Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin

Episodes 1-2

Video game adaptations have always been something of a mixed bag, and anime, in particular, has had plenty of hits and misses in that regard. While I'm usually not all that enthusiastic about video game adaptations myself, they can be pretty fun when they're done well. There are a few, like Gungrave or Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, that manage to break away from the constraints of their source material enough to function as great standalone shows, and they are ones that I'd put among my personal favorites. At worst, though, they can leave me wishing I was playing the game instead. So far, I'm unsure how well Sakuna will escape falling into the latter category.

There are promising aspects of the show so far. For one thing, I appreciate that, for the most part, it manages to avoid feeling like it's based on a video game. While it briefly shows its hand in episode 2, when Sakuna breezes through some tutorial fights upon making it to Hinoe Island, I'd never be able to tell what it's based on immediately. It feels like the staff have done a good job of translating the game into anime format. It's also a great-looking show with a pretty charming visual aesthetic and equally attractive character designs. The team at P.A. Works has done a great job of putting all that into motion, with the handful of action sequences we've gotten so far all looking strong (similar to Narenare -Cheer for you!-, the show has already finished production so there's no worries about maintaining the show's visual quality).

Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sold on the story yet. I like the inherent comedy of Sakuna being a god who largely coasted off of nepotism before being banished and sent to purge some demons alongside a group of humans she rescued to teach her humility. Still, it's also for that exact reason that she doesn't come off as particularly likable in her introduction. I'm also not too big on her human companions so far either, as they don't have much going for them yet beyond some base personality quirks. It's mostly Sakuna and her servant Tama carrying these first two episodes, and she could use a few more characters to bounce off of.

Thankfully, the second episode does improve things a bit in those areas as they discover that the reason they're all traveling together is because the big guy in the group named Tauemon used to be a bandit and left his group when one of their members went against their code of not stealing from women and children. Tauemon doesn't seem to have wholly won their trust, and his lack of farming skills to help in their new environment only seems to make that worse. I am curious to see how their relationship changes throughout the show. We also see Sakuna's new companions start to affect her positively. While she's still not gung-ho about taking her duties as a god very seriously, being the only one in the group who can successfully hunt and manage the rice fields is starting to give her more appreciation for the work her missing parents did as gods of war and harvest, respectively. Hopefully, that change will continue as we get further into the story. So far, I'm not too confident how strong a show this will be, but it's certainly nice to look at, and it's got the potential to be a decent slow-burner, so I'm hoping the actual story will manage to live up to that in the coming weeks.

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Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.