Otogizoushi is a 26-episode anime. The first 13 episodes are set in Heian-era Japan. Minamoto no Hikaru is a young girl born into a samurai family in Kyoto, while her brother Raikou is a famous archer. It is a tumultuous time in Kyoto, with widespread famine and disease. Her brother falls ill with the plague raging around the city at the same time that he is ordered to go on a mission to retrieve three magatama, sacred stones that can save the capital.

Hikaru goes in his stead, disguised as a man and accompanied by the family’s faithful lieutenant Watanabe no Tsuna. They encounter many dangers and make several friends – Usui no Sadamitsu, an easy-going, womanizing samurai, Urabe, a mysterious woman skilled in the mystic arts, and Kintaro, a loud kid who is always hungry but very strong. Eventually the five find themselves pitted against the powerful onmyouji Abe no Seimei. Hikaru also meets and falls in love with Mansairaku, a court dancer (his dance is somewhat mystical and stylized, apparently in the Noh style). At the climax of the first arc, though, she has to confront a terrible truth about Mansairaku.

In the second arc, all the characters are reincarnated in modern-day Tokyo. Hikaru is the teenaged landlady and her friends from the first arc are her lodgers. Her brother Raikou is some sort of investigative reporter but he has gone missing for a year. Tsuna too is an investigative reporter, Raikou’s kohai, specialising in mystical phenomena. Together Tsuna and Hikaru investigate several urban legends and find themselves unknowingly retracing their quest for the magatama in the Heian period. Sadamitsu, Urabe and Kintaro give a hand occasionally but don’t have as big a role until the end of the series. Hikaru finds herself helped on several occasions by the mysterious Mansairaku, who seems to know too much about the mini-disasters that seem to be hitting Tokyo with alarming regularity. Finally it is revealed that he wants to reverse the fate that he set in motion 1000 years ago and she finds herself trapped in a time warp and forced to complete Mansairaku’s work, not knowing whether this will destroy the capital, or cause it to be reborn.

Episodes 25 and 26 are separate from the two arcs. 25 occurs in modern Tokyo and shows how Urabe came to join the merry throng at Minamoto Manor. 26 is really a philosophical discourse on time, and sheds a bit of light on Mansairaku’s true role.

I liked this anime a lot, it’s completely different from any I’ve watched before (especially episode 26). The historical element is really interesting – the characters are actually (mostly) attested to in Heian-era legends. The mystical yin-yang/five elements plotline also appeals to the oriental part of my psyche. I should say though that the animation is inconsistent and sometimes the characters have weird expressions that make them look kinda strange. The second arc is also a bit slow going as not every urban legend that investigate ends up being tied into the main theme, so some of the episodes seem kind of throwaway. But overall I enjoyed it and towards the end I was staying up late just to see what happened.