Genji Monogatari Episode 1

Genji Monogarati is one heck of a winter series. Based on a classic Japanese novel, it portrays the courtly life of young Hikaru and the way of the stud. His dad marries Fujitsubo, a girl only 5 years older than him due to her resemblance to Hikaru's mom and Hikaru sees the girl as an object of romantic love, rather looking at her as a stepmother or an older sister at least. Yea go, young stud.

Courtly elaborations are a given. I expected the plot to move slowly and it did. Nothing much happened in the first episode. They just gave us first impressions on the primary characters while fast-tracking Hikaru's childhood. Nothing more. The "intimate" scenes at the beginning were anything but intimate or maybe it's just me being a desensitized viewer.

The art is passable. While rich in color, it just looks cartoonish (or anime-ish). which gave me a very distinct shoujo feel. There is no attempt at making the characters or the background look astounding. Let's just say that other winter series' such as RideBack outclass this one in the technical department but then again, it may just be a case of a shitty sub.

I'll have to see a few more episodes to decide if I would continue blogging this series. For sure I'll be here to cover the next episode, but I cannot assure you guys of anything beyond that.