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The Eccentric Family (Uchōten Kazoku) (TV) (w/ index).


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samuelp
Industry Insider


Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 2228
Location: San Antonio, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:12 am Reply with quote
Clarste wrote:
DuskyPredator wrote:
Episode 2

So the humans can not see that their mother looks like a woman pretending to be a man?


I didn't really get the impression that they didn't notice. They just didn't care. I mean, she's already famous so why would we see any kind of reaction to it?

She's specifically acting like a member of the Takarazuka Revue, and I think most people recognize that.

By the way, I should mention that I'm behind the changing of the official English title from Ecstatic Family to Eccentric Family.

Although Eccentric is not a literal translation I felt it was better than "Ecstatic", since in the context here Uchoten is not supposed to be a positive meaning. Uchoten in this context means "Giddy so as to be unaware of one's surroundings"... more like "aloof" than "happy". I wanted to keep the title in the form "The XXXX Family" though and the word that felt best was simply "Eccentric" (which Morimi-sensei agreed).
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 3868
PostPosted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:25 am Reply with quote
I just watched the first two episodes back to back and am now totally in love with this series.

The mother of the main character is so cute in her tanuki form.

I really need to get back to Kyoto after seeing this. The two days that I stayed there weren't enough!
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:47 am Reply with quote
It's funny - Pom Poko is my least favourite Ghibli film by a pretty wide margin, but I love the tanuki element in The Eccentric Family so much that I am retroactively liking Pom Poko more. Kinda regret not picking up a used copy of the DVD movie for $5 when I had the chance...
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 3:52 pm Reply with quote
This is a sweet, slowly-but-surely paced family show with absolutely stunning background that make me want to go to Kyoto, OMG!

Ep 2: spoiler[ I was surprised that the MC was pretending to be Benten for the Professor's sake. I really thought Benten had come back to comfort the Professor, and that we were seeing a caring side of her. Guess not.

Any guesses as to why Son #3 is stuck as a frog? Or why he acts as a therapist, silently listening to everyone's problems as they pour their hearts out at the well? At first I suspected he was spying on people, but he seems too timid. Middle child syndrome?

The ending was precious, with the mommy tanuki cuddling her baby tanuki, and all her sons (besides froggy) sitting around her. I already like the Eldest. He tries to be a leader, but he's a bit scatter-brained, but he can still turn into an awesome tiger to stand up for his bros! That tiger vs. lion fight was really cool, as was the marionette rickshaw (though why the humans of Kyoto don't notice a puppet pulling a rickshaw, or shape-changing people, or a flying woman, is beyond me). The tanuki are adorable on this show!]
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 9:21 pm Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
spoiler[Any guesses as to why Son #3 is stuck as a frog? Or why he acts as a therapist, silently listening to everyone's problems as they pour their hearts out at the well? At first I suspected he was spying on people, but he seems too timid. Middle child syndrome?]

My guess is that he first chose to be a spoiler[frog to avoid people and to grieve his father's death, but he stayed too long and lost his ability (or motivation) to transform]. By the looks of it I thought that people might have started to go to tell him how spoiler[stupid he is, but people started to just vent their own problems, he is an impartial person who is unlikely to tell others or to judge].
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Brent Allison



Joined: 01 Jan 2011
Posts: 2444
Location: Athens-Clarke County, GA, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:10 pm Reply with quote
samuelp wrote:
By the way, I should mention that I'm behind the changing of the official English title from Ecstatic Family to Eccentric Family.


Thank you for clarifying that. Discrepancies and potential controversies are often great vocabulary teachers. Smile

It looks like Kyoto itself is getting into the act.
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Knoepfchen



Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 698
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 5:02 pm Reply with quote
This is totally my kind of weird and lovely. I sincerely enjoyed the first two episodes and will keep on watching for sure. I love the Takarazuka-Mom, I love the cross-dressing (more of a cross-shape-shifting, really) of Sakurai's character, the show is making me all the more excited to visit Kyoto in August, I love the idea of humans, tengu, and tanuki living together (or apart from each other) like that - a total win for me.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:25 am Reply with quote
Knoepfchen wrote:
I love the cross-dressing (more of a cross-shape-shifting, really) of Sakurai's character

There's really no human equivalent of what Yasaburo is doing, is there. He's definitely male, but is equally comfortable in a male or female body (neither of which is his native body), and he doesn't even try to conform to the conventions of the gender he's assuming if it doesn't already suit him. I'm really enjoying that aspect of the series.
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Knoepfchen



Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 698
PostPosted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:01 am Reply with quote
^Yeah, that's really adorable. Also, he does seem to take a sweet pride in creating convincing humans ("Didn't I get her to look cute?"), and there's an innocent playfulness about it that I enjoy very much.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:59 am Reply with quote
Aww, the youngest brother is the cutest thing ever! This show continues to be a lot of fun, i'm looking forward to the festival next week. Those tanuki seem to know how to party. Smile
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Brent Allison



Joined: 01 Jan 2011
Posts: 2444
Location: Athens-Clarke County, GA, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 4:06 pm Reply with quote
Merida wrote:
Aww, the youngest brother is the cutest thing ever! This show continues to be a lot of fun, i'm looking forward to the festival next week. Those tanuki seem to know how to party. Smile


I wonder why they would call the need to spoiler[party in the sky "idiot blood"]. I've also wondered what it would be like if I got anime fans in a "party boat" going down the Savannah River and have the first known floating anime con. What does it say about us humans that we like to party too?

Benten OTOH knows how to party in the water. Wink
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 6:20 pm Reply with quote
This episode was a bit light in its content,however it was just wonderful.This show has such soothing,nostalgic and strange atmosphere that it is simply impossible not to get sucked in it.
I think,I got the theme of the show.spoiler[The reason why our main character is attracted to Benten is because she does whatever the hell she wants and also because she enjoys her life to the fullest.That something that Yasaburou has expressed to be his life goal.However due to the familial obligations he is not capable of achieving that goal,now he must go around searching for flying house,fall into conflicts with rival clan,not get married and take care of old tengu.He is not the only one suffering from these familial obligations,his older brother feels enormous now because he must take care of family,younger brother feels ashamed about the fact that he works for the rival clan,mother was furious when arranged marriage was cancelled(and that happened due to the familial obligations that Ebisugawa leader had towards his own family). However I dont think that this anime criticizes these obligations,in fact family in episode 2 was portrayed as loving and warm place.The message that I am getting is that yes familial obligations can cause you to sometimes be unhappy,but the rewards of having a family far outweigh anything that comes in package with family.Since Benten doesnt have a family I am expecting that it will soon be revealed how she is actually very lonely deep beneath.]Still who cares,this is such great show.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 7:29 pm Reply with quote
I am so loving this series to pieces. I have to pause sometimes just to take in all the backgrounds, and in episode 3, I stopped to laugh for five minutes at the reaction of the visiting Tengu (couldn't find his name) to Yakushibo's revelation of the whereabouts of the inner parlor. It was just perfectly executed along with the vocal reactions and looked insanely silly.

I also really love the character designs. I didn't notice the diamond motif for all of Yasaburo's shapes until this episode. And the tanuki's eyes are all round and mammalian warm and cute, while the Tengu's eyes, with their sharp intelligence, I can definitely see inserted into a crow's face, the angular humanoid outlines notwithstanding. The eyes themselves are just beady enough to be birdlike.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:21 am Reply with quote
I get why Benten could be considered an admirable person; she's fierce, intelligent, gets what she wants and does what she likes. I just don't understand why the main character likes her, given that she killed his father and cooked and ate his corpse. And this guy still likes her and holds no ill-feelings towards her; Inigo Montoya he is not.

Speaking of Benten, I hope we eventually get told how she can be a human and yet have tengu powers. Is she a half-blood?

The second brother is my favourite character in the show. Something about how philosophical and accepting he is at being a frog makes me kind of like him, even if he is a bit pathetic (being a frog and all).
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:49 pm Reply with quote
They seem to have a sort of fatalist attitude toward ending up in a hotpot, as well as using it as a sort of boogieman threat to children to make them behave. So maybe if they see it as their fate anyway, there's no reason to go into vengeance mode every time it happens?
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