House of Five Leaves - Reviews

Alt title: Sarai-ya Goyou

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PhoenixRider's avatar
Jul 21, 2010

What was first a series I couldn't wait to watch, became a series I couldn't wait to finish.

Story

I liked the plot of the story. I thought it was a nice change from the usual anime as the story encircles a freelancer whos shy and timid attitude works against him when getting bodyguard jobs. He ends up getting himself into the middle of a criminal organization with a mysterious leader.

The story is interesting but is consistently disappointing as it's a slow moving soap. Even though the story circled around violence, samurai and kidnapping, any action in this anime was rare. It was almost purely drama which falsely raised my hopes and expectations on action. Even with the drama became stale as not a lot was accomplished in each episode.

5/10

Animation

The art was different, great and caught my attention. It did a lot to emphasize each character's facial expression and I thought made it easier to connect with the characters.

8/10

Sound

This was honestly a very quiet show in which most of the scenes were during the night. So the environment was quiet to focus on conversation, since idle conversation made a good portion of Sarai-ya Goyou. The voice acting is wonderful as well known voice actors took up the leading roles.

5/10

Characters

Alright so the Characters were well done since the entire season was based on Character development. I found some of the characters to be interesting but thought it was overdone.

7/10

Overall

So the show was decent, I certainly didn't like it as much as some others did. I suggest looking around for something better before even touching this. There are rumors of a 2nd season but I'm not going to pick it up.

6/10, probably too generous.

5/10 story
8/10 animation
5/10 sound
7/10 characters
6/10 overall
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fuzzyirulz's avatar
Nov 25, 2015

I read a few volumes of the manga House of Five Leaves before watching this anime, so I felt that this anime was enjoyable since I liked reading it. So I recommend you read a bit of the manga to get feel for this anime.

Story - The story starts off slow because it's slow in the manga too. The anime starts picking up near the end where flashbacks start explaining everything. So lay back and relax as you watch this. When everything pieces together in the end, you'll see how everything became so complicated, could've been simply avoided. But complexity is what gives us a story in the end.

Animation - I like the art style of this anime because it's unique. I also really like the expressions on the characters' faces. Especially the eyes.

Sound - I really liked the opening song because of the lyrics. The ending song is pretty catchy and funky which is kind of weird for an anime like this one. I don't know much about voiceacting, so I won't comment on that.

Characters - Our protagonist, Masa, is shy and seen as useless. It may irk you because of how much of a coward he is, but it is his personality that drives this story. If he wasn't the character he is in the anime, then he wouldn't be able to calmly observe, come to a conclusion and support the other characters. I'm actually pretty surprised how observant Masa is, I didn't expect him to really observe much because of how oblivious he is towards reading the mood... 

Yaichi is a really mysterious fellow and he's another reason I kept watching. I wanted to figure out his character like Masa (and probably everybody who Yaichi encountered) did.

I won't mention the other mysterious members of the Five Leaves since I'd probably spoil something. But what I can say is that their motives is what gives me an understanding to their character. 

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This is my first anime review, so sorry for not explaining well > . <

10/10 story
9/10 animation
10/10 sound
9/10 characters
9.5/10 overall
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Garyuu's avatar
Jul 3, 2010

Mini-review:

It was simply... okay. It was entertaining for the most part, but I never felt excited to see the next episode. I'm not saying it was bad, but it felt like other shows had a higher priority on my watch list. The story was good, but I felt cheated. I was expecting out of Masa, but he didn't do as much as I hoped. It felt like the show ended during the middle of his character development. It feels like there should be a sequel, yet it doesn't. I guess they covered the story, but certain sub plots didn't get finished. I really wanted to see Masa fight in a serious fight.

Another show with unique animation. This time I kind of liked it. It fit in well the mood of the show. Low energy, and slow paced. The backgrounds looked top notch.

The voice acting didn't stand out, but it felt like it did its job. Every character acted like they were half asleep, so the actors couldn't really show their range.

Overall it was a good show, but I felt like it could have been so much better

 

7/10 story
8/10 animation
7/10 sound
7/10 characters
7/10 overall
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mrpachitam's avatar
Dec 29, 2021

Loved everything about this series. Was looking for something different, minus all the cliche tropes, something more tailored to a mature audience, an interesting and captivating story driven by characters - I found it all in the House of Five Leaves..plus the OST hooked me in the first time I heard it. Wish there were more series like this out there.

9/10 story
8/10 animation
9/10 sound
10/10 characters
9/10 overall
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SamayelSlash's avatar
Sep 1, 2014

While the primary character, a nervous and quiet ronin samurai whose timid nature makes it hard to find work in spite of exceptional skill when the need is great, is a complex, moody, fun to dissect creation, the plot unfolding around him shows a lot of promise early on but never quiet gels into something exciting.

As he finds himself desperate for earnings, he gets pulled into a criminal lifestyle by a smolderingly handsome kidnapper named Yaichi, and the two seem to have a chemistry and history that I won't spoil by divulging.

Artistically this is a visually pleasing anime for someone who wants a change of pace or a show that focuses on the characters as much as the environment around them. Introspection and subtlety, allegory and metaphor are at play here, and it's beautiful to see.

Unfortunately, the enormous promise and potential of this series is never realized, the characters seem unable to develop beyond a certain point, and the conclusion leaves one still wanting the countless untouched issues to be resolved, not hinted at.

I still rate it well, because it was a real pleasure to watch, even with its muted emotions and very sparse moments of action, but the only warning I offer is that despite its beauty and interesting characters, the series itself will never go as deep or thrill as much as a watcher will desire.

If a second series IS done, and some rumors have been thrown about regarding this, one hopes that it will unlock some of the absent potential that wasn't realized in the short first series.

7/10 story
8/10 animation
7/10 sound
9/10 characters
7/10 overall
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