Funimation original The Heike Story has left us in awe, especially after the end of the latest episode. This retelling of an old Japanese civil war is something you do not want to miss this season.
As symbolic as the show is, Funimation has released an equally symbolic visual for Biwa’s remaining story.
Funimation has commissioned a special key visual for The Heike Story in collaboration with Science SARU.
In the visual, Biwa is playing her namesake among the sala flowers. The short life of sala flowers represents the eventual downfall of the Heike clan.
A character art of Biwa in her old poet state was also released.
This visual features Biwa with long white hair dressed in a beautiful lotus-themed red kimono. She appears to be blind as there is no coloration, even in her future seeing eye.
There are some sequences in the anime which are portrayed as a retelling accompanied by a storytelling poem. A white-haired Biwa sings these among falling sala flowers, supposedly in the future, as portrayed in the character art.
The original Heike epic is written in the form of an epic poem sung by a blind biwa-houshi.
The tale was passed down through generations of biwa players until it was eventually written down. Biwa is probably playing that narrator role in the story.
Surprisingly, she does not exist in the original text, even though she is the main character in this version. Although people might complain about the loyalty of this adaptation to the original, Biwa’s role is just to tell the story.
About The Heike Story
The Heike Story is an original anime by Studio Science SARU which follows the story of a musician girl Biwa, who has the power to see ghosts and the future. She befriends the heir of the powerful Taira clan and prophesies the clan’s eventual downfall.
The story is adapted from Hideo Furukawa’s novel Heiki Monogatari, a retelling of the 12th century Genpei War between the Taira and the Minamoto clan for the control of Japan.
Source: Funimation Blog
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