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Aug 12 2012 06:25 PM
Shouwa Monogatari TV is the “full story” of the Shouwa Monogatari movie that premiered in Japan in January 2011. It is an original story that follows the Yamazaki family in Tokyo around 1964, the year of the Tokyo Olympics. The show originally premiered during the Spring 2011 anime season and never received a simulcast nor US license.

So after one year, Shouwa Monogatari TV is finally complete and “available” to an English viewer. The story can pretty much be summed up as a drama slice-of-life series set in the early 1960s. People seeing this in 2012 can effectively compare this to the recent Sakamichi no Apollon or even Kokurikozaka Kara (From Up on Poppy Hill), both of which are also set around the same time period. Therefore, for the purpose of this review, it is assumed that no title beyond July 2011 exists for a “fair” review. Premise wise, it is relatively unique. It’s not every day you see a historical drama. Unfortunately, it’s pretty dull beyond that. The conflicts set up in this show are generally well done but resolved seemingly too easily. While I have yet to see the movie that “summarizes” this series, hopefully it does keep events concise and remove all the “seemingly filler” material. Characters are not exactly interesting but at least they managed to keep the historical form of speaking/dialogue, which is something that many historical shows often ignore. Overall, the story is linear but tells it in an unnecessarily convoluted manner with a bunch of “filler” in between.

Art is pretty crisp and characters are drawn rather well. In contrast, the animation is pretty simplistic and generic. For Wao World, it’s a definite step up from their atrocious and utter failure in 2005 with Hametsu no Mars.

OP/ED themes are generally forgettable. Background themes and sound effects are average. Seiyuu wise, the cast is composed of older seiyuus, which definitely brought out the feel of the setting. However, emotions were fairly monotone making it a snooze-fest at times to even watch/listen. I really had expected more coming from experienced seiyuus.

Enjoyment? It started off decent but gradually became more and more uninteresting as the series went on. The show felt like it was being unnecessarily dragged on. Maybe the movie will fix this by condensing 13 episodes of material into 100 minutes.

Overall, the show is not a gem but certainly does have the value of being “one of a kind” when it aired. Obviously it can be replaced by the likes of Sakamichi no Apollon or Kokurikozaka Kara currently but at the time of airing it was fairly unique. The major problem, as stated many times already, is it lacks the ability to keep an audience engaged or interested. It’s not a bad show, but it’s one that will potentially fail in being able to complete in one sitting. If I had to recommend a post WWII set series, Rainbow is the first one that comes to mind as the best one, which is levels beyond this title.

Preliminary Score: 7/10
Final Score: 5/10

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Jul 11 2012 04:14 PM
Oh okay. Well as long as it's being done, then that's good. Thanks for the heads up.

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Jul 11 2012 01:13 PM

GotWoot fansubs is doing this one and said they will complete it to the end...one episode, once a month.
http://gotwoot-subs.net/?cat=93
I enjoy it too. I think there are four left to sub?

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Jul 11 2012 07:37 AM
I wish they would continue this. I love this simple, yet substantial anime. Though I find the voice acting for the kid to be a bit 'off'. Otherwise very good. Love the historical bits at the end too.

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Jan 30 2012 01:24 AM
Another one that is picked up by a different fansub group who looks like they will finish it. Glad for it since I really liked it but cannot remember where I left off. Chispas! Has it been that long? Dang, but time flies . I remember the main girl getting a date with her crush, while her older brother is way off base with women and gets ridiculed...anyway, look forward to catching up with this old timer.

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May 2 2011 03:39 PM
So Taiichi had his first date and totally f*cked it up. But you cant really blame him since hes a japanese boy. And hes living in an era where japan is split into the old traditions and modernization. And his family clearly is a traditional one, except for Yuuko. But even she has her only love problems, even though its clear that she is interest in that basketball player.

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Apr 23 2011 09:33 PM

^ Same thoughts as you. No boob shots or panties in one's face, but a nice, mellow, family story of kids growing up, a dad's insecurities as to how to continue to provide for the family and a mom who holds them together. I like the characters and the period. Look forward to see how it will develop when the Olympics come to town.
I thought the basketball player was cute but hey, he's a dreamboat to Yuuko-chan and well, if she falls for him, maybe we will be made privy to her first heartache...or her first, grand love, who knows. Only one that seemed out of place was the creepy Kenpachi-like character who returned the lost funds to the MC boy. I was left wondering what was the purpose of his being around.

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Apr 23 2011 08:18 PM
I almost thought nobody would sub this show. Good that someone did even though it was pretty late.

After ep 1 it seems to be a nice little slice-of-life show in the year 64. I dont think we get some great plots, action, erotic or what-not but that is to be expected.
Still I enjoyed ep 1 a lot.
Only thing I didnt like is the basketball player and Yuuko falling for him. You just cant trust goodlooking guys who are good with sports since they are always the bad guys in animes ^^

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Apr 22 2011 06:10 PM
(user posted image)

Title: Showa Monogatari
Japanese Title: 昭和物語
Genre: Drama, Historical
Premier: 2011-04-03
Animation Studio: Wao World
Director: Tadahiro Murakami (Movie), Hiroshi Kugimiya (TV)
Official Site: http://www.showa-movie.jp/

Basic Info:
A movie and an 12-episode series.
This anime was made to appeal to an older audience.

Opening Theme: ?
Ending Theme: ?

Cast:
Hisako Kyouda as Yoshi Yamazaki
Makoto Aoki as Taiichi Yamazaki
Misato Fukuen as YÅ«ko Yamazaki
Sakiko Tamagawa as Kanoko Yamazaki
Shōya Chiba as Kōhei Yamazaki
Yasunori Matsumoto as Yūzō Yamazaki
Hiroyuki Yoshino as YÅ«suke Sawawatari
Masaaki Tsukada as Gorō Tashiro
Wataru Takagi as Ryō Takayanagi


(user posted image)

Plot:
The story of the Yamazaki family, who live in Tokyo during Shōwa 39 (1964), the same year Tokyo hosts the 1964 Summer Olympics.
(Wikipedia)

My Thoughts:
They should have named it "Snore Monogatari." Just a completely stereotypical, bland family soap opera.