Fan Criticizes Hakyū Hōshin Engi Anime, Starts Petition Asking For Staff Explanation

An unhappy fan of Ryu Fujisaki's Hoshin Engi manga launched a petition on Sunday seeking an investigation into the origin and an explanation for the composition and script of the new Hakyū Hōshin Engi anime. The "manga- and anime-loving otaku" who started the petition identified herself as Motohara.

Motohara enjoyed the original manga in her youth and was looking forward to the series' new anime adaptation after 18 years passed since the first anime's debut. However, when Motohara saw the new anime, which premiered on January 12, she didn't like it. Even when separating it from the original manga, Motohara believes the new anime's story is "very strange." Although Motohara noted that the anime's animation is "pretty" and the voice actors' work is "lovely," she believes the series' plot and script fails.

In the first episode, the petition states that because the main character of Ō Kijin was cut (he only appears as a cameo), the protagonist Taikōbō's actions do not make sense, making him seem like a fool. Motohara believes that the depiction of Taikōbō is weak, and the lack of appeal surrounding the character is a fatal flaw.

In the second episode, the petition states that the timing of Bunchū's scene and Taikōbō and Nataku's fight scene doesn't make sense. Also, the beginning of every episode teases the episode's ending scene and fails to connect and fit well in the story.

Motohara doesn't understand the choices that led the anime to be so different from the original work. She noted that she is not alone in her criticism of the adaptation, and the petition states that articles online have expressed similar views.

The petition is asking for people who are sincerely interested in making a good adaptation to work on the anime. In addition, the petition calls for staff to halt production after the first cour (quarter year), remove the source of the problems, and then restart production with a second cour.

The petition has collected more than 1,397 signatures of its 1,500-signature goal. The petition is also open to people who may not know this work well but care about the development of future anime.

The anime premiered on January 12 and is streaming in Japanese with English subtitles on Crunchyroll. Funimation is streaming an English dub.

Crunchyroll describes the story:

A once thrived kingdom, In—now governed by an evil hermit, Dakki, and her party—is in a chaotic status with its people suffering Dakki's oppressions. Seeing this, The Hermit Band took it seriously and planned a “Hoshin Plan” which is assigned to an apprentice hermit, Daikobo, who gathered partners, captured and sealed all evil hermits, and planned to establish a new kingdom. On the other hand, the strongest and an In- royal hermit, Bunchu, stood up against Daikobo to protect the old kingdom with all his might. Thus, the death battle among invincible hermits begins...
Masahiro Aizawa is directing at C-Station, and Natsuko Takahashi is in charge of the series scripts written by Yoshiki Ōkusa and Rintarou Ikeda. Yoshimitsu Yamashita is designing the characters, while Maiko Iuchi is composing the music.