Onmyouji

Going into this anime, I just wanted something to watch while playing video games. It's nice that Netflix has all 13 episodes, and in English dub. This is a show about demons, curses, and the supernatural, but also a story about friendship and unexpected tragedy. What people need to understand going into this, I think, is that Hiromasa is the main character, but he is NOT the protagonist. Ultimately Seimei, through the perspective of Hiromasa as the audience stand-in, is the protagonist who struggles with his own loneliness, trauma, and self-esteem to come out at the end knowing he is worthy of love and respect, ... from both his peers and his friends. This is a story about brotherly love, overcoming childhood bullying, and addressing your negative feelings so that you don't become a demon or a ghost yourself.

Onmyouji is one of those anime that rely heavily on emotional payoffs at the end of the season. The beginning is a bit boring and the characters all feel one dimensional. Some, do get more depth. Others remain with that problem. It is for that reason that this story isn't winning any rewards. Despite that, I did enjoy it. While not entirely historical, the main character was a real person in history. That and some cool Japanese mythology gives the story a bump. Like I said though, it relies entirely on you, the viewer, understanding and appreciating the message it is trying to deliver. If ... that falls flat, then the anime falls flat. I cannot give it an higher score than a five overall. In fact, that may be too high. Nothing else about this anime is above average anyway. In fact, I would argue that the animation is really bad. Lots of still frames, weird character placements, and some mistakes. All of which were spotted on my FIRST and ONLY watch of this anime. This anime won't be remembered as it excels at nothing.

Despite all those things being true, my own personal enjoyment of this anime begs for me to reconsider. If I judged purely on my own enjoyment of it, a six would be warranted. That is because, even with the bland characters, the payoff did hit me at the end. I sort of just...understood. It made me think about the human experience and how negative emotions and thoughts can poison the good that we already have and make our lives more miserable. It may have been me over thinking it, but that is the way I saw it.

This anime had the potential to be great, but Netflix didn't allow it to reach that level, and it ended up falling flat.

The story had a cool power system, the demons were intriguing, and the overall vibes were spot on. However, despite these strengths, the adaptation missed the mark, and several major flaws stood out.

1) Lack of Character Development: The characters don't have any background stories that would make me, as a viewer, care about them. I barely know anything about the MC, and honestly, he looks more like a background character in both appearance and personality. He's incredibly dull, and the only notable ... thing about him is that he plays the flute, which barely serves any purpose in the story.

2) Pacing Issues: The pacing of this anime is all over the place. At times, it was so slow that I literally fell asleep (not joking). This is surprising, considering they had a complete manga to work from, yet they somehow chose not to use it effectively.

3) Poor Animation Quality: The animation is horrendous at times. You can barely see the characters’ mouths move, and the overall animation feels cheap and lackluster.

Altogether, these issues create a recipe for disaster. If it had been done right, it could have achieved the same success as *The Apothecary Diaries*, which I feel is quite similar. The key difference is that *The Apothecary Diaries* featured a fun main character with actual depth, a solid backstory, and stunning animation—all areas where this anime fell short.