Hi no Tori Review

story 9.5/10

Wow. The word flowed through my mind at a snail's pace as I absorbed what I had just seen, as the ending credits to Hinotori scrolled down the screen. Have you ever watched an anime that’s hard to pay attention to? When it’s really hard to force yourself to finish it at all, let alone quickly? You know the type: a genre you dislike, a boring storyline, or anything in between – you don’t like it, and you don’t want to have to finish the series. On the other hand, occasionally you find a gem which, for some reason, sucks you in and demands your attention. You can’t wait to watch the next episode, and tend to finish the entire thing in a day or two. I haven’t found many of these. Blue Gender, Gungrave and Berserk are three from the handful, with a newcomer to be added to the list: Hinotori.

As the somewhat cryptic description suggests, Hinotori focuses on a central topic: life. The series itself is broken up into five completely separate stories: two of them are 4 episodes long, two are two episodes long, and one is one episode long. Each of these tales spans a different time period, from an ancient tribal culture, to samurai times, to a dystopic future where humanity has been all but wiped out. Each story has a very different moral or tone (some are tragedies, others are hopeful), but all of them return to the myth of the phoenix in some manner. Think of it like watching Kita he or Rumic’s Theater (though Kita he is more appropriate) as far as the flow and segmented episodes. Each episode has a narrator that talks in the background, pretty much explaining how life flows, and how it affects the story.

Although life is the main focus, there are quite a few additional themes as well that are shown. Religion, war, sin and atonement, sacrifice; these are some of the things we see in a very bleak manner, to help us understand how life can survive even through such hardship.

The reason why I scored this section so high is twofold: first, the overall flow of the series is beautiful. Although each series is not connected by plot, they all end up being connected in spirit, per say, by the theme of life. Regardless of the length of the arc, each tale has its own conclusion, leaving no loose ends behind, and leaving the viewer satisfied. Second, the stories themselves are wonderfully written and interesting in their own ways. The last arc (2 part story) is easily one of the best sci-fi pieces I’ve seen, and also one of the most moving, epic pieces as well. There was only one arc that I didn’t care for as much as the others, and I’m not sure why. The story itself was well written, the character development superb, but it just didn’t speak to me like the others did. Still a moot point, though, as every story was beautiful in its own way.

animation 8.5/10

Visually, Hinotori is a treat, except in one area that I’ll discuss a bit later. Scenery and backgrounds are the most beautiful aspects to the animation, with extremely vibrant colors and "camera shots" (if you can call it that) that make you feel like you are watching a small independent film. Check out the screenshots if you want proof, the imagery is absolutely stunning. Often, the camera angles and choice of focus contribute to the sense of awe you get when seeing certain scenes, and make the mood much more effective.

Character designs will definitely remind of you of other Osamu Tezuka works, including Metropolis and Astroboy, from the sweeping upward/pointy hair, to the very vertically oval, round eyes. Unfortunately, that’s also the one thing I didn’t like about the animation: the specific character design of the guy with the huge, huge bumpy nose that was bigger than the head itself. This character, though in a different role each time, was always very disgusting to look at visually. I felt like it detracted from the beauty and realism of the other characters. The only other less than appealing thing about the character designs were the wolves and dogs, who looked very cartoon-like, similar to something you’d see in an American cartoon.

CG was used fairly often for the phoenix, and it was very well done at that. The phoenix always showed up as a shimmering of color, or a distortion of the color around it. Its face, however, looked like animation made in the 70s, which was a bit of a change.

Beautiful animation all around, with minus points for the occasional cheesy animal, and the very hideous large nosed person.

sound 9/10

Like all other aspects of Hinotori, the audio and musical selections were superb. Instead of cheesy synthesizer tracks, this series chose instead for a variety of classical pieces that have a definite Japanese flair. To be honest, some of the tracks reminded me of something that was played in "The Last Samurai", or in a dark drama such as Mermaid’s Forest. The nice thing about the orchestral music (going along with the last comment) is that quite a bit of the time, orchestral music in general usually accompanies Ghibli type films for children, or series such as Secret of Cerulean Sands. This younger sounding music was not present in Hinotori, which is why I loved it so much. Rather, it was very adult and haunting, which fit perfectly with the mood.

Besides the regular music, I must say that the intro song was very... unusual. It sounded like it was done in the 70s, which really didn’t fit well with the animation style and overall newer feel of the show. I would only guess that this was to show how deep the roots of this franchise really go (having started in the 70s), but I still think they could have put a slightly newer song at the helm to open the series.

Music aside, the sound effects were also superb, and extremely creepy when they needed to be. A case in point would be when a soldier was getting hit with dozens of arrows, and you could hear each wet thud as each new arrow hit its target. Chilling to say the least.

Voice actors fit everyone involved very well, including the near perfect choice of a narrator.

characters 9/10

With any short OVA or story where only a few episodes are involved, character development is usually the area that suffers above all others. Usually you leave the viewing with no real feelings of empathy for the characters, and you don’t feel you know them much better than when the anime started, due to the constricts of time. Occasionally, though, you find a masterpiece that manages to do this in only a short amount of time. Kita he, though definitely on a shallow level, managed to do this. After only two episodes, you’d want to see more, you’d understand the characters, and you’d feel happy or sad depending on the outcome of the situation. Hinotori is no exception, and excels at the character development in a masterful manner. Even in the one episode arc, at the end you somehow feel sorry for the main character, and melancholy about her fate. I think the main thing that makes this so easy to accomplish, in Hinotori’s case, is that tragedy is interspersed plentifully in all of the arcs. The key, of course, is making the tragedy realistic and moving, which was accomplished easily.

The characters are so human, and that’s what makes them believable. Their tragedy, rage, sadness and hope are what make them tangible, and the fact that they learn from their mistakes and treacheries make them all the more realistic.

overall 9.5/10

Hinotori is one of those series that was breathtaking, and left me speechless. The animation was superb, the music was beautiful, but the premise itself was nothing less than inspiring. Those who enjoy a solid, interconnected plot need not apply for this series, but for anyone else that love to watch brilliantly tragic and hopeful pieces about humanity and where it is headed, you would greatly appreciate the watch.