The time: 1814. The place: Edo, now known as Tokyo.
One of the highest populated cities in the world, teeming with peasants, samurai, townsmen, merchants,
nobles, artists, courtesans, and perhaps even supernatural things.
A much accomplished artist of his time and now in his mid-fifties, Tetsuzo can boast clients from all
over Japan, and tirelessly works in the garbage-loaded chaos of his house-atelier. He spends his days
creating astounding pieces of art, from a giant-size Bodhidharma portrayed on a 180 square meter-wide
sheet of paper, to a pair of sparrows painted on a tiny rice grain. Short-tempered, utterly sarcastic,
with no passion for sake or money, he would charge a fortune for any job he is not really interested
in.
Third of Tetsuzo's four daughters and born out of his second marriage, outspoken 23-year-old O-Ei has
inherited her father's talent and stubbornness, and very often she would paint instead of him, though
uncredited. Her art is so powerful that sometimes leads to trouble. "We're father and daughter; with
two brushes and four chopsticks, I guess we can always manage, in a way or another."
Decades later, Europe was going to discover the immense talent of Tetsuzo. He was to become best known
by one of his many names: Katsushika Hokusai. He would mesmerize Renoir and van Gogh, Monet and
Klimt.
However, very few today are even aware of the woman who assisted him all his life, and greatly
contributed to his art while remaining uncredited. This is the untold story of O-Ei, Master Hokusai's
daughter: a lively portrayal of a free-spirited woman overshadowed by her larger-than-life father,
unfolding through the changing seasons.
High-end anime films tend to draw from Hayao Miyazaki's template: fantastical family drama or adventure in an idyllic countryside setting. Keiichi Hara's ___Sarusuberi: Miss Hokusai___ instead hues closer to Isao Takahata's episodic slice-of-life films, _Only Yesterday_ and _My Neighbor the Yamadas_. _Sarusuberi_ follows the daughter and successor of a famous artist as she comes of age, searches for inspiration, refines her craft, grapples with sexuality, and mends a broken family. Without a strong dramatic arc, the film lives or dies on the strength of its setting, characters and individual vignettes. The worlds of paint, folklore, dreams and history continually collide. An unfinished painting spawns demons. A storm dragon is transcribed in brush strokes. Hokusai himself even recites a ghost story that is as abstract as it is evocative. The film not only portrays Edo, but also its folkloric mindset, where painters are only a part of its economy of dreams. The characters range from wooden to animated. "Miss Hokusai" herself is the former, holding powerful emotions deep within. We latch onto her every glance and turn of the head, desperate for access into her thoughts. Fortunately, the characterization delivers with great detail and finesse. Even the puppy dog that grows with the family is one of the most charismatic I've seen in an animated film. It's hard to evaluate slice-of-life due to its nature, but I would say Keiichi Hara's _Sarusuberi_ fares far better than Sunao Katabuchi's _Mai Mai Shinko_ (2009). The late Isao Takahata, the father of slice-of-life anime, may be retired but his art lives on. ~!__-- End of review.__ But AniList has a character minimum so here are some additional, scattered thoughts. This I.G film, like any top-tier anime production these days, ropes in the god of cinematic realism, animator Toshiyuki Inoue, for some very lovely scenes. The heydays of cinematic realism (late 80s to early 2000s) may be over, but fortunately the industry can put together something like _Miss Hokusai_ once in a while. The worst aspect of the movie is probably the hammy J-pop-rock that bookends the story. It's a nitpick, but it's such an out-of-place, out-of-time mood-destroyer, I still sharply remember it years later. When you watch the movie, you'll know.!~