Why You Should Watch "Barakamon"

A nice little slice of life...

When people think of anime, usually what comes to mind are epic shounen battles, weird and outlandish superpowers, and high school girls doing cute things. But anime has so much more to offer, and experienced fans know that anime is capable of telling heartfelt and meaningful stories with out intense action or gratuitous fan service. 

Barakamon is one of those anime series that is able to be entertaining and endearing without taking place in some distant fantasy world and without crazy fight scenes.  Barakamon is a story with a real world setting with characters that feel just as real as our own friends and family. Even without the fantastic elements we associate with anime, Barakamon is still enjoyable and touching.

What is Barakamon about? The anime follows a young and talented calligrapher, Seishuu Handa, who is has a bit of an ego and take criticism very personally. So personally, that he punches a critic and ends up ostracized from the calligraphy community. 

As a punishment, Handa is exiled from his comfortable and familiar Tokyo home to a small village in Japan's Goto Islands. Though uncomfortable with his new surroundings, Handa expects to get some work done being in such a quiet and relaxing environment, until he meets some of the other villagers, including a small and ecstatic girl named Naru Kotoishi.

Living in the village, Handa learns to enjoy himself and not be so uptight and serious. Since he's the butt of many jokes and pranks in the village, Handa learns humility and eventually becomes less of a temporary visitor and more of a resident in the small village.

There is an actual storyline in Barakamon, but the anime is more about the everyday adventures of Handa, being dragged along by Naru and the other villagers. And what makes the anime so enjoyable, is that it is very innocent in it's humor and feels like our own daily lives when we just slow down and enjoy the company of others.

For any anime fan who is getting bored with action-packed shounen anime or with romance filled shoujo anime, Barakamon is a fun slice-of-life comedy. I would recommend this to experienced anime fans and new fans.

AIRED:  July 6, 2014 - September 28, 2014

Writing	Animation	Character Development	Overall Enjoyment
8	7	10	9