Category Archives: Uchouten Kazoku

Uchouten Kazoku 11 — Intermission

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This was an interesting choice for an episode. Right when the tension is at its highest and everyone is about to get eaten, we spend half the episode with comic relief as this guy wears an iron diaper and makes a fool of himself.

I can’t exactly say it was a poor decision though. These guys are amusing to watch. And a second capture of course provides the opportunity for a second rescue. It was pretty pathetic how quickly Yasaburou was captured. Especially when he managed to get captured by these two morons. Continue reading Uchouten Kazoku 11 — Intermission

Uchouten Kazoku 04 – 07 — Living in the Face of Tanuki Hotpot

I’m back! I have this huge backlog and very little motivation at the moment, so it may take some time for me to catch up.

Since I saw four episodes at once, I had more of a chance to think about the show’s larger themes than I usually get. At its core, Uchouten Kazoku is a story about how to live and how to die.

There comes a day in every tanuki’s life when he’ll be made into a hot pot. So it is with Tanuki, and so it is with humans. Everybody dies, and absurd and pointless reasons. What are we to do about it?

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The answer which Uchouten Kazoku suggests is to be an idiot like a tanuki. To live as if death were not, or as if it is both inevitable and of little consequence. To live a life of freedom, freed from everything that enslaves one, even free from death itself. Continue reading Uchouten Kazoku 04 – 07 — Living in the Face of Tanuki Hotpot