Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: ONIHEI
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chito895
 Posts: 512 Location: Lima, Peru |
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Hey Rebecca, I think you can actually change the appearance of the subtitles inside your account settings. But I did that for the Amazon Prime Video service, not sure how it works in the Amazon Strike thingy.
It annoyed me as well while watching The Great Passage. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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I think that has more to do with this being a realistic portrayal of the era. I do not mean to say that back then women were bi-dimensional, but they did not have what I would call free will. We have seen otherwise in characters like Kaoru and Megumi from Ruroni Kenshin, but back then allowing a female to learn to use a sword (or shinai) or teaching them a skill (like modern medicine) was from very rare to nonexistent (but since Ruroni Kenshin has physic defying swordsmanship, nobody expects to be a totally accurate portrayal of the era). So yeah, back then females were to be married before reaching their 20s and walk five steps behind their husband when walking on the street. Not that the vast majority of males had it any better, back then the caste system was in place and you were not supposed to move up or down the social ladder (barring marriage and adoptions). Heck, in the era covered by Onihei, peasants did not had family name/surname, if you hear someone use one it refers to whatever village he lives in. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3768 |
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I confirmed that you can get rid of the background on the subtitles. Amazon Strike does not effect that, as the player is the same. Would have been nice to figure this out earlier though. For iOS, the subtitles settings have to be changed in the phone settings. For the Roku app, the subtitle settings have to be changed in the device settings as well. Though that actually didn't work for whatever reason on the Amazon app, but it seems it did work overall as the Hulu app (the other site that close captions) did change as set. If only Amazon could follow Hulu in one regard, and have subtitles automatically on non English audio. |
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donhumberto
Posts: 825 |
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Thanks for the review. I think this is probably the best and most underappreciated series of the season by far. I'm loving every second of it and it's a shame it's flying under most people'sradar (the Amazon thingy doesn't help, either). Can't wait for the next episode!
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2657 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Thanks, guys! I'm a new-to-Amazon watcher, so I didn't know I could change the subtitles and I really appreciate the info!
mangamuscle, I agree that it's also part of the time period of the show - it was a difficult time for women. I was more thinking that the "pure maiden or vixen" dichotomy that Onihei is using is the 1960s - all of the women thus far are either/or, which is typical of men's entertainment of the 60s and 70s. The male characters thus far are much more nuanced. Of course, it's early days yet, so I'll be interested to see if that sensibility remains. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11616 |
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Or just do away with anime on I hate you amazon.com altogether. I felt that the anime was clear in not sharing the contemporary (Edo) view of women. The scene of her being paraded before the town, with the male crowd looking on with cheers, was framed more like her being led to the gallows than to a wedding. Even Heizo's home didn't appear to be as "happy" or cheery as you'd expect if the production approved of that view. He treats his wife somewhat like an automaton that needs his direction to breathe, and the child like a puppy, praised for knowing her role as an obedient comfort toy. And this is pretty subtle - he's presented as having genuine affection for them, but it's just expressed in Father-Knows-Best patriarchal forms. Still you can almost feel the reins constraining every action and emotion of his wife, and to a lesser degree, the daughter. If the anime itself agreed with this arrangement, Heizo's household would have been a perfect contrast to show the happy home life Ofusa was denied, but instead, it just feels like a different quality of servitude, even when the master is benevolent. Yes, I think the stories in the series will probably be focused on the life experiences that shaped (and continue to shape) Heizo into the Oni he's become today. And if there's also more of the removing-the-nostalgia-goggles theme, I'm ok with that. 
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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I would not say Ofusa became or was a vixen at heart. That is very clear at the end. This is not modern japanese police who have sherlockian detectives using scientific methods where the culprit has to plead guilty to prevent getting a harsher sentence. Ofusa is interrogated and she could have told them her man(husband?) asked her everything she knew about her previous household and lead her to a life or debauchery and with such a pretty face a vixen would have succeeded in making those men believe her since the man helping Onihei did look nor was very respectable. But instead she blurts the truth because she is a women tired of her life, she wants closure and revenge or a death sentence seemed equally good to her. A vixen would have lied, gotten herself another man and moved on with her life to another place. |
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donhumberto
Posts: 825 |
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Another rock-solid episode. Too bad so many people are missing this show
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24205 |
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Agreed. Although it may be a case of "more people are watching the show than is apparent." I certainly hope so.
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 713 |
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Sometimes, it's nice to watch dramatic, more adult, un-anime anime like this. I'm kind of getting a 91 Days vibe from this, at least in terms of tone and style. I like it.
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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At least a baseball bat wasn't involved.
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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I'm definitely enjoying Onihei. It has some odd quirks but overall it's definitely worth the watch. I kinda rolled my eyes after the old guy just stabbed the makeup ronin in the back though. I was hoping for a bit more thrilling conclusion than the ridiculously convenient reveal that the inn's owner was the ronin's real target all along. Unless I missed a scene where Heizo uncovered that information, then that result would make a lot more sense.
EDIT: Wait, the makeup ronin was the 3rd episode and the crime boss was the 4th episode? How the heck did I manage to watch this series out of order? Odd. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11616 |
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I've been thinking that from the first episode. There also seems to be some sort of code that a vaguely jazzy OP signals a series about adults, a la Rakugo or ACCA 13. Heizo himself looks out of place to me. With his wavy brown hair he looks like an English fop more than a samurai. Actually, I think he kinda reminds me of Hugh Beaumont, The Beaver's dad.
I did get a chuckle out of the side-eye his wife gave him at "There's a woman here to see you." |
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 713 |
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Yeah, there's clearly some disconnect between my thoughts on this show and the reviewer's. I thought this was maybe the best episode so far; it was funny, light-hearted when it needed to be, had interesting, likeable characters, gritty action and some well-written drama. I'm probably going to stop reading the reviews for this show from now on.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24205 |
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Yeah, a grade of B- for episode 5 is absurdly low and tells me nothing about the quality of the show and everything about Rebecca's lack of connection to it. C'est la vie. How can anybody doubt that the end of the episode was supposed to be humorous? The humour of the episode was woven in from start to finish. The point of the ending was that Chugo's father, who had a reputation for "living honestly", was in fact a hypocrite. Chugo had been feeling bad for not living up to his dad's reputation and then learned that his guilt over that was unwarranted. Besides which, unlike his father, whose family suffered financially due to his love of tail-for-pay, Chugo is a single dude and the only person affected financially by his whoring is himself, so really there is no "refusal to learn a lesson" involved.
In a entertainment form dominated by high school kids fighting aliens/monsters/whatevers or else involved in dumb harems or a desire to bang their siblings, Onihei is a wonderful, adult, breath of fresh air. |
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