Donten ni Warau

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/21743/Donten_ni_Warau

Name: Donten ni Warau 曇天に笑う Laughing Under the Clouds

Status: Completed

Episode: 12

Released Date (for eng subs): Every Saturday

Summary:

When swords were outlawed in the eleventh year of the Meiji Era, the mighty samurai population began to dwindle. Those who rejected the ban on blades rebelled, causing violent unrest to erupt throughout the countryside. To combat the rise in criminal activity, an inescapable lake prison was constructed. Three young men, born of the Kumoh line, were given the duty of delivering criminals to their place of confinement—but could there be more to their mission than meets the eye?

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/21743/Donten_ni_Warau

Summary Source: FUNimation

Personal Ratings: 3

Idea: 3 / 5

Setting in an olden world, with mythical believes, isn't all that rare. There are many others out there which I've come across. Though, this story line concentrates more on the mythical believe than those war animes that specializes in strategical war patterns. Where a strong ayakashi or youkai is being kept inside a human, it is quite a common idea to have.

Execution

Development: 3 / 5

I felt that the story line and the execution itself was quite good, however, I did think that there were a lack of developments in some areas of the story, and 12 episode is just too little for the anime to have that proper development.
The anime can be divided into 2 parts;

Firstly the part about Tenka being the vessel for Orochi, and the 2nd part being that Soramaru found out that he was the one who truly had Orochi within him. The first part seemed to be taken care of with much care and attention, but the 2nd half seemed kind of rushed, especially the last part where the large battle scene was taking place. Honestly, much of the battle scene seemed to be done half hearted-ly, I didn't like how the logic doesn't flow during battle scenes. I wanted something more packed with action and techniques, rather than a random monster shooting random beams at people.

Emotions: 2.5 / 5

Honestly I only found the first part the most emotional, the rest of the scenes just lack that impact.

The first part about the eldest brother dying, was probably the most emotional one, even though there wasn't much character development before he died, and the viewers probably didn't really felt that large attachment to that character yet. But using the other character's reaction towards his death and showing us how important he is to them really made it a lot more emotional.
However, I was pretty disappointed with the rest of the development. It had so much potential to be filled with loads of deep emotions, but it just wasn't that impactful. The biggest disappointment would be when Soramaru found out about his true identity. I really thought that it I should have felt a more frantic and regret (because it actually meant that Tenka died for no reason.) But I actually didn't really felt much. There wasn't much of that impact, probably due to the lack of time and also the organization way.
The next scene would be when it was found out that Shirasu was actually all along together with the Fuuma clan and had plot it all to betray them. I'm not sure if it was because it was done in a rush, I didn't feel that kind of shock when it turned out he was actually betraying them. I felt that they should have really made the betrayal scene big and impactful. Because that scene was in the middle of a huge mess, with a lot of things going at ones, this one was kind of over-looked.
However, I actually felt quite emotional over his death, and the way he died. But I think that that's just cause of my biasness towards him (he's my fav character).

Planning: 3 / 5

I thought that the planning was quite good, especially with that plot twist about Tenka.

I did think that it was pretty well thought out, however, I think that giving us more hints about Tanka being alive earlier would have been a little better.
I also did think that the planning on the Fuuma clan would have been shown better if they did show us or hint to us the existence of Shirasu's brother, instead of just suddenly bringing him up at the ending.

Rather than the planning, I think there was an issue with the organizing. I thought that the timing where they put in the whole episode of the first generation's fight for sealing the Orochi was out of place, and really appeared out of no where. Thought that maybe putting that episode in either before the Soramaru started finding out his true identity, or after introducing Botan to us would have been better.

Main Character Development: 3 / 5

Main character here would be Soramaru. I did think that to a certain extent there was somewhat a development, especially in the first half of the anime, but it the development in the 2nd half seemed really rushed.

In the 2nd half, when Soramaru was turning into Orochi, that part seemed really fast. I felt that they should have showed random killing within the town and Soramaru waking up not knowing anything but found certain things strange (like having random arm aches or something), but they actually only showed us one such incident.

I just felt that they spent way to much time in the first half of the anime, when there wasn't much development.

Side Character Development: 2 / 5

The anime can be divided into 4 main parties: The main family (which are the main characters), Yamainu Squad, Fuuma Clan, and others (which basically consist of all the ancestors and all the other side characters). Honestly, the only one which was very well developed was probably the main characters, but all the other parties really lacked that development, even though I feel that they play an important part of the story.

For the Yamainu Squad, I actually did like how they hinted here and there about Tenka's past relationship with the Yamainu Squad, and had that mystery on why he left the good lingering here and there, which makes the viewers real curious. However, I felt that once the truth was revealed about their relationship and everything, that their characters didn't actually play a huge role or anything within the story line, except for 3 characters. The rest was pretty much not needed. As for the Fuuma clan, their past was really well developed. Telling us first about what happened in the past about what they were once known for, and than about the massive murder which occurred, and than later to talk about how Fuumas came out (their origin for their white hair and purple eyes). However, I did felt that when it was revealed that the Fuuma clan did not died out, and that Shirasu was actually pretending to be a good person the whole time, in order to revive Orochi; everything felt like it happened so fast, that it felt like there wasn't enough development of Shirasu's brother and Nishiki. I think that actually dropping more hints about Shirasu's later betrayal, and showing about about the whereabouts of his brother would have made it better.

Seiyuu: 4 / 4

Awesome seiyuu, but I do realize that I might be biased here, because many of the seiyuus cast here are popular seiyuus. 

But yes, I did think that Nakamura (Tenka), Yuki (Soramaru), Sakurai (Shirasu), Tsubasa (Chuutaro), Shimono (Takeda Rakuchou) and Miki (Naoto Kagami) did a very good job in their roles.

Yuki definitely did a good job in expressing many emotions for Soramaru, especially when using his deeper and more serious voice, yet still being able to maintain that soft side of Soramaru (instead of using that huskier voice when voice acting Eren from Shingeki no Kyojin).

For Sakurai, I did think that he was the perfect fit for Shirasu, especially when looking at how his character was going to change from being a "good-two-shoes" to a person that betrayed the Kumo clan. Sakurai's did manage to maintain that consistent character and aura that Shirasu have despite being on either side. When Shirasu betrayed the clan, you could hear that there was much sadness, darkness and also loneliness in his voice, which really brings out Shirasu's character, despite only being shown for a few minutes.

Art Ratings: 4
I felt that the animation itself was really smooth and constant throughout the whole anime, especially the fighting scenes.
They had this trademark art style going on, making it easily recognizably. And I really really loved the character design (ok, might be a little biased here cause of Shirasu). Though I didn't really like how Tenka's hair was drawn (random hair sticking out here and there). 

Similar Animes:
-Work in progress-

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 13 and above

My Ratings: PG-13