#Hikari no Ou

[magicalgirlenjoyer]

Hikari no ou, opening

[animangapolls]

[squirrelstothenuts]

[somegirlsnerdywords2]

Anime i’m Interested in: Winter 2023

1. Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko!: Begins airing January 5th.

Synopsis: Tomo Aizawa and Junichirou "Jun" Kubota are the tightest bros you would ever see. They roughhouse and spar, but through thick and thin, they've got each other's back. Yet, there's just one small problem: Tomo is in love with Jun! Since she was young, tomboyish Tomo has been just another one of the guys; due to his extreme muscle-brained nature, Jun doesn't notice any of her advances—not even when she explicitly confesses. To add insult to injury, for the longest time, he didn't even realize that she was a girl. Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! follows the comedic hijinks of Tomo and her friends as she tries to catch Jun's eye and escape the infamous brozone. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

2. Kyokou Suiri Season 2: Begins airing January 9th.

Synopsis: Second season of Kyokou Suiri.

3. Koori Zokusei Danshi to Cool na Douryou Joshi: Begins Airing January 4th.

Synopsis: Himuro is an office worker who belongs to a race of supernatural beings with strange powers. Whenever he is deep in concentration, he subconsciously plunges his poor coworkers into a close rendition of the Arctic. Even so, contrary to his icy powers, Himuro is a warm and kind person. He likes flowers and cats, but alas, he cannot get too close to either. Himuro has a soft spot for his colleague Fuyutsuki, a calm woman who has a knack for providing simple solutions to his unconventional problems. Whenever Fuyutsuki does something for him, a snowstorm of emotions builds inside Himuro's heart, and he fails to notice the raging snowstorm he causes on the office floor. Thanks to his snowy tantrums, Himuro's feelings are apparent to everyone but Fuyutsuki. However, fueled by immense adoration and desire, Himuro is prepared to do whatever it takes to capture her heart. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

4. Buddy Daddies: Begins airing January 7th.

Synopsis: Assassins Kazuki Kurusu and Rei Suwa meet Miri, a girl looking for her father on Christmas Day. Kazuki, Rei, and Miri unexpectedly end up living together. Follows Kazuki Kurusu, a criminal contractor/coordinator who lives with his best friend, Rei Suwa, a professional assassin who has been raised from childhood to be a contract killer. Kazuki is outgoing and loves gambling and women, while Rei is a man of few words who spends his off time playing video games. One day, the two buddies end up caring for Miri Unasaka, a four year old girl whose father is a mafia boss, after Miri accidentally wanders into a firefight in a hotel while looking for her father. (Source: IMDb)

5. Sugar Apple Fairy Tale: Begins airing January 6th

Synopsis: After her mother passes away, Ann decides to become a Silver Sugar Master like her mother—a highly regarded occupation in the country of Highland, where very few masters of the craft exist. Ann leaves for the town of Lewiston, where the royal family holds a sugar sculpture festival. To become a Silver Sugar Master, she has to win the top spot and receive a royal medal. In this world, humans treat fairies as slaves and take one of their wings to control them. Ann reluctantly buys a fairy named Shall to be a bodyguard on her way to Lewiston. Ann is torn between setting Shall free, but needing a bodyguard on the dangerous roads to the festival. (Source: J-Novel Club Forums, edited)

6. Hikari no Ou: Begins airing January 14th.

Synopsis: Hikari no Ou takes place in the aftermath of humanity's last war. The world is enveloped with a black forest and people have become infected with a pathogen that causes them to burst into flame in the presence of natural fire. The only safe source of fire can be obtained by hunting black beasts, Flame Spirits, which reside deep in the forest. Among the fire hunters, rumors of "The King of Fire Hunters" began spreading recently—an individual who would be able to harvest the man-made star, the millennium comet that once wandered the void. The story revolves around Touko, a village-raised girl, and Koushi, a former student in the capital. The encounter between the two, who were not supposed to cross paths, will change the fate of the world. (Source: MAL News)

7. Tsurune: Tsunagari no Issha: Begins Airing January 5th.

Synopsis: Protagonist Minato Narumiya has reignited his passion for kyudo, the Japanese martial art of archery. Along with his friends in the school kyudo club, he returns for an all-new second season and feature-length film of Kyoto Animation's beloved Tsurune. (Source: HIDIVE)

[rachelraygifs]

every episode of the fire hunter fills me with incredible dread and horrible vibes, its really good

[bl-astoise]

ᴛʜᴇ ғɪʀᴇ ʜᴜɴᴛᴇʀ . ᴏᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ [x]

[good-anime-food]

[sundanceritz]

Episode 1, Hikari no Ou

[bingsoobean]

Anime Watch for Winter 2022/2023

There is another series called Monogatari that I'm watching. It's not that other Monogatari. I may add another series or drop a series from the watch list but this is what I'll be watching for this season. I think the other that I'm absolutely delighted with is Buddy Daddies.

[animebw]

wow the new dark souls anime looks great

Also add another one to the pile of classic fantasy coming out this season you should give a look. This one’s called The Fire Hunter, and it’s apparently based on a novel? You know, like a light novel but heavier? Anyway, the first episode was a fascinating fusion of Ghibli and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and this could well end up the dark horse of the season, so don’t sleep on it.

[animescreencolle]

[magicalgirlenjoyer]

Hikari no ou, opening

[nettleshuttle]

if you’ve got ~20 minutes of free time on your hands, go watch ep 1 of hikari no ou (the fire hunter). like, really, do it.

i usually don’t do anime recs, as everyone’s got different tastes etc etc and i never feel certain that other people will like something just because i did. but this one, this one instantly struck me as objectively good, or as close as possible to that notion — and so good, that it made me convinced i found a real gem. thus the recommendation.

the aesthetics are insane — they give me this intense ghibli vibe, but are different and very individual in many ways. definitely not the bland style of new animes you cynics would expect if i told you it’s ongoing. i’m no expert, but the animation and music appear really good too. the pacing is great — it forces you to slow down a bit with the long, calm sequences, but it doesn’t lack action and dynamism either. opening? easily one of the best i’ve ever seen. characters? here i can’t say much as they can’t have shown much of these over three episodes, but the concepts of the two protagonists seem interesting and background characters are nicely done.

the plot. starts almost in a medieval fantasy vibe, turns out to be rather a regressed post-apo world and while i usually hate this in anime, here the fusion of magic and technology, myth and history, old and new: fantasy and post-apo, turns out very well. basically, in a world after a great human war and catastrophe, humans became unable to come near fire, as they start burning up from the inside once they even get close. instead, the so-called fire hunters, along with their trained dogs, have to harvest a different kind of fire from fiends living in the forests that now cover the majority of the world, or in the skies. the first mc is a girl living in a village, who is saved by a fire hunter once she wanders into the dangerous forest. the man ties and she is tasked with returning his dog and other personal belongings to his family in the capital. she has to get aboard a vehicle that regularly travels between villages in the land and the capital, but the journey through forests will be long and dangerous nonetheless. the second mc is a student in the capital, whose father is the dead fire hunter. he works on developing new technology from the magical fire that his father had harvested. the two will, of course, meet in due time — as for now, four episodes have been aired.

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The Fire Hunter (Hikari no Ou) #1 Screenplay: Mamoru Oshii Storyboard: Junji Nishimura Episode Director: Junji Nishimura Assistant Episode Director: Yukiko Sugano Chief Animation Director: Takuya Saito Animation Director: Yuriko Ikehara, Kazuko Nakayama

This is my favorite premiere for Winter 2023. Everything about it was stunning and unique. The beautiful, yet solemn character designs are matched by the haunting and rather almost post-apocalyptic setting of a world that's lost its fire, its hope.

A collaboration of veterans in the industry Mamoru Oshii and Junji Nishimura gives this anime a very early 2000s feel. And it truly stands out from the copy-and-paste fantasy format shows we've gotten lately. We're off to a very unique adventure with our young protagonist in Touko, who may I mention has an amazing voice performance from Misaki Kuno. I'm extremely excited to see what's to come next in future episodes.

I can't leave off without mentioning the beautiful opening and ending visuals.

The opening visual of the show is directed, storyboarded, and AD by Kenichi Kutsuna, whose use of colors and lack of shading is just simply phenomenal. We've seen works like this from him in the Vlad Love opening and also the "Back to You" music video on the Animator Dormitory Channel that I highly recommend you check out. The background and shading of the characters at times are minimalistic and at times highly detailed. The way he handles the switch between details and shadow is extremely interesting to see. When there are fewer shadows and details on the characters, he tends to emphasize the wide and minimalistic background, which leaves you and the characters in isolation. A flawed representation of the world. And he only brings up highly detailed shots and shading on the cast, during character-focused shots such as the zoom-in on Touko's eyes showing the literal fire (determination) in her eyes to complete her goal, whatever it may be. It's a genius switch between focusing on the foreground and the background, by utilizing the lack of details. This is likely my favorite opening visual for Winter 2023.

The ending reminded me a lot of Shiraishi Keito's ending direction, it's very flat in its nature on purpose, and the character just side-scrolling pass the art in the background. However, it's actually not directed by Shiraishi Keito, it's directed and SB by Yukiko Sugano. It's a rather simple opening in terms of direction, a long stretch of uninterrupted gorgeous art, that I believe will only mean more to us as more episodes come on. The flatness of Touko and her dog allows for a greater focus on the background, and they simply serve as a "tour guide" for the beautiful artwork behind them.