Wow. Just wow. Great line. And it’s the same for humans, except at least with the tanuki someone gets to enjoy eating them. Human death is even more pointless.

Like most viewers (I presume) I have no idea what to make of Benten. She appears to be stringing the professor along. She seems to have eaten the father. And yet they still go to talk to her. I am guessing there is more to the father’s death than it seems. The fact that she doesn’t eat tanuki hot pot all the time doesn’t seem very comforting to me.

Portraying Relationships

If I had to pick one aspect that makes this show work, it’s how it portrays the relationships between the characters. There’s one key aspect to human relationships that most anime neglect: people act differently around different people. You act differently towards your mother than you do towards your brothers than you do towards your one friend than you do towards your other friend. Yet so many anime portray characters statically, in that they have a set personality which they present in the same manner to every single person. Needless to say, most humans do not act like this at all.

The show that portrayed relationships like this best is Hourou Musuko. But Uchouten Kazoku is doing great as well. Yasaburou acts protective towards his youngest brother. He worries differently about his frog brother. He’s kind of a dick to his oldest brother. He’s a bit shy around his ex-fiance. He acts more respectfully towards the professor and his mother. And he’s scared out of his wits around Benten. The point is, he doesn’t have a one-size fits all personality. There’s the same underlying person underlying all of his interactions, but he doesn’t treat everyone the same.

Another great example of Uchouten Kazoku’s portrayal of relationships is the conversation between the professor and his old friend. The way the friend feebly tries to stop Yasuborou from mentioning that the professor can’t fly or whip up a whirlwind anymore was great. Then afterwards, outside of the professor’s hearing, he’s able to have a more frank conversation.

Family

The most beautiful part of the show so far was when the entire family is sitting on the stairs after rescuing the mother from the thunderstorm. The brothers are all musing about how worthless they are compared to their father. And then the mother says: “I don’t care if you’re a frog or what you are. I’m just happy to have all of you in this world. Plus, you’re all great tanuki.” Beautiful.

Alignment of Nature and Form

The shape-shifting gives the creators some interesting opportunities to show the characters. For example, the mother is some ridiculously flamboyant “Prince.” Yet when the thunderstorm comes she turns into one scared little tanuki. Appearance and internal state do not always coincide. Yet sometimes they overlap perfectly.

As another example, the one brother refuses to leave his well, and is quite fittingly a frog. The youngest brother is unable to stand up for himself, so takes on the form of a child. (Plus he actually is a child… I think?) And our lead character lacks a permanent form entirely, which fits him perfectly. It’s his nature not to be tied down.

On the other hand, sometimes the nature of a character is highlighted by having him take on a contradictory form. In episode two, for example, the older brother takes on the form of a powerful, serene tiger. Yet internally he’s at his wits’ end in panic over his mother.

Further Thoughts

The things one does for love…

This form fits these two perfectly. I’m really curious about their sister. Especially when we go back to what I said earlier about forms, and the fact that they are clearly hiding hers.