Hello everyone and welcome back to Otaku Thursday! I hope you all enjoyed our Doki Doki Days because we sure did. It was a lot of fun to talk about all romantic things, and twisted romantic things such as our tragic deaths. Anyway, now that Doki Doki Days is over, we’re back to the old grind! Today, we’re going to be talking about some new 2022 anime–and that anime, is Sabikui Bisco.
So, Sabikui Bisco is an absolutely crazy anime. There really is no other way to put it than that. I remember that when I read the description for the anime…the only thing I really remembered was mushroom terrorism. I also remember reading it to Star who understood little but shrugged and said yeah let’s give it a go anyway. Thus we did. To be entirely honest, Sabikui Bisco is actually about mushroom terrorism, and while that sounds crazy, it’s actually quite interesting in the building of the world. To understand the idea behind the mushroom terrorism, you need to understand one thing about this world–something that is established first thing: that this is set in a post-apocalyptic Japan where there is plague of rust that affects the entire land and all living things, leaving it desolate. The rust disease is thought to have been cause by mushrooms, which is exactly why anyone who uses mushrooms (we’ll get more into that in a second) is seen as a terrorist. Essentially, by using mushrooms for any reason, you’re thought to be spreading the rust disease. Our main characters, Bisco and Milo, end up teaming up because they are looking for a ‘sabikui’ mushroom which supposedly cures the rust disease.
Now, I find this premise and this world to be very intriguing. Though it looks and sounds very wild, the premise behind it is solid. Mushrooms and fungus are kind of seen as this really bad thing in nature–they literally grow from the death of other things and many of them are poisonous, so it’s interesting Sabikui Bisco chose them for the story–having taken over after a post apoclyptic world where likely most things have died. However, the nuance I’ve already seen and which the show has hinted at, is that even though mushrooms do grow from and can cause death, mushrooms are also the basis for new life often–and they can be used for healing properties. Mushrooms and fungi are actually used to break down matter so that it can be repurposed into the world and new life can grow and thrive. The sabikui mushroom that our MC’s are looking for, is said to cure the rust disease. Isn’t that an interesting connection? The mushroom, if it truly has the properties it’s said to, can also bring about new life for the dying landscape. Once I began to think of the overall premise of the world and story of Sabikui Bisco in this kind of context, I found myself actually really excited by it. Especially when I started to try to consider what the rust disease could represent. Of course, being only a few episodes into the show–I didn’t want to overwhelm myself.
Now on the flip side of the amazement I had with the story itself, is the appreciation I have of the animation, world-building, and characters. I find the art really wild but pretty to look at. From whales and fish flying in the sky, to the cities and fields, it’s actually a delight for the eye to behold. Sure it looks pretty standard at first, but something about the coloring and lines just make it seem so sharp. And the colors do pop–especially on our main characters who somehow seem more vibrant than the color-filled world around them. I’m not an art major so I can’t really pinpoint what about it is so appealing…but it is. The characters themselves–well, I’m still learning who they are. The first episode didn’t leave me with much of an impression of Milo or Bisco. All I knew was that Milo was the good natured doctor who was using mushroom medicine to help stave off the rust disease (especially for his sister who is suffering greatly from it), and Bisco was the so-called mushroom terrorist who was using mushroom arrows to grow mushrooms and wreak ‘havoc’ upon places (when in reality he’s just trying to help stop the spread of rust). However, the more episodes I watched, the more they started to grow on me. Milo was ridiciulously kind, actually very stubborn, and always tries his best. Bisco was the seemingly crazy, a-typical shonen protag, who has definitely shown more breadth since then. He’s actually very intelligent, open-minded, and is willing to ‘play the badguy’, aka the terrorist, because he knows what he’s doing is right. I will say other characters need more characterization, I can’t wait to see more as this story continues and we explore their depths in this world.
If there is one weakness I see so far, it’s that it can be hard to remember what Bisco and Milo are exactly doing. Multiple times Star has looked at me and asked what the anime is about. Because while each episode is good, it can almost be too distracting. And you can be like–wait where are the going again? Well, they’re just exploring and looking for something. So like, it could very easily have the One Piece problem–the goal is only to get the thing, so it’s easy to go off on a ton of tangents. Forever. While it’s still early in the Sabikui Bisco anime to make any assumptions…it is based on a light novel so…yeah.
All and all, I really have been enjoying Sabikui Bisco. It’s an interesting premise, good main characters, fun action, a wacky but cool world, and full of potential. I really look forward to where this show is going to go. Milo and Bisco make a great team but I really want to see their bond deepen over time and I want to see the plot really get going as they find clues about where the sabikui is. Overall, I’m really looking forward to it. How do any of you feel about it though? Super curious to hear other thoughts. Drop them in the comments below or tweet us anytime! Until next time.
xoxo
Stay weebtastic
Luna
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