Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
Alternative title:
Tensui no Sakuna Hime (Japanese)
天穂のサクナヒメ (Japanese)
Directed by Masayuki Yoshihara
Written by Jukki Hanada
Music by Yoshiaki Fujisawa
Directed by Masayuki Yoshihara
Written by Jukki Hanada
Music by Yoshiaki Fujisawa
Studio P.A. Works
Licensed by Crunchyroll
Naomi Ōzora as Sakuna Hime
Aoi Koga as Yui
Hikari Kubota as Mirute
Miwa Kohinata as Kamuhitsuki
Rika Kinugawa as Kokorowa Hime
Rika Momokawa as Kaimaru
Riki Kagami as Ashigumo
Ryōta Yano as Tauemon
Sōma Maeda as Kinta
Takashi Narumi as Tama-Jii
Yūji Kameyama as Ishimaru
Original network TXN (TV Tokyo), AT-X
Original run July 6, 2024 – September 28, 2024
Episodes 13
Plot summary from Anime News Network:
In the far eastern corner of the country of Yanato, it has been believed since ancient times that there are two worlds in this land: the world at the top where the gods live and the world at the foot of the mountain where humans live. Princess Sakuna, a high-ranking deity who lives in the world of the summit, was born to a war god and a fertility god but led a lazy life, wasting the grains her parents had stored. One day, due to some strange circumstances, she is banished from the city of the gods and sent to Hinoe Island, an isolated island inhabited by demons. In a barren land where there is barely enough food for the next day, she cultivates the soil, grows rice, and sets out to defeat the demons. The humans who have stumbled into the world of the gods and the novice fertility god begin their rice-husk-filled communal life together.
Studio P.A. Works
Licensed by Crunchyroll
SA/SEA: Medialink
Original network TXN (TV Tokyo), AT-X
Original run July 6, 2024 – September 28, 2024
Episodes 13
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a silly, but oddly engaging story of a celestial princess who is sent to the island where her parents, the Goddess of Rice Cultivation and the God of War, grew rice and fought demons and eventually vanished, leaving the island in the defense of weasel-like creatures (the Ashigumo) who are slowly losing their battle with the demons. The anime is based on a manga which in turn is based on a computer game, but there’s little sign of that genesis in the story.
Sakuna arrives at the island with her familiar, Tama, a green and gold floating dog thing who is the personification of The Blade of Hoshidama, her father’s battle weapon. Sakuna is tempestuous and immature, and Tama is kind of her Uncle Iroh, dispensing an amusing blend of wisdom and irony.
A random group of humans that got caught up in a Celestial bridge boo-boo also came along.
Myrthe is a European missionary who proselytizes the faith of Formos, which vaguely resembles European faiths only without the rapey-killy genocidal stuff.
Tauemon is a giant samurai, which sounds like someone massively useful when confronting demons, only he’s a inept pacifist, good at nothing except begging forgiveness for his ineptitude. He couldn’t pour water out of his boot if you printed the directions on the heel. But he’s actually determined to do right, and is a generally likable character.
Kaimaru is a non-verbal toddler, basically there to make silly noises and be annoying. But it turns out he can talk to animals.
Kinta is a young boy who wants to be a samurai, but learns that one route to that goal is by learning the art of blacksmithing.
Yui is a retiring young girl who wants only to please Kinta, and learns the arts of sewing and weaving work to that end.
All turn out to be more than they appear.
We learn rather a lot about the niceties of rice cultivation—a rather astonishing amount, really. At first, I thought, “I live in a mountainous area with volcanoes, very snowy winters and periodic drought. What does this have to do with me?” Then I considered the geography of both China and Japan and shut my mouth.
As the title indicates, all does not go swimmingly, and the characters all mature and expand their abilities over the 13 episodes, and it becomes a charming and quite satisfying story.
Now on Netflix and Crunchyroll.