Hitsuji no Uta

I'm going to compare three separate narratives I've recently watched that I enjoyed almost equally, but for different reasons. A couple are from Madhouse, which I think is interesting because they're quite a contrast, separated by five years. Even animation-wise, they are distinct and yet, still, use this technique involving colour - for different reasons, though, it seems. Shiki is by Daume, but since I haven't yet seen anything else by them I can't compare anything more, except for these three as distinct narratives from the same genre and topic.

But, this is mainly about Hitsuji no uta, although I think comparisons would be worth it ... since the symbolisms and ramifications of all three have different consequences.

The 'lamb' in the title, I assume, refers to the docile nature of the protagonists, this time. Whereas in both Kurozuka and Shiki (and most other media I presume, stereotypically), vampires are usually striving to survive, not unlike any other living creature, and although they are 'undead', as opposed to 'zombies' with which I assume they share this fictional 'status', vampires are usually conscious and thoughtful, as they are in all of these three titles.

What separates Hitsuji no uta from the others, though, is that it is almost an 'experiment' about going against nature. Unlike the other titles and most others, the couple of protagonists, or one could say, their entire family, struggle to not give in to their urges. Whereas in Kurozuka history is combined with fiction to create a hyper-aggressive narrative against all odds and times, where they strive to survive no matter what, in Shiki there are a few timid vampires, but the majority do not fight their nature. In the former, a sci-fi sort of atmosphere dominates, where Madhouse skilfully uses grays and black-and-whites to convey an alternate reality where the source of vampirism seems to take over, in Hitsuji no uta the changing of colours indicate something slightly different and subtler. On one hand, they do use it to portray the past as much media already does, but it differs in that it uses a similar, but slightly differing scheme to paint a picture of an internal struggle, or even to simply convey hopelessness (with buildings, like with Brutalist architecture, I think it's meant to convey a sense of permanence perhaps, as opposed to the temporal counterparts that creatures alive represent).

All three use colours for their own reasons, though, as I suppose most animation does, except that in this case, as all three can be categorized as 'horror', the colour is used specifically to either intensify such 'pictures' that the animators presumably wanted to convey, or lower the tone, that carry with them feelings of one sort or another. In Kurozuka e.g. red must be the predominant colour, although that might seem obvious in a vampire's narrative, since it's the colour of blood, but that series wants its watchers to know that it's designed to be aggressive, which doesn't necessarily preclude a certain artistic possibility, with its inclusion of traditional Japanese motifs and Kabuki, which further references prior media about the same sort of history, and yet from an entirely different perspective (Kurosawa).

In Hitsuji no uta, though, colours are subdued, very much like the characters themselves and the themes contained within the narrative, not unlike Boogiepop Phantom, which isn't about vampires and yet contains almost identical themes (with the exception of a narrative derived from the 'dementia' genre). This sort of technique in anime in general has a pattern, wherein the more fantastical a narrative, the more colourful. It is, as such, similar with Shiki in the opposite direction of Hitsuji no uta. Whereas with the latter it is mostly two siblings that feature prominently and the narrative revolves about (and due to dark themes, the animation is also dark), in Shiki there aren't really any central characters that feature in every single episode. It is, essentially, about an entire village of both humans and vampires, and as such an ensemble drama that involves a variety of personalities that not only reflect in their wildly differing hair colour, but hair styles, and, ultimately, their intrinsic motives. Both series are about the same topic, and both could be said to be sociological and the implications thereof, but they are approached from distinct angles. Hitsuji no uta is more inter-personal, more confined to a few individuals. Society has an effect on the narrative, similar to the complications that arise in Shiki, but whereas the latter is more about society's moral ambiguities, in Hitsuji no uta society is in the background, and yet still affects the protagonists.

It could be said that, generally, with this genre and topic, it serves to reflect an already existent undercurrent in human societies. Whereas vampires are fictional, and yet historically, as with witches and werewolves, moral panics existed in which people somehow convinced themselves and others that they truly are real, whether intentionally used as an excuse to justify the crushing of opponents, or simply a genuine delusion borne out of times when even biology was little known, ended up destroying non-supernatural lives. Ultimately, it is a psychological manifestation that combines imagination with possibility, and despite these kind of series being entirely fictitious themselves, they could almost be a documentary on the many facets of a psyche.

This is not an anime for the faint-hearted. No, it isn't because is an "horror" anime or because of the sensitive topics the story covers, but because its direction, style, and even the structure of the episodes in general are so different from most animes, movies, series, or anything that is possible to watch, that I believe that this will filter out most of the anime fans out there. Well, let's start.

First of all, this anime has some similar aspects found in the anime of Boogiepop Phantom (the first one, from the 2000), to a point that Hitsuji no Uta seems to be a child ... of Boogiepop's production, altrough the staff of the two anime doesn't seem to be too related. The darker ambiance with few colors, the more 2000's IDM inclined OST and SFX, the abstract storytelling and structure of the episode... it all resembles Boogiepop quite a lot, while Hitsuji no Uta clearly has cleary an more modest budget. Well, if Boogiepop is considered quite a difficult anime to watch (for some reason...) by some, this one here was a special twist on it: Gisaburo Sugii on the direction. The ones that are more familiar with the works directed by the man (like Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru and Genji Monogatari) will know that he loves abstract, slow and contemplative acts, sometimes even tipping his foot on the non-sense field.

So yeah, considering that, followed by the low budget (that Gisaburo is used to work on too), the episodes can get hard to watch depending on your tastes. There are episodes that seems to have more flashbacks from others episodes than... actually being an episode, there's quite a lot of repetition of scenes, like from the attacks the protagonist has, and in general there's nothing too impressive about the animation going on. Sugii isn't being supported by the maestro Haruomi Hosono this time to compensate his abstractness, but the OST and SFX are quite decent and its used in a pretty smart way, and I actually think that the anime can hold itself well in terms of animation.

But then, for us, brave warriors of the good taste, and always searching for the next strange thing to watch, what can this anime offer? Although the comparations with Boogiepop Phantom, this anime is unlike most of the things that is possible to find out there, the two first episodes are specially crazy. Is always nice to watch something different from time to time, and the story is pretty enjoyable too. They handled the brothers getting more and more dependent on each other while simultaneously affecting their relationship with eveyone around them really well, and this style offered by the staff goes well with the story. But this isn't the best work done by Gisaburo Sugii, maybe films do suit his style better than other types.

Sheep's Song is an atmospheric yet low-budget snorefest, heavy with melodramatic dialogue, and the lamest vampires ever front-and-center. I can see what they were going for with this title, but needless to say it didn't really come together all that well. Beginning with the story, its setup is basically fine. Mysterious vampire disease, mysteries surrounding the protagonist's father, estranged sister with the same condition, on and on. However, as the story itself unfolds, and the mysteries are unraveled, it doesn't really get good at any point. It remains decidedly boring, with endless dialogue and hardly any reason to care about ... what's happening. The vampirism is essentially just this weird anemia, with no benefits or interesting conditions whatsoever, which is a big letdown since they're whinging about it basically the whole time. It's genetic through their father's line, but their mom had it too, and it can be controlled through painkillers, but it's bad for your heart, and there needs to be an emotional connection to feed? It's extremely convoluted and isn't used to any real narrative effect besides to explore the show's bizarre incestuous themes. I must reiterate here that the story is exhaustingly dull, the only reason I even bothered to finish it at all is because it's only 4 episodes. It didn't have to be this way either, as the atmosphere distantly approached something kind of interesting, but it's almost like it didn't even try to capitalize on it.

This brings me to the art, which is the best part of this anime, despite how terrible it often is. The art direction itself is fairly solid, with unique character designs that utilize heavy linework and light goth aesthetics to achieve an atmosphere which is forlorn and emotional. However, there is heavy and noticeable reuse of shots throughout, shoddy animation with frequent instances where animation isn't even attempted, and a limited number of establishing background pieces that make it feel as though you're watching a stage play instead of an anime. The execution of the art took what little this anime had going for it in the first place and just kind of dropped the ball.

The sound is broadly unremarkable, with voice work and sounds of life that meet the basic standards of quality for the time, and the same goes for the characters.

Of the cast, they're all pretty one-dimensional, and it's not really worth choosing favorites from among them. If I had to, though, it'd be Yaegashi, Kazuna's non-relative love interest, for being a relatively sane person caught up in this stale mess of a story. Overall, Sheep's Song wants to be deep, emotional, and darkly aesthetic, but falls short on all accounts, instead languishing as a boring, convoluted, and melodramatic waste of time. Not recommended.