Miss Hokusai

Miss Hokusai is a period piece anime from studio Production I.G. Set in Edo, now Tokyo, in 1814, it centres around the eponymous young female artist O-Ei Hokusai. O-Ei happens to be the daughter of famed Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, celebrated for his wood-block prints of Mount Fuji. The film is adapted from a manga series; the series and the screenplay are both by female writers, which explains the refreshing change from much manga and anime subject material.

The film’s manga origins might also explain the its episodic nature, it constantly jumps around, depicting different events in O-Ei’s personal life and family life in a way that is not always totally satisfactory, or engaging, due to the lack of overlying structure.

The film is probably most interesting when looking at the dynamics between O-Ei, her father and her little sister O-Nao, who Katsushika is somewhat neglectful of. Even then the characters seem fairly uninvolving and while this might be down to seeking some degree of historical accuracy or a whole other host of reasons, the film struggles to make their lives or the drama of their situations seem in any way remarkable.

I concede a greater understanding of anime or Japanese culture than I possess would likely enhance the experience of watching this film, but while it may be a slightly glib comparison to reach for, I have never found the work of Studio Ghibli to be uninteresting or inaccessible.

The animation here, while certainly not dull, has a certain sterility and lacks the charm of some anime classics. It is a worthwhile film, with some very genuine, touching moments, but maybe one more for fans of the genre or the original manga series.