Oh! Edo Rocket

Oh! Edo Rocket
大江戸ロケット
Genre	Comedy, Science Fiction, Period Drama
Novel
Written by	Kazuki Nakashima
Published by	Ronsosha
Published	August 2001
TV drama
Inoue-Kabuki Hori-Mix "Oh! Edo Rocket"
Directed by	Hidenori Inoue
Network	Gekidan Shinkansen
Original run	August 7, 2001 – September 24, 2001
Episodes	24
Manga
Written by	Kazuki Nakashima Una Hamana
Published by	Kodansha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Monthly Afternoon
Original run	February 24, 2007 – ongoing
Volumes	2
TV anime
Directed by	Seiji Mizushima
Studio	Madhouse
Licensed by	Funimation Entertainment Index Holdings Universal Pictures (Japan) Hakuhodo DY Media Partners
Network	Tokyo MX TV Saitama Chiba TV TV Aichi TBS/MBS network
English network	FUNimation Channel
Original run	April 3, 2007 – September 26, 2007
Episodes	26
Anime and Manga Portal

Oh! Edo Rocket (大江戸ロケット, Ōedo Roketto^?, "Great Edo Rocket") is a stage play written for the Gekidan Shinkansen theater troupe by Kazuki Nakashima. It was adapted into a TV anime series in April 2007, directed by Seiji Mizushima and produced by Studio Madhouse. It is a comedic story involving a firework maker in medieval Edo and his efforts to build a rocket to carry an alien back to her people on the moon.

The series made its North American television debut on the FUNimation Channel on November 15, 2010.^[1]

Plot

The story is set in Edo in 1842, the thirteenth year of the Tenpō era. Government reforms have banned all luxuries, including plays, performances, inventions, and fireworks. Despite the political climate, Seikichi, a young fireworks maker, dreams of making a huge firework the likes of which have never been seen. But every time he fires a test rocket, he finds himself pursued by government officials. One night, a blue monster and a white monster are fighting in the woods, battling each other and battling a group of human warriors. The blue monster gains the upper hand but is distracted by Seikichi's rocket, which allows the white monster to escape. The next day, a beautiful, mysterious girl appears before Seikichi and asks him to make a firework that will reach the moon.

Throughout the series, the characters use terms and items that haven't been created yet, including a pocket calculator and television sets. The TVs are primarily used as flashback devices to bring characters up to date on events they missed. Additionally, backgrounds in the series show shops with signs advertising electronics, specifically TVs and DVDs. In Episode 12, O-Nui and Shunpei repeatedly pass back and forth between 1842 Edo and a modern Japanese railway station, even riding the train in one scene, without taking any notice of the change. There are other times when the characters acknowledge the fact that they're in an anime and comment on anachronistic language used.

Characters

Residents of Furai Row-House block

• Seikichi Tamaya - A fireworks-maker who dreams of making gigantic fireworks no one has ever seen or launched before. He is very hot-tempered and will get flustered easily. He was home schooled by his parents, who were most likely firework makers too.
• Sora - A strange but beautiful girl who appears unexpectedly in Seikichi's home. She asks Seikichi to make a rocket that will reach the moon. She is also the white sky beast, a fact which she keeps from all but a select few of her new friends. Unlike the blue beast, Sora can speak to humans while in her true form. She does this several times when alone with Ginjiro.
• Shunpei - Seikichi's brother, a mathematical genius. He is much like his brother in personality, but wasn't home schooled like him. Despite the time period, he often uses a calculator to solve his problems.
• Ginjiro - A locksmith who can break any lock with his fingers. He is also Captain of the Men in Black, code-named "Captain Bellybutton." He prefers not to be called that.
• Santa - The carpenter.
• Rokubei - The tile-maker who can't keep his mouth shut. He's a grumpy, violent guy, with enormous teeth that take up half his face.
• Rokubei's Wife - No one knows what her real name is. She constantly smacks her husband to shut him up and apologizes for his actions.
• Shinza - The mechanic who frequents Akihabara.
• Tenho - Circus performer who specializes in sleight-of-hand.
• Tenten - Tenho's exceedingly tall brother, he is also a circus performer. He rarely if ever speaks.
• Genzo - The invisible cross-dressing scale-maker, who is extremely depressed by the fact that nobody except his mother and O-Nui recognizes him. He is also a mathematical genius, shown providing solutions to problems posted publicly by Shunpei. Later in the series, he is turned into a dove by one the Old Man's contraptions.
• Genzo's Mom - An upbeat, cheery middle-aged woman who constantly tries to cheer up her son.
• O-Nui - The town-belle watchdog for public morality at the Furai Row-House Block. She acts like a puppy, often sniffing people. She also styles her hair so it looks like the tips of a dog's tail and wears hairpins which resemble large eyes. Halfway through the series, when she goes on a quest with Shunpei to find out why he worries so much, it is implied that she's the puppy from Shunpei's memory by the look of the puppy and how she reacts. Later in the series it's revealed that she really was the puppy.
• The Old Man - A mysterious old man, the landlord of the Furai Row-House Block. He is always surrounded by a coterie of young women, and has many strange inventions inside his home. At one point, the Furai block is heavily damaged by a gigantic wood-and-ceramic mecha, and the Old Man repairs it by pulling a lever on his wheelchair, which causes the damaged buildings to retract into the ground and be replaced by new, undamaged ones. In Episode 10, he is revealed to be Gennai Hiraga, an actual historical figure thought to have died in 1780. On the final episode, it's shown that he is actually an alien with a space ship hidden under the row-house.

Outside the Row-House

• O-Ise - Wealthy owner of the pawn-shop Shirahama-ya. An old friend of Ginjiro from Osaka
• O-Riku - Daughter of the owner of the Kagiya Fireworks shop
• Tetsuju the Fuse - A crazy rocketeer who lives deep inside the Chichibu mountains with tanukis as friends. He thinks he can speak the moon people language (which is gibberish) and Sora usually responds to him.
• Blue Girl - A pale, slim, white-haired woman who wears a dark-blue kimono. She is also the blue sky beast. She has to consume the vital fluids of higher beings, i.e., drink the blood of humans. She cozies up to Akai, persuading him to find and kill people for her to feed on. After a conversation with Genzo's Mom, she realizes she doesn't know her name, or even whether or not she has one. Shortly before her death, Akai gives her the name Yu.

The government

• Akai Nishinosuke - Low-ranking policeman under the South-Edo Magistrate who hates the residents of the Furai Row-House Block. He has OCD and feels the need to clean up dirt and trash from the street.
• The Men in Black: "Eyes", "Ears", "Arms", "Heels", "Ankles", "Knees" - Secret agents under the South-Edo Magistrate, they tend to constantly move in odd ways such as scuttling like insects or cartwheeling. Their code names are taken from the body parts in which their powers are concentrated.
• Torii Yozo - South Edo Magistrate.
• Toyama Kinshiro - The North Edo Magistrate who hangs out in town in disguise as Kin-san the Playboy.
• Mizuno Tadakuni - The Senior Councilor of the Shogun government, the man who banned fireworks and all forms of entertainment in town.

(These last three are based upon actual historical personages.)

Anime episodes

The first letter of each episode is spelling out a message which reads "Oh! Edo Rocket: From now on after love and turmoil...er, what was it again? See ya!" (大江戸ロケットこれからも愛と荒れ後、何だったっけ、またな!, Ō Edo Roketto kore karamo ai to are ato, nandattakke, mata na.^?) Titles in parentheses are those shown in the English dubs produced by Funimation.

#	Letter	Title	Original air date
1	お	"Crimson Fireworks Bloom in Great Edo (Bright Red Fireworks Bloom in the Great City of Edo)" "Ōedo ni Saku Kurenai Hanabi" (大江戸に咲く紅い花火)	April 3, 2007
Fireworks and rest of life's finer things have been outlawed in Edo, and the penalty for fun is harsh.
2	お	"The Man had been Waiting (The Man Was Waiting)" "Otoko wa Matte ita" (男は待っていた)	April 12, 2007
3	え	"Silver Fox Bound by Fate (A Silver Fox Bound by Fate)" "En ni Shibarareta Gin no Kitsune" (縁に縛られた銀ノ狐)	April 19, 2007
4	ど	"Don't Get Flustered (No Need to Get Excited)" "Dokidoki Muyō" (ドキドキ無用)	April 26, 2007
5	ろ	"War of Words (The Argument)" "Ron" (論)	May 3, 2007
6	けっ	"Duel for First Love (Duel to the First Love)" "Kettou Dai Hatsukoi" (決闘大初恋)	May 10, 2007
7	と	"Holy Cow, She Flew (That Crazy Girl Just Flew!)" "Tondemo nai Tonda Onna" (トンデモない飛んだ女)	May 17, 2007
8	こ	"Cause I'll Kill for Love (Love, Murder...He Does It All!)" "Koi mo Koroshi mo Yaru tte sa" (恋も殺しもやるってさ)	May 23, 2007
9	れ	"A Match for Love (Betting on Love)" "Ren'ai de Shōbu" (恋愛で勝負)	May 30, 2007
10	か	"Mysterious Cat Transformation (Madhousecatincarnations)" "Kaii Neko Henge" (怪異猫変化)	June 6, 2007
11	ら	"No-holds-barred (Poppycock!)" "Rachi mo nee" (埒もねえ)	June 13, 2007
12	も	"If you don't want to worry any more... (If You Don't Like Worrying...)" "Moshimo Nayamu no ga Iya Dattara" (もしも悩むのが嫌だったら)	June 20, 2007
13	あ	"What do you think of them? (Whaddaya Think of These Guys?)" "Anta Koitsura Dō Omou" (あんたこいつらどう思う)	June 27, 2007
14	い	"Just to tell you that I saw the future (Just to Let You Know: I Caught a Glimpse of Tomorrow)" "Ippitsu Keijō Asu ga Mieta" (一筆啓上明日が見えた)	July 3, 2007
15	と	"Suddenly Comes the New Year Big Bang (Out of Nowhere! Air Raid at New Year's)" "Totsuzen! Shōgatsu ni Daikūbaku" (突然!正月に大空爆)	July 10, 2007
16	あ	"I'm that thing! ("That Thing" Is Me!)" "Atashi wa Are yo!" (あたしはアレよ!)	July 17, 2007
17	れ	"The Murderous Tune of Dawn (Killing Melody at First Light)" "Reimei no koroshibushi" (黎明の殺し節)	July 25, 2007
18	あ	"We are up against Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu's Crypt. (Up Against the Divine Lord's Dungeon)" "Aite wa Shinkun no Kakushiana" (相手は神君の隠し穴)	August 1, 2007
19	と	"It was a Joke. (Utter Nonsense)" "Tochiguruttesōrō" (とち狂って候)	August 8, 2007
20	なん	"The woman who hardly smiles (Woman Who Smiles in the Face of Hardship)" "Nangi ni Hohoemu Onna" (難儀に微笑む女)	August 15, 2007
21	だっ	"Digressing thrice (You Get Three Digressions)" "Dassen wa Sando Made" (脱線は三度まで)	August 22, 2007
22	たっ	"It was just a one night dream (It Was Just a One-Night Dream)" "Tatta Ichiya no Yume Datta" (たった一夜の夢だった)	August 29, 2007
23	け	"Fireworks for saber dance please (Fireworks for the Sword Dance)" "Kenbu ni Hanabi o Dōzo" (剣舞に花火をどうぞ)	September 5, 2007
24	ま	"Take over it all! (Hijack the You-Know-What!)" "Marumaru o Nottore!" (○○をのっとれ!)	September 12, 2007
25	た	"When craftsman's work cries in moon... (When a Master's Work Cries for the Moon...)" "Takumi no shigoto ga tsuki ni naite..." (匠の仕事が月に泣いて...)	September 19, 2007
26	な	"Liftoff somehow (Somehow of Other, Liftoff)" "Nanda kanda no rifutoofu" (なんだかんだのリフトオフ)	September 26, 2007

Theme Songs

The Opening Theme is "Oh Edo Nagareboshi IV" by PUFFY and Ending Theme from Episodes 2-13 is "100 miles~Niji o Oikakete" by Santara and from Episodes 14-25 "I Got Rhythm" by Natural High and the Ending theme for Episode 1 and 26 is "Oh Edo Nagareboshi IV" by PUFFY

References

1. ^ "Funimation Mon 15 Nov 2010". Funimationchannel.com. http://www.funimationchannel.com/schedule/2_e01115.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-14. 

• "Oh!-Edo Rocket". (January 2007) Newtype USA p. 11.

External links

• Footage of Original Musical
• Oh! Edo Rocket - The Official Anime Website from FUNimation
• Oh! Edo Rocket (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia