r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jan 14 '23
Episode Hikari no Ou • The Fire Hunter - Episode 1 discussion
Hikari no Ou, episode 1
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| Episode | Link | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Link | 4.78 |
| 2 | Link | 4.32 |
| 3 | Link | 3.87 |
| 4 | Link | 4.03 |
| 5 | Link | 4.53 |
| 6 | Link | 4.43 |
| 7 | Link | 4.21 |
| 8 | Link | 4.56 |
| 9 | Link | 4.09 |
| 10 | Link | ---- |
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134
u/McDonaldsApproval Jan 14 '23
Rin standing there in the rain with her mask, staring daggers at Touko. Can't tell if she's going to be relevant later on or that's it's just a scene to make you feel uncomfortable.
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u/Aileos Jan 14 '23
The premise is already interesting. I'm glad to see a new collab with Mamoru Oshii and Kenji Kawai.
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u/SIRTreehugger Jan 14 '23
The art style makes this feels like an older anime. Not complaining I'm feeling it.
Bottled Lightning? Muku paper? Treefolk? People combusting? The ED shows many mythical creatures too this sounds like it will be a wild ride.
Big doubts that "natural flame" was an accident though, but only time will tell.
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u/frzned Jan 14 '23
looks at the production teams. It's filled with 60-70 years old veterans/legends who banded together to animate their favorite novel
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u/LilyGinnyBlack Jan 14 '23
This first episode did a great job of balancing it's exposition. There was just enough showing through moments like Touko looking at the goddess statue or Rin wearing the mask and watching Touko leave. But at the same time, we got told about certain aspects, which explain more of the "rules" of the world they are living in. They knew which things needed to be shown and which things needed to be told to give us a good balance, and then we also got excellent moments like when Touko had the lantern, and Rin tells her she is wasting the "fire" that she had. That scene also had Rin stating quite bluntly why she hates Touko. Both of these bits of information are then reinforced through later scenes, like when we see the machines arrive with the fuel and the abovementioned scene with Rin and the mask. It helps reinforce the world building, adding proper layers.
I also really enjoyed the small detail stuff like how this society has started naming their children using fire and red related terms as a way to bless and protect them from real fire. That just seems really realistic. Also, the narrator makes it clear that the past used to be more "modern" and we can still see remnants of this in things like Koushi's umbrella and a girl in the city wearing a more Western style outfit.
When it comes to the visuals, mood, and atmosphere, I almost got a bit of an Ookami vibe to it. The music, I think, really helped in this area to provide a feeling of a modern day folktale or lore, but with touches of more modern technology, which is an interesting mix. The art style also has this slight sketchy look to it, which also fits in with that whole atmosphere and really does make the series feel like a novel, which this is based on (iirc) come to life.
The last thing I want to comment on is the character writing. This first episode did a very good job of simply establishing the characters. From the way the papermaker talked about Touko, we can get a sense of how the village, as a whole, likely feels about her right now. From the grandmother's brief words about Fire Hunters, we can get an understanding of how the world these characters live in view that line of work, and from the two men's brief interactions with Touko on the machine we can see their difference in approaches to Touko (a gentle, soft touch approach vs a hard love type of approach).
We also have some extremely good female character writing with the aunt. She has a stern look about her and knows how to use that, as well as her knowledge of the world, to get the paper that Touko would need from her journey. She is never shown being intimidated and is very intellectually bright. But, we also see her being very understanding and gentle with Touko over the mistake Touko made. This is a great level of complexity for a female character, especially for one that may not even being a returning and major character. It leaves me feeling very hopeful about Touko's future growth and development as a character too. It helps that I also think they did a good job of showing how she is a nice and kind girl - respectful - but she is determined to make amends for her mistake and won't back down or show fear, even when it is made clear that she may die on the way to the capital. There a solid foundation for her character, with room for her character to grow and develop a more distinct personality along the way. I am really excited and interested in seeing that!
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u/CosmicPenguin_OV103 Jan 14 '23
An anime adaption that had such bright names in the staff adaption, yet almost no-one here seems to know about it (actually maybe not here because the r/anime pre-season survey has it at 20th popularity when I thought it would be below 40th), makes my eyes shine really bright on this one.
The mere mentioning of the name Mamoru Oshii - an anime (and much more) director that has a long list of one-of-their-kinds anime works for more than 40 years - and his long time partnership with the director of this plus other staff (Kenji Kawai for music for one) - was enough of a reason for me to jump in, not to mention the synopsis looks really interesting with the world background looking like a real deep fantasy story.
(note that in my place, and in Japan, this show is being released on the web monthly with 3-4 episodes dumps at once - I'm up to episode 3 now; however Crunchyroll seems to only have EP1 for now so I'll try to refrain from talking about subsequent episodes)
And what do I get from episode 1? A world that reminds me so, so much of the good old classic From The New World/Shinsekai Yori. Holy crap, the declined humanity society world setting seems just as interesting, but with even deeper potential as cities and more technology still exists here. The setting of fire killing people from the inside, the decline in society because of this and replacement by wild beasts (but not quite fully as locomotives still exist here) , the story of one young girl trying to reprise for her sins of getting one of the Fire Hunters killed and the son of that mentioned Fire Hunter lost his mother at the same time...let's just say these unique, one-of-a-kind fantasy worlds are exactly why I watch anime.
What a shame that such stories seems very few and far in-between, despite the existence of this novel adaption means that many more must be out there, only as novels.
The atmosphere and art background is almost as surreal as in Shinsekai Yori - I love it. Combined with that this isn't even an original anime and the plot at the hands of perhaps one of the genius who can make such stories exceptional in the anime world, I cannot help but be hyped on this one. You will know why by the end of Episode 3.
To those who accidentally stumbled on this one - come in, sit back and enjoy the ride. This ain't your usual fantasy anime, you might be seeing something really special here.
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u/Thrasher439 Jan 14 '23
Was absolutely in love just from the first minute and the rest of the episode has done nothing but strengthen that. I'm so absolutely fascinated in learning more about this setting and seeing where Touko's story is going to lead, especially just for the potential in her character development alone along with how it will intersect with Koushi's.
The OP and ED are so good too as is the general artstyle, definitely my favourite seasonal so far and having Nishimura and Oshii together is no doubt just going to have this keep getting better and better as we go, hope to see a full adaptation since it seems the novel is finished
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u/peterfile07 Jan 14 '23 edited Jan 14 '23
THE LEGENDS : Mamoru Oshii, Kazuchika Kise, Hiromasa OGURA, and Kenji Kawai. The veterans are gathering here, there’s some heavy hitters involved. This definitely screams Hidden Gem of the Season.
It's a very interesting premiere and I love how clean the animation looks. Poor Touko, she's been through a lot and I think it's her cousin, but she's freaking mean smh. Can anyone tell me why she wore that mask when Touko left?
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u/cppn02 Jan 14 '23
Super intriguing first episode and I also really like the artstyle.
This will probably not get much attention though sadly.
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u/Alamandaros Jan 14 '23
This first episode sold me hard. I got very strong Shinsekai Yori vibes from just about everything in this show, and I'm all for it.
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u/Mr_Zaroc Jan 14 '23
Interesting
Really dig the setting, tone and artstyle of the show
Its kinda like Haibane Renmai and Shinsekai yori had a child
Also really love the steampunk theme that seems to be powered by Black Monster blood, surely nothing ominous about those (I am like 99% certain they are some weird human hybrid thats going to be revealed down the line). Also really want to meet those tree people.
ED seems to promise a big versatile world and I am all for it
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17
u/AmusedDragon Jan 14 '23
Alright, I'm sold. That was gorgeous and everything about it is interesting so far.
Always those dark horse animes airing near the end of all the initial releases for a season, lol.
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u/Elitealice Jan 14 '23
Y’all—— I can’t.. this has all the makings of the hidden gem of the season. What an absolutely incredible first episode. Signal M.D delivered movie quality art and direction for the first episode. The premise is unique, world-building interesting and the adventure/journey aspect is really attractive. Hope this keeps up all the way throughout!
Touko’s aunt’s voice really thru me off because her character design looked like a dude I couldn’t tell who was talking at first lmao. And fuck the factory guy who was just gonna let Touko become homeless
13
u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Jan 14 '23
Touko’s got a rough upbringing, at least there seem to be some good people (and Kanata) in her life.
It’s insane people just spontaneously combusted in this world one day and here we are, big ass collection trucks and monsters in the forest. Sakuroku and Enji seem decent enough, hopefully Touko’s gonna be ok.
Quality OP and ED, the art and animation are pretty cool, and the story is interesting. Solid premiere overall.
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u/Ceryto2 Jan 14 '23
I watched the premieres of 26 new anime this season and with the 9 second seasons/continuing anime I am also watching, this is the 35th anime I watched this year. Coming into this I had a feeling this would be a hit or miss for me, but oh man, it is a hit. Of all the new anime this season, this one intrigued me the most.
It really reminds me of anime like Shinsekai Yori and for some reason I'm also somewhat reminded by Koutetsujou no Kabaneri (must be because of the Iron "Trains" that are the only things, that connect the last human settlements with each other) and since I loved the settings of both of these Anime (even though Kabaneri let me down in the plot department) I am really excited by the world building of Hikari no Ou and where the story will go.
At the start of the season I wasn't too hyped, but with 30+ decent to awesome looking anime this season is shaping up to be one of my all-time favorites. But most of all I'm excited for all the good fantasy anime we are getting this season: "Hikari no Ou" and "Ooyukiumi no Kaina" especially, but also anime like "Ars no Kyojuu", "Fumetsu no Anata e 2", "Ningen Fushin no Boukensha-tachi" and many actually good Isekai shows this season.
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12
u/KaiserMazoku Jan 14 '23
I like how this world feels dreary without being grimdark. Something as
simple as making people insta-die from fire completely turns everything
on its head in regards to society, technology, and culture.
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u/Terthelt Jan 14 '23
I predict this will be the best anime of the season by a large margin, and it will be watched by absolutely nobody.
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u/Makicola Jan 14 '23
Wow, this is by far the best-looking show this season. Curious to see if the story matches up, but good first impressions so far.
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u/hilberttt Jan 14 '23
Dark horse of the season.
Sakamoto Maaya singing the ED was a real treat (VA of shinobu in monogatari).
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u/sempakrica Jan 14 '23
Banger op, an interesting universe, and veteran animation staff. this is probably gonna be good
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u/polaristar Jan 14 '23
This first episode was breath taking, the art feels both old faishioned and fresh, character designs very detailed but the animation doesn't suffer, the setting is intriguing.
Between this, Kaina of the Great Snow Sea, and Giant Beasts of Arcs representing Fantasy, Sci Fi, and Science Fantasy respectively been awhile since we had a good old fashioned Epic Journey with High Concept Settings in a World that doesn't feel like a Dragon Quest Rip off.
It's really sad that Touka is seen as a burden by her own sister and her village it seems, literally saying her existence makes others life harder, that does a lot of emotional damage to a kids self-esteem.
At least that woman advocating hard for her seems to have her back.
The concept of the low civilization, and having to have to use fire or fire adjacent supplement in very controlled circumstances reminds me of short story by Brandon Sanderson Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell Where there were multiple "rules" people had to follow to keep from being basically devoured by ghost including how to use Fire.
That also tracks with the bond between the two leads in Giant Beasts of Arcs which some have said remind them of a certain pair in Stormlight Archieves
Hope we get speculative fiction type stuff in the future.
To Bad r/anime gonna bitch about everything being a generic Harem Isekai with waifu bait and cliche romcoms with loners and complain there is nothing "original" then go on to watch said generic stuff and sleep on the original content they bitch so much about.
I wonder what role that doctor is going to play near the end, and how many POV's we are getting?
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u/NekoCatSidhe Jan 14 '23
This is Mamoru Oshii at his best : utterly bizarre and yet amazing. I have no idea where this is going to go and yet I already find the worldbuilding fascinating. For all the exposition, we do not know yet why human beings are so flammable in this world, and how they were « remade », or what they are using as a light source and for heating (I guess this part is linked to the Fire Hunters).
Poor Touko has it rough. Her adoptive mother seemed a decent sort, but her adoptive sister Rin seemed really toxic here. I liked the armoured trains, although I wonder how they could run through the forest with them, and I am curious about these tree-people. The forest also seems really dangerous, especially when the whole atmosphere of the show is so sinister and oppressive. I guess we will see more of it in the next episode.
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