Rebellious teens do stupid things, no matter the age or the country in question. This episode of Shouwa Monogatari introduced a term – and social phenomenon – I was previously unaware of: Miyuki-zoku.  This “youth tribe” did in fact first appear in Tokyo in 1964, their origins mysterious.  It’s a […] Read more

What’s this – an actual cliffhanger in Shouwa Monogatari? No matter how you slice it, Shouwa Monogatari always seems to come down to the same thing – Yuuzou-san terrorizing the family and his wife making excuses for him.  It just so happens that this time Yuuko-chan does something legitimately stupid […] Read more

Shouwa Monogatari may seem like a pleasant but shallow pool, but it runs a little deeper than you think. Slowly but surely, Shouwa Monogatari has been introducing some edgier material in with it’s simple, homespun family drama.  It’s not exactly provocative, but what it does manage to be is refreshingly […] Read more

Don’t worry, Kouhei – I never made it to Hokkaido either. You know the drill by now.  Simple, old-fashioned storytelling about basic human emotions and economic reality.  Shouwa Monogatari isn’t going to set any records for breaking new ground, but it knows what it’s good at and sticks to it.  […] Read more

Yes, it’s time for one of our occasional strolls down memory lane all the way back to 1964. There’s something about the utter simplicity of Shouwa Monogatari that never fails to move me.  As someone who grew up in a household where the next rent check and sometimes even the […] Read more

“Tilting at Windmills Wednesday” continues with another show with an, er, exclusive following… When you stop and think about it, there are very, very few anime that focus on what Shouwa Monogatari focuses on – the hard struggles of lower-middle class people to make ends meet.  Not everyone in anime […] Read more

Boy, I’ve really fallen behind on this one, haven’t I? I haven’t gone back and checked, but I’m almost positive that this is the longest gap between blogging episodes of a regular weekly series at LiA – about 10 months, in fact.  Thus are the vagaries of not speaking Japanese […] Read more

I really enjoy Shouwa Monotgatari. Despite it’s old-school animation, simplistic storylines and lack of any modern sophistication, it has a distinct charm to it that I find really enjoyable. The long waits between episodes for us non-Japanese speakers make it seem almost like an OVA rather than a TV series. […] Read more