Around 1995, Japanese animation (anime) began pouring into North America, Europe and across the globe in video form. Most of these titles were unknown outside of Japan and never covered by animation journals. Whether a title is highly popular or very obscure, a high-quality theatrical feature or a cheap and unimaginative direct-to-video release, they all look the same on a store shelf. Therefore, Animation World Magazine will regularly review several new releases (including re-releases not previously covered) that have merit and about which our readers should know.

© 2000, 2002 AKITARO DAICHI·MADHOUSE / BANDAI VISUAL. All rights reserved.

Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran. V.1, A Tale of Two Travelers. V.2, Shocking Secrets! V.3, Big Trouble in Little Nippon. V.4, Way of the Samurai.
TV series (13 episodes), 2000. Director/Script: Akitaro Daichi. V.1, 4 episodes/100 minutes, V.2-V.4, 3 episodes/75 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: Bandai Entertainment.

Tsukikage Ran is basically a follow-up to director/writer Daichi's 1999 comedic drama Jubei-chan, the Ninja Girl, in the same length (13 episodes) and from the same studio (Madhouse). But where Jubei-chan was a semi-historical fantasy about a modern high school whose students and teachers are possessed by the spirits of 17th century samurai and ninja and forced to fulfill an ancient feud, Ran (broadcast January 26 - April 19, 2000) features laid-back, whimsical "realistic" historical action; specifically pastiches of traditional samurai movies. The closest American parallels are the TV Western comedies The Wild, Wild West and Maverick; the one a fantasy tossing anachronistic sci-fi secret agent gimmicks into the 19th century setting, the other a series of light Western adventures which parodied the popular movies and TV series of the genre.

Ran takes place during Japan's Edo period (1600-1868), the setting of almost a century's worth of Jidaigeki (what the West calls "samurai drama") movies and TV series. The protagonists are the stereotypical taciturn wandering samurai and his buffoonish comedy-relief companion -- except that these happen to be women. Ran is soft-voiced but not soft-spoken, with the standoffish egocentric "stay out of my way and I won't bother you" attitude; except that whenever she sees an injustice, she is inevitably drawn into supporting the weak victim. Her loudmouthed, unwanted tagalong companion is the self-styled "Lady Meow of the Iron Cat Fist," a teenaged martial artist. It is hard to tell whether Meow is actually good, or whether she can get the first blows in because her opponents are so stunned at seeing a female martial artist.

The pastiche of mid-20th century samurai movies is carried out in detail, with a pseudo-Edo period theme song and credits handwritten in old-fashioned vertical characters. Ran (Orchid) lives by a "fate will provide" philosophy, letting herself be "carried by the wind" down whichever road looks most interesting. Each village or castle town they come to provides an adventure that is one of the standard plots: the village being torn apart in a turf war between two rival gangs; protecting an abandoned baby who turns out to be a lord's heir that a rival wants to get rid of; the greedy magistrate who is taxing the people for a massive public works project while keeping most of the money for himself. Ran and Meow meet in the first episode; otherwise there is no continuity. Each episode is self-contained. Many of the supporting cast in each episode are drawn very similarly, like the stock actors who appeared in the samurai movies. It will help if the viewer has seen actual samurai movies, at least the classics like Yojimbo and The Seven Samurai, but Ran is easily enjoyable without any familiarity. Each DVD contains extensive "liner notes" succinctly explaining the historical and cultural background of each episode. Ran is an animated equivalent of the American TV Westerns of the 1960s and '70s, and can serve as a pleasant superficial primer to Japanese history of the Tokugawa Shogunate period.