Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「Shoppai Namida」by Shougo Sakamoto
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「王室教師、来る」 (Oushitsu Kyoushi, Kuru)
“The Royal Tutor Arrives”
Initial Impressions
Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine is a light-hearted comedy framed in the bourgeoisie context of an 18th century Austrian setting, complete with pleasant scenery. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. The classical music certainly tickles my fancy and it was a pleasure to hear that the soundtrack had successfully captured the Baroque period characteristics using instruments like the harpsichord.
This is also probably a good moment to reveal that while I cannot compare to Kousei Arima of Shigatsu fame, I’m quite handy at the piano! Impressionism remains my favourite period, with Debussy being my muse. Some of the pieces that I learned, which I would recommend listening to include: Ballade, Reverie, Deux Arabesques, Pagodes – Estampes, Sarabande – Pour le Piano.
Before this outburst becomes entirely irrelevant, I have dabbled in numerous Baroque period works, learning the ins and outs of counterpoint from a select few excerpts of ‘The Well-Tempered Klavier’ – Bach’s 48 Prelude and Fugues. All you need to know is that I am more than qualified to provide a conversation on Classical music if the need ever arises.
Politics and History
Classical pleasantries aside, politics and history are vaguely present. The Habsburg Dynasty obviously serve as inspiration for the Granzreich Empire, with a hierarchical system seeming deeply entrenched into everyday life. With the average plebeians seemingly content, it is unlikely turmoil from the masses on the scale of Brexit will happen. Any incidents of political intrigue are bound to emerge from the upper echelon, so probably a Duke possessing vested interests in ascending the line of succession.
Though the king dotes upon his younger sons to the point where they are clearly spoiled, it is evident that he recognises their deficiencies. His concern is not entirely invalid either. Have you ever heard the tale of of Darth Plagueis Henry VIII? I thought not. It’s not a story that Random Curiosity would tell you. Henry VIII was a king who unreadily ascended to the throne following the death of his older brother Arthur. Though things still worked out for England until recent times, his succession threw a spanner in the works and that is why having a backup plan or two is always a good idea. Probably not too many or a full-blown war for succession might cause the country to collapse.
Characters
The princes had a fantastic entry. Absolutely fabulous! And they had very different and unique personalities, so I’m excited to see the sheer variety they can bring to the table. Something all four of them have in common is a hatred towards tutors, for various unknown reasons which you can try to guess from the hints being dropped around in the episode.
It was exciting to see the tutor Heine Wittgenstein (Ueda Keisuke) striking the iron while it was still hot by going after Leonhard (Hirose Daisuke), the tsundere prince that was the most hostile towards him. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Leonhard had such an interesting conflict of character going on inside him, and a brilliant job was done transitioning between comedic and serious moments.
With Bruno being the next prince Heine has to deal with, the next battle looks to be one of wits. Bruno seems very studious, and his disdain seemed to be caused by hearing that Heine had no educational background.
Concluding Thoughts
I love how teaching is being portrayed as a series of mind games designed to get the best out of a student. Heine is taking his role of tutor seriously and does his job earnestly while providing multiple awesome reaction faces along the way. But not only is he preoccupied by his job in educating the princes, he is also shown to care for their wellbeing – a quality that I really admire and respect.
The fun will largely come from seeing how Heine’s attempts to solve the princes’ personal problems as well as educating them. If you like this kind of progression, in addition to bishounens, light-hearted comedy and a historical theme, Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine will no doubt cater towards your taste.
Preview
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https://randomc.net/image/Oushitsu%20Kyoushi%20Haine/Oushitsu%20Kyoushi%20Haine%20-%2001%20-%2013.jpg
Granzreich Palace is just Vienna’s Hofburg Palace transplanted into anime.
http://www.planetware.com/photos-large/A/hofburg-2.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Oushitsu%20Kyoushi%20Haine/Oushitsu%20Kyoushi%20Haine%20-%2001%20-%2029.jpg
The source manga has plenty of chibi moments like this; this episode covered the 1st 2 chapters.
https://randomc.net/image/Oushitsu%20Kyoushi%20Haine/Oushitsu%20Kyoushi%20Haine%20-%2001%20-%2034.jpg
Mmm…chocolate.
The only time I ever visited Austria was to go skiing in Salzburg.
I wish that I could have visited all the historical sites in the country because the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a beautiful melting pot of Western European and Eastern European cultures.
Someday…
There’s been some criticism on the choice of voice actors – most are newbies, and some think Aoi Shouta (Licht) is a mediocre VA.
IMO the voices sound OK, but I understand the fear – I once recall an episode of another anime, Ultimate Otaku Teacher, which used a newbie VA who’d previously been an idol singer. The animation emoted more than the vocal delivery.
Hey zztop! When I was looking through the voice actor portfolios to link, I was surprised to see that they had never done any roles before. But I would say they did a fantastic job and there needs to be more shows that give beginners a chance, because gems do exist among the new generation of talent.
Licht was quite mediocre now that you say it, but we have all the episodes left in this show to see if they can manage to pick it up.
For me, character wise this is Royal Utapri receiving lesson from Black Butler’s Sebastian(I expect Heine to be at that level, but with more humane approach in teaching).
I like the occasional use of SD character during the comedy moment, and Heine’s personal motive is something to wait for.
Though I have never seen Royal Utapri, Black Butler’s Sebastian does bear quite the striking resemblance to Heine now that you mention it.
The occasional use of SD characters is indeed quite the treat, and now that you have mentioned it, I never really thought about Heine’s personal motive! That does seem like something really large that I missed out on and I was really taking Heine for granted there.
Well what I meant is that they’re like a royal version of UtaPri guys lol. And about Heine’s motive, he did mention at the beginning (2:24) that he do this for his own personal motive, you probably miss it.
The show promised a lot of handsome bishonens, yet 5 out of the 6 thumbnails on this post show funny chibi rascals. …..
Sorry starss, I’ll fix that. Was quite sleep deprived when I was making my thumbnail choices, and the fine line between representing comedy and bishounens was lost there.
To be fair, the show seems over-reliant on chibis anyway.
I admit that I went in expecting a show with heavy amounts of yaoi undertones. It wasn’t too bad.
I don’t mind yaoi as long as the fanservice is not excessive, because at the end of the day, yaoi is just another expression of human sexuality.
But yeah, it wasn’t too bad and hopefully people don’t get the wrong impression and miss out on a perfectly good comedy.
I’m all here for the good, clean fun.