Video Backlog: "House of the Five Leaves"

Publisher: Siren Visual (Australia)
Format: Region 4 DVD, PAL, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Subtitles
Length: 12 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2010
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes

This is the third release in Siren’s noitaminA series. While you might think a lot of the better material in the noitaminA block may have gone to their competitor, I must admit most of Siren’s acquisitions have been very interesting. If not, really nice, possibly uncommercial and financially unsound. While Funimation may have streamed this title in the US, they have to date not announced a home video release, and they probably won’t either. Though the show is getting a UK release via Beez later this year. The Siren release is the first time this show has appeared on home video in English.

This show is very different from a lot of the more recent anime I’ve seen. The noitaminA stuff is aimed at an older audience and “House of the Five Leaves” is no exception. It looks like a standard samurai drama from the outset, albeit with very distinctive character designs. However unlike the majority of samurai drama (both animated and live action), the focus here is more on the interactions and histories of the characters. In particular the focus is squarely on the meek ronin Akisu and his friendship (if you could call it that) and dealings with Yaichi, an underground figure. Akisu gets sucked into the world of a small time criminal gang called the House of the Five Leaves who kidnap the rich to make some money on the side. Though the group could hardly be called criminal masterminds, they are shrewd and very clever at what they do.

The series is less about the kidnappings and more about the characters themselves. All five personalities of members of the group are explored in the series. The series is also told in a deliberately slow manner, though there’s never a dull moment, though the show might be slow for some. Those expecting samurai action throughout will be disappointed. The show has more in common with “To Heart” than it does with “Rurouni Kenshin”. Not a great deal of stuff happens. Most of the story revolves around Akisu, who at first seems to be an incompetent samurai, but is incredibly skilled. Some of the material revolving around this character wasn’t all that interesting and I sort of wished the focus had been on others, or there was a bit more action or plot. It does get a bit tense towards the end, but the show ends without any over the top incidents or major revelations really. Siren’s set is like their others; pretty damn good. The artwork is nice the vide looks really good for a PAL transfer and the audio sounds a lot better than the slightly weird compressed stuff I’ve heard on the other shows in this series. Certainly not the best show I’ve seen recently, but it’s one of the more interesting ones and the staff have made a real effort to give the audience something different. I’ll give it 7 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 24 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).