In October they reached Netflix many premieres and some surprises in the anime world, but as animation it also landed in a somewhat unnoticed way ‘Oni: The Legend of the Thunder God‘.
In this animated miniseries Out of four episodes already streaming on the platform, Tonko House and director Daisuke Tsutsumi explore Japanese mythology from an enchanting point of view.
In a small lost town in Japan
In the village of Onari, everyone has some special power time. She has not yet manifested hers, although she dreams of becoming a great legendary hero.
Nevertheless, The Oni threat is very real and closer every day, so everyone in the town prepares to defend themselves against the monsters.. When Onari discovers that his father Naridon He is a god of thunder, he begins to train to try to unleash the power that his lineage hides and thus defend his home from imminent destruction.
Without going further into spoilers… Up to here you can read. But it can be said that Onari’s story is a story about leaving childhood behind and finding herself, in the purest style coming of age, discovering along the way more about his family, his powers, and how it is also important to leave prejudices behind.
‘Oni: The Legend of the Thunder God‘ is very well paced, and with its short length it could almost pass as a movie. Although the episodic structure works perfectly to keep the tension in the right places and unravel Onari’s story chapter by chapter.
Plot-wise, the miniseries falls into too many tropes of these types of stories in too many predictable twists that you see yourself coming toobut in the end they do not detract from its charm at all, because you are following Onari in all the steps of his journey, which is full of hard moments but also magic, curiosity and love.
Despite its small flaws, ‘Oni’ continues to work perfectly, very much in line with some Studio Ghibli classics like ‘Nicky the witch’s apprentice’, and she manages to stay quite cool at times when she can get a little down.
With this, ‘Oni: The Legend of the Thunder God‘ leaves us a perfect miniseries to enjoy with the family and for all ages. Tonko House’s animation is gorgeous with a stop-motion finish and highly imaginative designs to explore Japanese folklore and its creatures.
Precisely this presentation of the Kami people, their powers and their way of life, is one of the most beautiful points of the miniseries, with a message that reinforces the importance of preserving traditions, while remaining open to everything new. that we have ahead.