[Anime] A Quick Look at Gingitsune: Messenger Fox of the Gods

Yep, another one that I've managed to finally catch up on halfway through the season and Ginitsune definitely needed the time. Not saying that it's bad, quite the contrary, but an episode or two would not have been enough time to really appreciate what is going on.

The story itself is pretty simple, you have a young shrine maiden, Makoto, who is able to see the heralds of the gods and lives with her father, Tatsuo. The two of them manage a small Inari shrine dedicated to the God Ukanomitama.

Makoto, is special though, she has what's called "The Sight" and can see heralds, messengers of the gods. Seems that every temple worth it's salt has one of these, though there are apparently a few who don't for various reasons. 

In the case of her family shrine? That would be the silver fox, Gintarou. A rude, gruff and all around lazy herald by the best standards, but he has a good relationship with Makoto. While she's the only one that can see him, she seems to forget this quite a bit when others around. Typically she ends up getting him to help people, or other heralds at times, to find things that are lost and also goads him into seeing into the future a bit as they try to help all those who come to the shrine. Usually this is done with bribing him with oranges or the occasional guilt trip. Don't ask, he's got an unholy addiction to the things.

So far the animation quality has been well above average and along with the writing, voice acting and pacing of the show just a treat. One thing that really stands out though is the music, it's been incredibly well put together and is one of the highlights along with the relationship between Gintarou, Makoto and friends. There's no real over the top insanity like other shows out there right now and there are some interesting drama filled moments tossed in with the comedy that arises.

All that's not really surprising there with this slice of live/fantasy series such as this one and the old Shinto stories and folktales is always interesting and obviously not out of place. It all just works together and you get the feeling that Makota wouldn't be out of place in a Miyazaki film, nor a lot of the themes and stories running through the show. Hr relationship with Gintarou drives this heartwarming and amusing tale that really shouldn't be missed for fans of the genre. Yeah, it's a bit early to say that, but it's been good so far so might as well.

Overall I'm enjoying this one and it's been reminding me of a couple of other series out there, mostly Our Home's Fox Diety and Natsume's Book of Friends. Definitely not a bad thing there at all. It's a great way to end the weekends and always seems to make me smile by the end of it. Dunno what that says about me, but so far I'm keeping this one on the watch pile and if anyone's looking for something a little different, it's definitely worth a look.

You can check it out via Crunchyroll and as always you can follow along with us on Twitter @KitsuneHazard, Tumblr and of course Google+ for all the latest updates, news and more!