Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi – 01

OP Sequence

OP: 「聖者の行進」 (Seija no Koushin) by (「キタニタツヤ」(Tatsuya Kitani))

「平穏」 (Heion)
“Peacetime”

The new show featured on the Fuji TV anime dedicates noitaminA block. I had no idea Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi was part of the block, so it was a welcomed surprise when the programming block logo made its appearance, this short animation sequence with the two rabbits holds as much power in the anime community, as say the Aniplex logo. Basically, when the noitaminA logo comes on screen as you get cosey to watch this weird show no one is talking about, and you have no idea if it’ll be the best thing you’ve seen this season or the worst. Happy neurons start firing because you know the next twenty-four minutes are gonna be bomb!

That’s exactly the case here, before I get into specifics, the animation here is superb, wickedly good. Both the sound design and the animation complement each other perfectly in tandem, there was never a dull moment in this first episode. The story immediately engrosses you, and the visuals pillar on it with extreme laser-focused precision. It’s straight to the point and doesn’t smother the viewer with backstory.

The bottom line – it’s good. It’s so good in fact, I think its unique style differentiates it from other anime as a whole, its unique choice of color speaks volumes to the creative direction this show has. The style of the show works with it, not against it, it’s engrained in itself so elegantly it’s hard not to praise it.

800 years ago, a group of old idaten, human-like deities with extreme powers, held war against demonkind, ending the demon reign by sealing them and sacrificing themselves to keep emblem within the gate that separates idaten and demons. Fast forward to the present Hayato (Park Romi) is training by doing laps around the earth with his master. An unforgiving and violent woman, who snaps at the littlest of things. They swish by a human couple, who is just standing in the middle of the desert apparently, unable to recognize them, but telling themselves that something must have been circumnavigated by. They both don’t believe it, an impossible feat for sure!

But no, it’s only the idaten going about their daily training, running laps around the earth. Normal stuff. Hayato’s sensei denotes it took them only 9 hours to run around the earth at super speeds. The fact Hayato is overpowered is not really hammered in this scene, instead, it’s subtly planted. He does so much training, and with such a rigorous master, surely when the time comes for him to take action, others are sure to place their trust in him. And it happens. The use of POV’s helped a lot here, with smooth butter animation that immersed me in just a couple of seconds.

The comedy is certainly there. From Hayato’s violent outbursts to his sensei beating him up with little to no disregard for his feelings. It made me chuckle, that’s for sure. Even making Hayato cough up blood, but the fact that their gods really allows for leeway in these types of things. But Hayato quickly recovers, apparently unbothered by her beatings.

Hayato visit’s his friend Essly (Ogata Megumi) (Shinji is that you?) who is reading a human book and using their super-fast running speed, they almost teleport to Paula (Horie Yui) a gentle soul who speaks with birds. The birds tell them to go to the ice mountains because a lot of humans were gathering there. Turns out a military group with a head honcho science guy in charge, is on an expedition to revive a frozen demon. Which they do, and the Idaten is then tasked with dispatching it. Paula and Essly are both whipped out, Essly has a massive circle in his chest, but is unable to die because he doesn’t have a heart or something like that? I was instantly intrigued and as the lore expands, I want to know more about exactly what makes an Idaten die and what doesn’t. Essly remarks that the demon is closer to humans than the Idaten’s are. So maybe that distinction will have repercussions in future episodes.

Based on the manga by the same name, a joint venture between an artist named Cool-kyou Shinja and a writer named Amahara , it began its serialization in Young Animal Comics in 2018. Now adapted by MAPPA into an anime. And boy did it deliver! However that last scene made little to no sense and seemed incredibly unnecessary, there might be some explanation I’m missing because of the second episode premiere, if that’s the case, disregard this message, however, I did have to include a little bit about it, because the way they got around the censors was incredibly creative. Notwithstanding, what happened on screen was horrific.

ED Sequence

ED: 「雷火」 (Raika) by (Akari Nanawo)

*** I am aware that this was a 2 episode premiere, I will be talking about the second episode forthcoming in the next 24 hours, however, I am human and need to sleep.