The above image is from Heike Monogatari , the new TV series directed by Naoko Yamada. It hasn't been airing for long, buts so far I like it a lot. The subject and the Science Saru crew have made for something rather different from what Yamada's done before, but it still captures the unique bittersweet feeling Yamada realized in the best of her earlier work, like Tamako Love Story and Liz and the Blue Bird . She depicts characters who look out into a world they yearn to be connected to, but who are unsure if anyone will see them in return and reciprocate their feelings. Heike Monogatari focuses on Biwa, an immortal, ageless character who can see the futures of everyone around her, up to their deaths. The show will skip over large periods of time during which the people she loves, trusts, hates, etc. all age while she stays the same. She's stuck in the role of a passive observer, and haunted by the knowledge that the moments she loves will be ...
"We are in the world, not against it." - Ursula K. Le Guin