Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
IAmGrace
I think this anime was great in his own way the story didn't have that much action and they didn't make it unrealistic it was different so I will compliment that. Though it may seem some viewers will find it boring but for me it's unique and fantastic. the characters were pretty less and simple to get on to. I enjoyed first 3 4 eps then later on felt kind of boring. but overall its decent anime. I don't know if others will fell the same way but for me its a 6 out of 10 lets say. I really liked that one character with a white hair named Yaichi.
Read at the sourceFleure
The streets glow with a crimson hue.
Upon closer gaze, a pattern of five-pointed leaves stained with a fiery red flutter in synchronized elegance, encapsulating the essence of an enigmatic tale told in the 12-episode anime titled Saraiya Goyou or House of Five Leaves. Based on the manga by Natsume Ono, Saraiya Goyou tells a slow-burning narrative revolving around an unemployed samurai named Masa, who in simple desperation, finds himself hired by Yaichi – the leader of a small band of thieves who call themselves the Five Leaves.
The bulk of the series focuses on the dynamics between the members of the Five Leaves, specifically Masa and Yaichi. Naturally then, this series is an entirely character-driven drama that entices with a very clear handle on its ambitions. Surprisingly enough, the…
Read at the sourceCoolCat0615
House of Five Leaves is an utterly mesmerizing Samurai drama that follows the dealings of a gang of thieves called Five Leaves in Edo Japan, who focus on kidnapping and ransom to make a profit. Despite the intriguing premise the show sadly went overlooked by most at the time of its release. This is likely due to the focus on dialogue and character interaction rather than swordplay and large-scale fights. It's a real shame too because the characters themselves are really something to behold.
Each member of the Five Leaves gang receives a small character arc that delves into their motivations and attitudes towards thievery. The show constantly explores the idea of when it is and isn't okay to commit a crime. Some are earning money to support another, others are following a code of loyalty,…
Read at the sourceZephSilver
Every now and then a show is needed to unwind to. Something to break the monotony of the typical over-the-top anime shows with "in your face" color pallete and the overused tropes. We seek these melancholic shows to provide temporary release from the norm, a sort of meditative experience if you will. House of Five Leaves is that kind of show. A show that understands its audiences' desires and executes it with a delicate balance. This certainly isn't for anyone seeking an adrenaline rush or intense action flick but rather serves as an oasis for anime fans that want to just kick back and relax. Story: 7/10
The story follows our protagonist Masanosuke as he searches for a purpose in which he can excel at. However being a wondering ronin limits his options to bodyguard duty and through this h…
Read at the sourceEneko-chan
While indubitably a good one, this anime might not be just everyone's cup of tea. Speaking of cups of tea, Saraiya Goyou is very much like a good cup of tea on a winter's evening, when you're snuggled up in a chair with a warm blanket and a good book. It's a cup of green tea, gently warming your freezing palms, with delicate yet sweet taste and subtle fragrance.
While one may call it slow-paced, and there's not much action to be seen there, its beauty lies precisely in its slow, meditative storytelling. It's a genuine drama in its portrayal of people with unique circumstances, how their fates, pasts, motivations, hopes and fears cross, clash, grow together. It's a show about forgiveness and reconciliation, with the world and with yourself, a show about how everyone starts out with differ…
Read at the sourceJodyqt
Peace and serenity, independence of the mind, graceful beauty, resting, & death; the rich magnificence of a maple leaf as it falls at the closing of its years. Before we begin, I would like to say that no other symbolism can effectively associate itself with Saraiya Goyou moreso than that of a satin maple leaf.
At this very instance, the broad versatility of references that exists within this beautiful piece of nature constructs a focal point for everything that Saraiya Goyou is and stands for. To me, it simply opts to convey every aspect of the rich symbolic context of a maple leaf through its character driven drama, plot, and art.
For story, I want to take note of the way that Saraiya Goyou handles its episodic nature by overlapping many of the stories into other episodes to effectivel…
Read at the sourceshadowfireflame
Set in the Edo period in Japan (from 1603 to 1868), this languid but engrossing anime focuses on a mysterious yakuza gang called the Five Leaves, whose members hang out in brothels and bars, drink lots of sake, and kidnap people for a living.
Yaichi, its cool and seemingly careless leader, hires an extremely mild-mannered and hesitant wandering samurai (ronin), Masanoskue, to be his bodyguard. Masa spends the anime learning about each of the four members (a former geisa, a bar owner, a former robber, and of course the enigmatic leader, Yaichi), and searching his own moral principles to determine whether or not he wants to become the “fifth leaf” of their gang.
The unusual art style is probably what makes this anime stand out most: the characters are all animated with very pointy noses a…
Read at the sourceBaconzombie
When you think of Samurai, what images flash into your mind first? Courageous warriors clad in their traditional hakama? Fierce sword fights to the death? Or maybe a lifelong journey to achieve some form of enlightenment? Saraiya Goyou, or The House of Five Leaves (I’ll refer to the show as “Goyou” for the rest of the review), is none of these. In fact, it doesn’t come close to anything our culture has widely perceived about the behaviors of these swordsmen.
Story (8/10):
Akitsu “Masa” Masanosuke is a ronin, or a masterless samurai, who lives in Edo period of Japanese history (a time period that lasted from the early 1600’s to the late 1800’s). Despite his swordsmanship skills and his humble personality, Masa never seems to be able to hold down a secure job as a bodyguard. His slightly…
Read at the sourceLima-Sama
The story is set in Edo period Japan, where a highly skilled but highly gullible and unreliable samurai is finding trouble securing a job as a bodyguard. The starving "ronin" soon catches the attention of the misterious and charismatic leader of a local criminal gang known as the "Five Leaves Gang" who hires him to serve as his bodyguard and soon, starts persuading him into officialy joining the gang. Though reluctant at first, the samurai ends up joining the gang, partly due to his critical financial situation but also due to his growing interest in the gang and its members; as time goes by and their relationship deepens he discovers that there's more to each member than meets the eye, especialy the always elusive and misterious leader.
The beauty of this anime isn't in its art style whic…
Read at the sourcePaulwillson26
For an anime with a samurai and a criminal gang you would expect an action packed series, however, instead it is slow moving focusing on the characters rather than hiding its flaws behind action and copious amounts of blood
Saraiya Goyou follows an unemployed yet highly skilled samurai, Masa, in the Edo period who because he has a personality that is difficult to warm to is unable to hold down a job or make friends. A chance meeting with the mysterious Yaichi, the leader of the criminal gang House of the Five Leaves, leads to a one-off job as a body guard for a ransom drop for a kidnapping the House of the Fives Leaves did. Surprising Yaichi with is skill with a sword Masa is then chased by Yaichi to join the House of the Five Leaves.
As progress through the series we see Masa, although…
Read at the sourcesteampunkvillain
Saraiya Goyou is a distinctive, mature work that takes a refreshingly honest look at the Edo period, romanticising it in the only sense it should be idealised; an aesthetic sense. We follow an oddly honourable band of kidnappers in Japan’s Feudal age. Yaichi, the leader of this group, the Saraiya Goyou, and the bashful ronin that becomes involved with them, Matsu, are the central characters. The pace of the series is intentionally slow, allowing it to be a completely character driven, subtle, perfectly crafted narrative. If you are looking an anime that is clash and slash, hard rock- look elsewhere; this is a skilful, meandering zither solo.
Artwork 8/10
The first aspect of the series that might catch your attention may be the artwork. It has a Ukiyo quality to it; perfectly reflecting th…
Read at the sourceJolon
Saraiya Goyou is a very sedate work that received less attention than the noitaminA time slot generally receives, and was something of a critical failure for this reason. Some people were put off by Saraiya Goyou, and more ignored it entirely.
A year after it's airing, the show deserves another look.
Story: 9
Sairaya Goyou's story is understated and slow paced, with little of the action that might be expected from a period samurai drama. Much is expressed through silence, and scenes unfold lazily, interspersed with brief segments of tension. The primary focus is on the mysterious Yaichi and his criminal associates, and the curiosity masterless Samurai Masa and Yaichi regard each other with. The plot is character-driven, and gradually learning more about the cast, their motivations and…
Read at the sourceYakarin
"A dirty stray cat"
Story (10): This is one of the most sober animes I've seen. In a quietly daily basis, it presents you with a society filled with hardship, cruelty, injustice and yet, people struggling to survive between cynicism, indiference and a little bit of hope, as fragile as a candle light.
Art (10): The art is very particular and mesmerizing. This is one of my favorite aspects of the anime. It suits the entire feeling of the characters and story perfectly: lazy deep eyes, expresive innocent eyes, mouths that look like translucent sketches of expression, gorgeous dark landscapes... not mentioning the atenttion to detail the artists paid to develope parts of the story without needing to use dialogue.
Sound (9.5): Although I'd have liked the op and ending to have a more traditio…
Read at the sourceskankfish
First of all, some people seem dissapointed in this series due to its lack of action. Don't let the edo setting fool you, this is no samurai epic. It's not about fights and blood, it's more interesting than that.
Story 8/10.
Our hero is a bit of a pussy. He's a sumurai, but so unintimidating that he can barely hold his head up without running away. His hidden skill rarely surfaces, but somehow he still manages to impress a local bandit enough to be invited into his group. Forced to betray his morals due to poverty, he befriends the members and joins their kidnapping ranks.
So starts the series. Later episodes focus on the leader of the gang, Yaichi, and his mysterious personality. Along the way the other members are also exposed in a somewhat limited fashion.
It's all done very nicely…
Read at the sourceLindle
Saraiya Goyou, or House of Five Leaves, is the latest work by cult studio Manglobe. Now, while it isn't generally a good idea for a critic to speak personally, it bears mention that this is the first time I have ever seen anything by Manglobe, so I can't really comment on how it compares to their previous works. However, the fact that Manglobe already have a cult following in spite of only having four previous works to their name (Samurai Champloo, Ergo Proxy, Michiko to Hatchin and Seiken no Blacksmith) says quite a lot about this studio. Now, I don't know if Saraiya Goyou is in the vein of their other works, but this is likely considering that Manglobe are known for having a completely unique style and presentation, both in story and visuals, and Saraiya Goyou not only delivers on this,…
Read at the sourceAlgirdyz
Now don't get me wrong by looking at the mark i gave this anime. On my scale, 7 is very high, way above average. And Saraiya Goyou really is just that. It is not a masterpiece, or even close to that, but it beats the majority of the anime we get to watch.
The story is the best part of this anime. It is not linear. Even though it is told in a chronological order with a few flashbacks, you can't discern the series of events till the very end. And even then, when you can remember all of the events, and put them together systematically, the story that appears in front of your eyes is not generic or simple. It involves a lot of completely different and unique characters. And they are unique compared not only with each other but with the whole anime medium. A sissy skilled samurai, a prostitut…
Read at the sourceSeabury
This is a most perplexing anime, one that waits until the end to tie everything together. It’s actually very boring at first, and what redeems it is that the show keeps throwing out little bits of exposition and development, keeping an interest going while moving at the pace of a turtle. I would expect most action-oriented and plot-oriented anime fans to be bored our of their skulls, and character-oriented anime fans to be frustrated at first.
If you notice the details, it is even more perplexing. It is an extremely high quality anime, the art is in this strangely solemn style, where the characters all have very low set jaws, large empty eyes, and a sort of thick-stroked gauntness which is somehow extremely emotive (a mere shift of the eyes is enough to convey as much emotion as an gasp/…
Read at the sourceIceAndCream
After seeing the last episode, I've now added this anime to my top 5 favorites.
The first word I'd use to describe it is "quirky." The art style is quirky, the music is quirky, and so are the characters.
A shy, sensitive, and naive samurai (Masa) who can't keep a job is hired to be a bodyguard for the boss of a small gang called The Five Leaves. The boss (Yaichi) is an utter mystery to most of the other characters, especially Masa. At the heart of the story is Masa discovering who Yaichi really is. And the need each human has: the need to be loved and wanted.
I watched this anime as it was coming out. I gave it a rating of 8 until the very last episode. The ending was so good, I had to raise it to 10. It really packed a punch, and gave me a lump in the throat.
I began watching it becau…
Read at the sourceDetective
What if there was an anime, an anime that was about samurai. This anime wasn't about "the strongest samurai" or "the path to glory" or even a "demon sword," but instead it was about meek looking samurai with slightly above average skills. He wasn't looking to fight the strongest fight, or defeat the overlord and free his people, but maybe, he was just looking to make his living and help his little sister back at home. That would be, if not anything, interesting. That's exactly what Sarai-ya Goyou (House of the Five Leaves) is about. This anime isn't for those who live to see explosions and special effects and isn't even for people who want to see some fight scenes - there's only about two or three in the entire series, and for an anime that has its main protagonist as a bodyguard, that's p…
Read at the sourceMimi_Taylor
Saraiya Goyou is about a gang called “Five Leaves” during the Edo period in Japan. There is very little action, the artwork is nontraditional, and the story moves at a snail’s pace. So why should anyone pay attention to this? Actually, I’d say that those points work to Saraiya Goyou’s advantage, resulting in a well-written, mature story.
Story & Characters
The members of Five Leaves make their money through undercover jobs such as kidnapping, but they are not the usual rough and tough gangsters. Most of them appear to be friendly, thoughtful people who spend their time lounging around in a relaxed environment, discussing personal issues until their next job. The gang includes a charismatic leader, a shy swordsman, a shop owner, a metallic ornament craftsman, and a woman. Their varied p…
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