Underplayed Gems

Hidamari no Ki (2000)

Hidamari no Ki poster
Original title
陽だまりの樹
Genre
action anime and manga
Country
Japan
Length
1 season, 25 episodes
Rated
NR
Rating
9.0 of 10 from 1 voters
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A samurai and a doctor become friends in 1850s Japan as the Tokugawa Shogunate declines. The story follows their different paths through political upheaval and a changing world.

historicalslow-burnmelancholiccerebralemotionalgroundedquietly intensebittersweet

What happens

Hidamari no Ki (陽だまりの樹; lit. "Tree in the Sun") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka about a friendship between a samurai and a doctor in the final decade of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Hidamari no Ki received the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1984 for general manga. The story is partly based on Tezuka's great-grandfather who was one of the Japanese physicians pushing for acceptance of Western medical practice at the time. The title is a metaphor for the Tokugawa shogunate which is compared to an old camphor tree which has enjoyed the sunshine and shelter from the winds for 300 years, but is slowly dying because it is being eaten away from the inside by termites and gribbles. It was adapted into an anime series, by Madhouse and premiered in Japan on NTV on April 4, 2000. It was also adapted into a television drama, and also a 2021 stage play starring Sugeta Rinne of the boyband 7 MEN Samurai. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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