THE JAPAN NEWS

 

There’s a book I’d like to quote from before writing about “Onihei,” the first anime adaptation of Shotaro Ikenami’s popular hard-boiled period novel series “Onihei Hankacho” (Onihei’s case files), which is airing on channels including TV Tokyo.

The book is “Drama ‘Onihei Hankacho’ ga dekiru made” (The making of the TV drama “Onihei Hankacho”) by Taichi Kasuga, a film historian well-versed in period dramas. Here is a translated excerpt from Page 247:
“Ikenami is good at depicting a world in a limited number of pages. This is because he can appeal to readers’ senses from between the lines, in other words, things he chose not to write about. You could say the ‘Ikenami world’ comprises this matter-of-fact writing combined with the affection and emotions implied in the subtext.

“On the contrary, a film or drama adaptation of a novel involves the process of showing something tangible in those scenes. The creative staff must visualize the world described in the subtext, or abstract expressions common in literature. To do so, staff must add dialogue and scenes that are not explicitly written in the novel.

“Whether the outcome is good or not depends on the skills of the scriptwriter who develops the original novel creatively.”

Herein lies the reason why novels by Ikenami (1923-1990) have been made into films and dramas time and time again for many years. I certainly don’t mean that the creators of those films and dramas take the original novels lightly. Rather, they pay respect to the original work while expanding on what is not written in the novels to turn them into motion pictures fit for the time.

The “Onihei Hankacho” stories center on Hasegawa Heizo, a steely police chief during the Edo period (1603-1867). Onihei is his nickname, an abbreviation of “Oni no Heizo” (Heizo the ogre). The series has been repeatedly made into films and dramas, but this is the first time an anime adaptation has been produced. Under the overall direction of the veteran anime producer Masao Maruyama, who openly says he is an avid Onihei fan, the anime portrays Onihei as he battles with villains and injustice. He knows the ways of the underworld as well.

Each episode is self-contained. The anime was highly touted long before the first episode went on air. Whether you know the original novels or not, the first impression you will get when you watch the anime might be that it’s so tough and cool.

Come to think of it, period dramas are not produced in plenty these days.

 

Making a live-action period drama takes a huge amount of manpower and money, from the set to the shooting process. Producing an anime also requires a great deal of labor and budget, but this anime is so impressive that it has made me think animation may be the best vehicle for period dramas from now on because in anime you can design everything at will, from background art and camera work to how the characters act.

People who have had no chance to meet Onihei in the past can now get to know him in this anime. Thus, the Onihei stories are passed down to posterity. If old-time Onihei fans watch the anime, they will have various kinds of impressions. I can hear them say, “This is not Onihei!” or

“Onihei looks very sexy this time.” Such opinions are interesting as well.
Looking at this anime from a historical perspective, you will notice that it has the flavor of a spy story. It shows an espionage unit at work like the

“Ghost in the Shell” series. There is also the hardened coolness of someone who lives in the shadows, which is similar to the characters from

“Joker Game” that went on air last year. “Onihei” contains plenty of action scenes, too. Also unmissable is voice actor Kenyu Horiuchi as Onihei. Horiuchi is so good at expressing the character’s emotions through well controlled voice acting.

Thankyou-Tatsuo is a manzai comedian and a linguist of Japanese language.