Gingitsune | Worth Watching?

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Gingitsune is a simple slice of life fantasy story that conveys the life of Makoto Saeki and her encounters with Gintaro. The duo often works together because of Makoto’s circumstances of being unable to accurately tell fortunes. This is a problem as most Sekai priestesses are proficient in the art of fortune telling. Luckily, Gintaro serves as her helping hand as the duo are able to serve their roles with Makoto bringing many hopes and promises. As promising as the series goes, the story seems to be a bit slow at first. Most episodes focuses on specific events that can be simple as solving a problem to more complex issues dealing with human relationships. This is where Makoto comes in as her ways of thinking is beneficial with human knowledge. On the other hand, Gintaro comes into play whenever there is a supernatural problem that becomes more than what Makoto can handle on her own.

As the series goes on, there are also other characters’ relationships and backgrounds revealed. This includes another prominent successor of the shrine, Satoru Kamio. The young man can be considered a prodigy especially in the arts of kendo. But unlike Makoto, he didn’t grow up in a very well treated environment. In fact, his childhood had people mistreat him and causes the young man to be isolated as who he is today. His closest friend and fox herald is an 80-year old being named Haru. Unlike Makoto and Gintaro, the relationship between Satoru and Haru can be quite one sided at first. Haru often cares for the well-being of Satoru, so much that it borders on obsession. Unfortunately, Satoru seems to rarely respond in a way that can be deemed as appreciation which because of his stoic personality. It is not until later though where their relationship is more emphasized and viewers will get to see how much they develop. Relationships are also further explored in a realistic manner especially involving parents. We get to see how children respects their elders and holding responsibility of their future. They represent the future generations as comparisons are made throughout the series of how the new generation are similar to their ancestors.

The Anime is lighthearted in its comedy. It relies on natural humor with some sarcasm and gags such as Gintaro’s love of oranges. Also surprisingly enough, there is minimal romance that is often played out as a causal sense. Otherwise, most relationships are based on events from the past such as Makoto’s introduction to the series is when she was a young child. She witnessed the first sight of Gintaro that changed her life forever. With clever usage of flashbacks, it’s also easy to feel what the experiences the characters have gone through. It can create mixed responses but surprisingly can be pragmatic. Furthermore, some of these stories sends a message with a tag of morality labeled. Unfortunately for action junkies, there isn’t much intensity or rivalries going on throughout the series. It takes on the more slice of life approach rather than the typical ‘save the world’ trope. As a simple fantasy life story, this is what it should be.

For me personally, one of the shining aspects of this Anime was the art style and the work the studio put into it. The human characters look as they should while heralds are coloured with fantasy tones. The shrines are simple, realistic, and natural. There’s a sense of mystical atmosphere that the shrines also brings out that can make viewers wonder what goes on behind its history. It’s not a magic story but creates that atmosphere of innocence such as Makoto and Haru.

The OP song, “tiny lamp” by fhána works well but lacks any catchy moments that captures the essence of the series. There’s also hardly any notable characteristics regarding its ED song. However, you know, it isn’t something I really focused on this time around to be honest with you. For some reason the story was something I really focused on the most, more than anything.

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