If you herd it’s a show about Kappa then well, your not wrong but after watching an episode you may wonder what you had watched. The first thing many try to explain is that “It’s a Kunihiko Ikuhara anime” as if that really explain anything. Although the show starts off fast pace it also don’t take the time to explain anything. For those who don’t know, that is simply a style of a director name Kunihigo Ikuhara.
Kunihigo Ikuhara is known for the three shows he both storyboard and was the director of, the ones he had full control over. These are Revolutionary Girl Utena, Penguin Drum, And Yuri Kuma Arashi. But he worked on a lot more shows then this. One of his biggest works before he made it out on his own was his work on Sailor Moon. He worked as the series director doing a few seasons including Sailor Moon S season, which some ague is one of the better seasons for being Darker and Edgier. But in the end he was adapting a Manga. This is different then his major works after he establishes a group he supervises. For Revolutionary Girl Utena the TV show and Manga was made at the same time but progressed in different directions
Saying that he has his own style is an understatement. The first episode of Sarazanmai does not hide this. Some claim he is obsessed with symbolism. He never stops the action to explain anything. But this also means we don’t stop and get large info dumps that slow down the action. Others state he finds socially conscious ways of pushing wild aesthetic creativity. He is one of the few directors that people paint on anything he playing a big part in. The only other major name that compares in my mind would be Isao Takahata, director of the many Studio Ghibli films.
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