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 2

If you feel that there wasn't quite enough eccentricity in the opening instalment of The Eccentric Family, fear not - you ain't seen nothing yet.

For starters, we're introduced to the mother of the Shimogamo family, who seems to enjoy spending her time in human form dressed as a "prince" and taking on all-comers in a local pool hall.  This week also sees us introduced to another of the Shimogamo children, Yajirou, who has decided to shun life as a tanuki and instead become a frog that sits at the bottom of a well considered as one of the de facto spots to go for good luck and to wish away your problems.

Speaking of problems, this seems to be something that this tanuki family have rather a lot of - alongside the more historical issues that come from the importance of their deceased father and the impossible expectations upon them because of that, poor Yashirou is being bullied by a pair of "rival" tanuki brothers at his workplace. This threatens to boil over when a freak thunderstorm leaves Yashirou and his fellow brothers rushing to their mother's side given her tendency to be terrified and do something stupid during storms - a prospect that turns even the normally reliable Yaichirou into a panicked mess.

I wasn't too sure what to make of The Eccentric Family's opener, and it certainly didn't grab me like it did others - however, the same cannot be said of this second instalment, which was simply terrific - in turns funny, sweet and touching, while doing plenty to move the show's broad points of interests forward into the limelight and giving the delightful feel of a heart-felt comedy about a dysfunctional family whose heart is well and truly in the right place.  The series also feels like something of a love letter to Kyoto, which almost becomes a character in its own right here thanks to its detailed and wonderful backdrops and locations which play a part in the story of this episode as it pans out.  I'm still not quite ready to call this series an unqualified success, but if it manages to engage and entertain in the way that this week's episode succeeded in doing, then I'm confident it'll rank amongst my favourites come the end of the season.

The Eccentric Family - Episode 1

Kyoto is a magnificent city, but in the world of The Eccentric Family (aka Uchouten Kazoku) it isn't a city solely reserved for mankind.  No, this version of Kyoto is also the home to both tanuki and tengu, who do... well, whatever it is they do largely away from the prying eyes of humanity.

As the series opens, we follow a young tanuki named Yasaburou Shimogamo - although you'd be hard pressed to identify him as such, as he prefers to spend his time shape-shifted into the form of a cute high school girl, much to the chagrin of both fellow tanuki and tengu alike.  Still, in spite of his cheeky demeanour Yasaburou does still seem keen to do his duty, which on this occasion involves paying a visit and bringing food to one Professor Akadama, a grumpy old tengu with a decidedly dodgy back.

In spite of this, Akadama seems to have more than a passing interesting in human-cum-tengu known as Benten, or Suzuki Satomi; a mischievous girl who seems to have some potentially dangerous contacts known as The Friday Fellows.  Having delivered a love letter from Akadama to Satomi in his own inimitable style, it's via Yasaburou that get to see just how predictable she can be.

Much like one of yesterday's new season shows Day Break Illusion, it's decidedly tricky to get a handle on how The Eccentric Fanily is going to pan out in a wider sense, as this first episode was strictly limited to world and character-building above all else.  Thankfully (and rather unlikely Day Break Illusion), this series proved to be pretty confident and accomplished at doing what it set out to, providing an entertaining framework that draws us into its world enough for us to want to see more, but without giving too much away.  My only worry is that the series finds enough in the way of interesting topics and concepts to handle during its run rather than slumping into lazy story-telling like Tsuritama, for example.  I'll certainly be sticking around to see what it plans to do with its core premise though, so hopefully it won't disappoint, and its busy visuals and setting have certainly caught my imagination so far.