Once more, I am pleasantly surprised. Who would have known a show about chess could be so interesting. Not just any chess though, but shogi (将棋), the Japanese variant of the popular game. What I am talking about, is, of course, Shion no Ou (Shion’s King).
What makes this anime so interesting is the way it combines the classic ‘tournament sport’ genre with the detective mystery genre, and does it at an almost perfect level.
Shion is 13 years old. Eight years ago, her parents were murdered in front of her eyes. A shogi ‘King (technically general, but seeing as shogi has three types of generals)’ piece was found on her father’s forehead. She forced herself to forget the incident, and became mute as a result. Her next door neighbours adopted her, and encouraged her to take up the game, seeing as she is a natural at it.
The story starts with her on the way to becoming a professional ‘kishi’ (棋士). Quite a few characters are introduced, each of them with an interesting and complex background. Then the plot takes off and doesn’t stop until the very end. One of the few shows of any kind that has ever captivated me completely, it is almost a guilty pleasure, with a couple of red herrings, proper character development and a sensation of reality, merely through the playing of a board game.
The problem with writing a review for a show like this one is that one finds it difficult to discuss without going into the plot, and if one chooses to go into the plot, it is spoiled for everyone reading.
Animation-wise, it is quite standard for this day and age, having been produced in late 2007 to 2008 (Winter season). Crisp lines and expressive characters combined with a good use of colour to indicate mood bring this story to life. This is especially true of Shion herself since she is mute, and I commend the animators for making her character expressive. One small thing I noticed was that even indoors, during the shogi matches, they paid homage to older physical battle oriented tournament, with sudden winds popping up every time a player used an unexpected move or exceptional strategy, and hence, hair flying everywhere.
The shogi matches were quite well done, though it seems one has to properly understand the game mechanics and some terminology to really appreciate the subtlety of the gameplay. As another reviewer stated, they often focused the ‘camera’ on the faces of the players and spectators, instead of the board, leaving many viewers, I’m sure, confused. However, once I’d looked it up online and played a couple of games against the computer, I began to get the gist of it. After a few episodes, I got caught up in the tension of each game, with the interplay of personal and impersonal elements making every pairing unique and exciting.
The sound was quite well executed, with primarily classical music and some synth rhythm for flavour during intense matches. The opening is some J-Rock/Engrish (though not really bad Engrish) song which really doesn’t do much as an introduction, because the overall tone is much softer than one might expect after listening to it. The ending is worse, with a generic J-Pop tune that really doesn’t do much for me.
Voice acting, though, is where the producers got it right. Every character is believable from the start, and even Shion’s voice actress does a bang-up job with the few lines of inner monologue she has during each game. Romi Paku makes an appearance as Ayumi Saito (lighter blue hair in the pic above) who has a very interesting secret.
As I’ve mentioned, the characters really make this anime shine, with Shion providing the quiet, unassuming base of the story, with her tragic background, until she achieves self-realisation in the final episodes. Her foster parents, the Yasuokas (whose last name she now shares) are very well done, her mother is overprotective and her father quite a highly-ranked player himself. There is her father’s apprentice, Hisatani, who is the elder sibling figure for her, though later she surpasses him in skill.
And of course in every sports or game based show, there must be rivals. Saito is one of them, Saori Nikaido is the other. Saito gets fleshed out early on, with plenty of screentime. Saori is shallower, though she becomes a welcome friend to Shion, black haired in the picture above. Rounding out the cast of kishi are the Meijin (名人) (the highest and most prestigious rank for professional players), Makoto Hani; and the 9th dan Osamu Kamizono (an alcoholic and also Saito’s master)
Also integral to the plot are Satoru Hani, the Meijin’s estranged younger brother and the two police officers still investigating Shion’s case, whose names I can’t recall and aren’t very important anyway since everyone calls them ‘Detective’ in conversation.
Several characters in this rather large ensemble cast truly evolve throughout the series, with some becoming tragic rather than hateful, passionate instead of greedy, and, notably, the villain emerges from his ‘cool’ shell as an utter madman.
The plot is perfect and perfectly paced. I felt completely satisfied after finishing the last episode, and the production team is to be commended for it. Shogi matches take place frequently and somehow managed to draw me into the palpable atmosphere during the tournament, especially in the last half-dozen episodes, where the plot unravels itself to a final episode climax. As it is not an episodic series, I cannot say much more without giving away critical story elements, so I’ll stop there.
Somehow, this odd hybrid of a series, with chess as a focus, manages to be entirely entertaining without being at all tiresome. Again, the only small grouse I have is that shogi is too complex a game for laypeople to grasp, and without being able to see the board, even more difficult. But this is easy to forgive once viewers have been caught up by the drama and endearing courage that surrounds Shion and her shogi.
By the way, this is a standard shogi board with pieces laid out, and some notes beneath:
The side facing you shows the starting pieces and positions and the side facing away shows the promoted pieces in the same order. The pedestals at the side are where captured pieces are placed.
From left to right, or right to left, in the first row from you, are, the lance, the knight, the silver general, the gold general and the king.
In the second row are the bishop on the left and the rook on the right.
The third row is where each player’s nine pawns are placed. As you can see, the pieces can easily be distinguished according to size, and pieces for both players are identical, except the kings. One king is the reigning general (王将), the player of whom is the second to move, and the jade general (玉将) who, in effect, is challenging the reigning general, and therefore first to move.
Some differences from international chess: the lance moves in a straight line forwards, any number of spaces; pawns move forwards one space only and capture in the same way; the silver general can move one square diagonally or one square forward, hence five possible destinations; the gold general moves one square orthogonally or one square diagonally forward, hence six possible destinations. The knight jumps one row and moves one space diagonally forward, and like most pieces, cannot move in reverse.
Promotion:
Once any piece (except the gold general and the king) has moved to the opponent’s ‘home rows’, there is a choice to promote that piece. Pawns, lances, knights and silver generals are promoted to gold generals. The rook and the bishop gain the ability to move like a king in addition to their own capabilities, making them especially valuable.
Capture:
Once any piece is captured, it is returned to it’s unpromoted state, and retained for later use by the capturing player. A noted chess writer attributes this to mercenaries who switched alliances rather than be executed when captured. Pieces can then be dropped anywhere on the board to give an advantage where needed. Pieces can be captured and dropped any number of times. This can lead to a true numerical advantage in late-game scenarios, making for an added layer of complexity and strategy, due to a single drop being able to alter the course of a game.
There are a few restrictions when it comes to dropping pawns:
A pawn cannot be dropped in and column where there is an unpromoted pawn controlled by the same player, and a pawn cannot be dropped to give immediate checkmate, though other pieces can.
It is interesting to note the hierarchy of the pieces and the way they are traditionally written (Here in terms of intrinsic value):
King: 王将, 玉将 (Reigning general and jade general; current ruler and challenger for the throne.)
Rook: 飛車 (Flying chariot.)
Promoted Rook: 龍王 (Dragon king.)
Bishop: 角行 (Travels through corners. Apt, no?)
Promoted Bishop: 龍馬 (Dragon Horse.)
Gold general: 金将 (No difference.)
Silver general: 銀将 (No difference.)
Promoted Silver general: 成銀 (Uh, promoted silver, though on the piece it says whole (全), as you can see above.)
Knight: 桂馬 (Cassia (?) horse)
Promoted knight: 成桂 (Promoted cassia, though on the piece it’s written differently in a difficult to read cursive as today (今).)
Lance: 香車 (Fragrant chariot.)
Promoted lance: 成香 (Promoted fragrance/incense, though on the piece, again, it’s written in a difficult to read cursive as (仝).)
Pawn: 歩兵 (Infantry.)
Promoted pawn: と金 (Achieved gold. On the piece it merely says achieved, possibly accomplished. と is pronounced to (toe).)
Players of this game are divided into professional and amateur leagues, and for a long time (until 2006, in fact), there was male-female segregation. The male and female leagues still exist, but female players are now allowed to join the male professional league.
The amateur league has ranks from 15 kyū (級, Kyū) to 1 kyū and then from 1 dan upwards. The professional leagues have their own ranks, starting from 4 dan to 9 dan and are offset from the amateur ranks.
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