Meiji Tokyo Renka 明治東亰恋伽
12 Episodes, 2 Movies
Licensed by Funimation
TMS Entertainment Studios
Genres: Magic, Traveling Back In Time/Time Travel, Romance, Reverse Harem, Shoujo, Historical, Supernatural, Spirits
One young girl, named Mei, who appears to be a loner, is walking separately behind these girls. When Mei was a child, she used to be outgoing and happy like the group of teens in front of her, but this ended when she started seeing ghosts. People started spreading rumors about her, and they started staying away from her out of fear of the ghosts around her. This continued throughout Mei's childhood, and even into her late teens, so she was not able to make friends in school.
Out of all the people in this large crowd, the magician calls Mei up to enter the box. Mei refuses at first, but the magician is pushy, so she gives in.
Once inside the box, Mei suddenly and unexpectedly feels at peace, as if she made the right decision to participate in the performance. This magician though is not normal; he has special abilities, so he uses his power to send Mei to another world.
When Mei wakes up, she is in a completely different world; an ancient world where people use horse-drawn carriages and there are no cars; a place with no technology, so Mei cannot use her cell phone to contact anyone or call for help (not that it would help in another world lol 😆).
While still trying to figure out what happened to her, a carriage passes by and almost runs Mei over since she is in the middle of the road. The owner of the carriage is worried so he gets out, and checks Mei for injuries. This man and Mei seem to have some chemistry between them, so this moment seems quite intimate and romantic.
The man who helps Mei is named Mori Rintaro. Since his carriage nearly ran Mei over, he and the friend who is riding in the carriage with him offer to give Mei a ride home; they will take Mei wherever she wants to go.
It is not until this point when Mr. Rintaro starts talking about taking Mei home, that she realizes that she has no idea where home is; she does not know where she is, let alone how to get home. This causes Mei to panic.
Mr. Rintaro realizes Mei's distress, so he offers to let her come with them. Mei is hesitant, but she accepts. While in the carriage, she gets to properly know Mr. Rintaro, and his friend Hishida Syunso. Mei also gets to introduce herself to them, but she soon realizes that a side effect of being transported to this new world is that she cannot remember things, such as where she lives.
While in the carriage, Mei gets to see this new world that she is in, which looks like ancient Japan. Since Rintaro and Syunso were on their way to an event, they decide to bring Mei along with them, so Mei gets to attend a ball. Mei stands out at the ball since she is showing her legs during a traditional time when women dressed modestly and kept their legs covered. Despite this though, Mei tries to enjoy herself.
While at the ball, Mei sees someone with a rabbit on his shoulder, but no one else can see it, so everyone realizes that what Mei is seeing is a ghost. This draws the attention of a famous ghost story writer at the ball named Koizumi Yakumo, who wants to speak more with Mei on the topic of ghosts. However, at the same time, Mei sees the magician at the ball who sent her to this world, and decides to confront him.
The magician tells Mei that he was also looking for her, and that she is currently back in time in Tokyo in the Meiji era. He also explains that traveling through time causes memory to become fuzzy; it is a natural side effect of time travel.
After telling Mei these things, the magician suddenly makes the lights go out and vanishes into thin air. As soon as he disappears, a ghost fox appears and causes trouble at the ball for the patrons, so someone tries to kill the fox, but Mei saves it.
The man who was about to kill the little fox points his sword at Mei like he will hurt her, but Rintaro saves her by telling the man name Mr. Fujita, who is an inspector for the supernatural police department, that Mei is his fiancee. This scene is where this first episode ends.
Final Thoughts? Is This Anime Worth Watching?
I like this anime. I love the ancient historical themes, the period clothing, and the plot. This is definitely a fun light-hearted anime that will make you laugh, and warm your heart at times. This is also a unique anime since it combines four main elements: historical, paranormal, magic, and time travel. Animes with ghosts are less common than school-themed animes or even supernatural ones. You may see demons/youkai, priestesses, and magic users in animes often, but it is much less common to see ghosts.
Personally, I think it is refreshing to see an anime focused on ghosts, but then, I do love horror films so maybe I am biased 😁. I also like the direction that this anime is going in. This anime will focus on Mei accepting and learning to value herself because she is around people who value her because of the things that make her different and stand out. As we continue to watch this anime, it will feel more like a detective anime, and we will get to see Mei grow, make friends for the first time in a longtime, possibly experience love, and go on adventures.
I definitely think this will be a great fun anime for kids and teens. It will appeal most to those who like detective themes, the supernatural, the paranormal, magic, and historical pieces. I do like this anime so far, so I will continue watching it, and I do recommend it!
Meiji Tokyo Renka On Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment