In case you look again on the anime and manga scene within the 2010s, and the sorts of collection that have been fashionable, the vibes would really feel fairly completely different than they do now. Manga from Weekly Shonen Leap has at all times been fashionable, however the earlier decade did not have something like the massive three (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece) when it began off. It wasn’t till in direction of the top of the last decade the place My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen actually began to take off because the poster youngsters for WSJ, so fashionable anime included titles like Konosuba, Psycho Move, and Assassination Classroom, none of which you actually hear about a lot anymore.
That final one, Assassination Classroom, felt prefer it was fairly broadly fashionable again within the day – what’s to not love concerning the idea of a classroom filled with youngsters being tasked with killing an anthropomorphic, goofy-as-hell, octopus particular person? As wacky as its idea is, it managed to ship some emotional moments too, however the type of writing the manga and its anime adaptation had that felt extra distinguished within the 2010s appears to have largely been forgotten about. However Assassination Classroom is greater than a decade outdated now, which means one may arguably be nostalgic for it in the best way somebody final decade may need been for noughties anime – and if you happen to miss that period of anime, even when it wasn’t that way back, you may need to take a look at The Elusive Samurai.
Final week noticed the arrival of the primary episode of The Elusive Samurai, an anime based mostly on the manga of the identical identify, which simply so occurs to be from the creator of Assassination Classroom, Yusei Matsui. The manga has been in serialisation since 2021, in Weekly Shonen Leap funnily sufficient, however for probably the most half it appears to have slipped underneath the radar, regardless of being from a reasonably notable artist – within the West, at the least. That is most likely as a result of it is a historic collection, set in 1300s Japan, and Japanese interval items do not are likely to do as nicely over right here in terms of manga and anime, except there’s some type of fantasy component.
It follows Hojo Tokiyuki, the air to the shogunate on the time, a younger boy who avoids all of his coaching to be a samurai in any respect prices – a trait that lets him escape demise when his complete household is killed (you possibly can see the place the identify for the collection comes from). The primary episode units all of this up, in addition to introduces us, the viewer, to Suwa Yorishige, a shady priest that believes Hojo will go on to be a fantastic hero that can save Japan. Followers of Jujutsu Kaisen will doubtless rapidly latch on to him, as he is voiced by fan favorite Satoru Gojo voice actor Yuichi Nakamura.
I will not lie and say it is the story that instantly hooked me, as a result of it is simply the primary episodes, it actually was simply type of arrange for the remainder of the collection, however that does not imply there wasn’t something value getting enthusiastic about. For one, the animation was killer, pardon the pun. The course on this primary episode was actually fascinating, with one explicit lower that switches issues up between the lighthearted comedic tone to the genuinely horrible moments of violence in a significantly spectacular method. You will discover a scene the place Hojo’s elusiveness is absolutely placed on show too, a kinetic, frenetic, and energetic sequence that brings a number of life to what may in any other case be a boring setting.
Coming again to that time about nostalgia, it is the humour half of the primary episode that feels nearer to the type of comedy you’d see in 2010s anime and manga – exaggerated, unrealistic, scene breaking. The anime’s opening is nostalgic too, barely tacky, not all that nicely track, enjoyable sufficient to not be bothersome, characters dancing round in entrance of largely impartial backgrounds, enjoyable sufficient to not be bothersome, even if you happen to will not add it to your playlist of “finest anime OPs”. It actually seems like an anime you simply do not get a lot of anymore, and whereas I may not be massively nostalgic for 2010s anime, it nonetheless feels refreshing to have one thing that does not really feel prefer it has to suit into present traits.
I am undecided the place the collection will go, manga readers can absolutely spoil that for you (behave yourselves, manga readers) however the first episode is convincing sufficient for me to keep it up. I will simply have to arrange myself for a speaking octopus to show up sooner or later, if solely to be on the protected facet.
