“From now on, let’s laugh, cry and live. Under the sunny skies. Laugh!”
I had placed a moderate amount of interest in this series when we had done our impressions. It wasn’t until weeks later since the show had been airing that I would actually start watching it. I marathoned the entire thing until catching up to its latest episode. And boy was I a sobbing mess. Literally, I was literally sobbing. It’s pathetic that I’m not kidding.
The plot of Donten ni Warau (Laughing Under the Clouds in English) is pretty simple. Japan is in a trasitional phase where it’s slowly leaving it’s older ways and becoming more modern. You can see some people in certain areas in kimonos and traditional Japanese clothing, while you may see other people in different parts of the country wearing suits and Victorian dresses. Samurais are disappearing, and those opposing the new modern ways revolt and cause crimes. Police chase after these criminals and send them to an island prison called Gokumonjo. But when there are criminals that slip through the police’s grasp, there’s a certain family that takes care of them. Here I introduce the Kumoh brothers.
The eldest of the brothers is Tenka. After his parent’s death, Tenka became the head of the family. He’s extremely powerful, and he’s usually the one that captures the dangerous criminals that the police can’t handle. He’s a laidback and goofy guy, but he takes his position seriously.
We have the middle brother, Soramaru. A lot of the show is centered around him. His job when it comes to the criminals is ferrying them to the island prison. He’s the more serious of the brothers. He admires Tenka, but also notes how he’s not as strong as him. Getting stronger is the theme with him, and he soon has to take up big responsibilities later. And really I just felt sorry for him.
And last but not least, there’s the youngest brother, Chutarou. He’s only a child, so he’s much more innocent compared to the others. That innocence gets a little broken later in the dark atmosphere of the show. He too also ferries the criminals to Gokumonjo, either alone or with Soramaru.
These three are the main characters, though maybe some brothers get more screentime than the other. There are plenty of more characters, but that would make this review much too long to write out. Some were more important than others.
When I had read the plot of the show, I thought it was interesting, but I also thought it was too simple. What other conflicts are there going to be? But in actuality, the plot that you read isn’t the main thing. More conflicts arise, and things become more complex. A little too complex. More and more things kept piling up, and when I was marathoning the show, I was starting to get a little confused. With the already established plot, which played it’s part in the beginning of the show, more serious conflicts arose that sort of meshed together. The criminals, a powerful beast, and a certain person one character came into contact with that’s related to a tragic time in their life. It made me wonder which plot they were going to go with, since everything seemed so important and with only 12 episodes, how were they going to take care of everything in that time? To me, I felt like they really rushed things. With the Fuma clan, I felt like they appeared out of nowhere. It was sudden. One emotionally-driven moment in the show, the part that had me sobbing, also felt too sudden. And it made me think one of the plot points presented ended abruptly. Then for a flashback episode to be after, the placing didn’t feel right.
There are also many plot holes. For what reason did the Kumoh parents die? Why was Shirasu in the state that Tenka found him in? What are the characters’ motives? There’s many questions like these left out in the open without any answer. I thought that there would be another season, but when checking the manga, it only has 29 chapters and it’s already completed. It has a sequel manga, but there are only 2 chapters of it so far. So, I won’t get the answers I’m looking for anytime soon. The ending felt a little predictable and also was rushed. It also felt too easy. They went up against something dangerous, and the next thing they knew it was all already over. It’s was kinda underwhelming.
With these plot holes, and because things were rushed, it can create some character development flaws. We don’t know much about some of the characters, such as Sousei for example. The actions of one character made me pretty skeptical, seeing as how they’ve had a pretty long history with a certain group. As with the main characters – the Kumoh brothers – it’s hard to say if they grew. Chutarou didn’t have as much important screentime not until the very end. He was a naïve and sweet boy, and when losing his way later on the actions he took were understandable, but I would say he was pretty static. The same goes for Tenka, he generally stayed the same. Soramaru was really the one that went through the development. He faced many hardships and learned from his mistakes, all to become stronger. I would talk about one other important character, but it would bring up spoilers, so I’ll have to avoid it.
While Donten ni Warau has problems with its one-dimensional characters, you can still find some qualities about them that you’ll like. This show may have problems with characters and a sometimes-confusing jumbled plot, there’s one thing where this show excels at: emotional delivery. Donten ni Warau is one show this season that had me on the edge of my seat screaming at the screen. It also made me laugh. It made me cry, a lot. One Kumoh brother may have gotten more screentime, but you can just feel the love between the brothers. Tenka…oh my god. I can’t explain how amazing he is. He took responsibilities on his shoulders when his parents were killed and raised both his brothers. His way of life is basically this: laugh and smile all the way. Even in that one emotional episode, he smiled. He always does, and you can tell he really cares for Soramaru and Chutarou. Everything he did, he did it for his brothers. And it’s beautiful. I’m also a sucker for sibling relationships, and theirs is probably one of my favorites. I wanted them to live, to win, to have a happy life together. I really cared about them, every single time. I can especially gush about Tenka all day, but I won’t do that. He’s just amazing, and I love him so much. Their last words in the end really touched my heart.
I liked the soundtrack. I especially loved the first opening and the ending. Wasn’t crazy about the second opening. I like that they changed the visuals of the opening and the ending when new events took place in the show concerning characters. Animation was pretty good. I liked the style, and I love the Kumoh brothers’ designs (I love black and red color schemes). Fighting scenes were decent. Sometimes I felt like the animation would drop, but for the most part it stayed consistent.
Donten ni Warau has its flaws. Plot wise, there was so much going on that it jumbled together. Crucial scenes always happened so suddenly, and things were resolved abruptly as well. The ending was predictable and a little unsatisfying, and it left me wanting more. Characters were one note. But even so, I really enjoyed watching this show. If I can feel strong emotions towards characters and their bond, then you got me. I’m probably going to do a quick read of the manga and see if there were things left out, and then move on to the sequel manga. Even if there were flaws, there were good things about it. The plots are actually rather gripping, but maybe if they had spread it out a little more, then it would have been more effective. But, still enjoyable and I had a lot of fun watching. I’d still recommend this show to people, just to give it a try. The show was called Laughing Under the Clouds, but I spent more time Crying Under the Clouds.
P.S.: I absolutely adore Tenka.
