I was so freaking excited for this because I was hoping for a historical anime, and instead I got that crap. I couldn’t even finish one episode, I was so frustrated!
Mixed feelings. I mean- Anime gonna do what anime gonna do. Have we any idea how many takes on Oda Nobunaga there are? Often he’s a literal vampire or demon, sometimes a space man, more recently a telling of his life and times as a baby, one where he is a dog…. There are some very serious and realistic anime, and some wry hardcore historical anime- but by and large whenever an anime steps foot into the restoration or any period before it, be prepared for demons, witches, beast people, clockwork and steam punk mechs and walking fortresses and flying machines or floating islands, magic, super powers and “secret arts,” zombies and monsters and spirits and yokai etc etc, time travel,”shinobi” with powers etc., historical figures in loose parody or characters that just share names and a few specific details with historical figures but are otherwise nothing like what is known to history, and inaccuracies galore. Just to name a few.
That is to say that while Japanese history is full of interesting and exciting and moving moments- history on the whole tends to be a bit boring when taken at 1:1, few people have an interest in “Downton Abbey with Samurai” which is perhaps a lot closer to realistic than what most genre pieces play at.
But if we frame it another way- history sort of already self spoilers for anyone who has studied history, and for someone making a story, simply animating a historical narrative is not making a story, it is animating an existing story. So this is one teams take on their inspiration of historical events. You generally don’t see cartoons about Abe Lincoln or George Washington or Eli Whitney “ripped from the history books” save perhaps on the learning channels. Usually they throw some embellishment or fantastical elements at it.
But if we frame it another way- history sort of already self spoilers for anyone who has studied history, and for someone making a story, simply animating a historical narrative is not making a story, it is animating an existing story. So this is one teams take on their inspiration of historical events. You generally don’t see cartoons about Abe Lincoln or George Washington or Eli Whitney “ripped from the history books” save perhaps on the learning channels. Usually they throw some embellishment or fantastical elements at it.