Fuse Teppō Musume no Torimonochō

2012 Japanese film

Japanese name

Kanji

伏鉄砲娘の捕物帳

Transcriptions
Revised Hepburn	Fusé: Teppō Musume no Torimonochō

Directed by

Masayuki Miyaji

Screenplay by

Ichiro Okouchi

Based on

Fuse Gansaku: Satomi Hakkenden
by Kazuki Sakuraba
Nansō Satomi Hakkenden
by Kyokutei Bakin

Produced by

Yōsuke Tsuruki
Kazuaki Takahashi
Masayuki Otsuka

Edited by

Kumiko Sakamoto

Music by

Michiru Oshima

Production
company

TMS Entertainment

Release date

October 20, 2012 (2012-10-20) (Japan)

Running time

110 minutes

Country

Japan

Language

Japanese

Fusé: Memoirs of the Hunter Girl (伏鉄砲娘の捕物帳, Fusé: Teppō Musume no Torimonochō), also known as Fuse: A Gun Girl's Detective Story and Fusé: Memoirs of the Huntress, is a 2012 Japanese animated film directed by Masayuki Miyaji based on Kazuki Sakuraba's novel Fusé Gansaku: Satomi Hakkenden.^[1]^[2] Both novel and film are adaptations of Kyokutei Bakin's epic novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, focusing on a female hunter named Hamaji.

Plot

Hamaji is a girl who lives alone in the mountains, surviving as a hunter just like her grandfather. One day she receives a letter from her brother Dousetsu who lives in Edo. Reaching the big city, she gets lost and ends up meeting Shino, a fusé who helps her in finding her brother's house. Dousetsu wants to team up with her to win a bounty award to hunt down the fusé, which are people who are part wolf and part human that eat other people's essence. With her hunting skills she finds and kills a beautiful female fusé and she and her brother share in a huge reward. However, this distraughts Shino, which prompts him to execute his plan of hunting down Edo's shogun and kill him in order to avenge his fusé kin. Later, Hamaji and Shino form a connection that enables him to escape from Edo and accept his situation.

Characters

Main

Shino (信乃, Shino): Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano^[3]; One of the last remaining fusé who is also a famous kabuki theater actor. Behind the curtains, he secretly attacks fusé hunters in order to avenge his dead kin. While Hamaji is aware of his identity of being a fusé, he constantly holds his urge to eat her human essence.

Hamaji Ooyama (大山浜路, Ooyama Hamaji): Voiced by: Minako Kotobuki^[3]; A young girl who lived in the mountains alone, following her grandfather's footsteps of being a hunter. She later receives a letter from her brother, prompting her to go to the city of Edo and cross paths with Shino.

Secondary

Dousetsu Ooyama (大山道節, Ooyama Dōsetsu): Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi^[3]; Hamaji's brother and a fusé hunter.

Meido (冥土, Meido): Voiced by: Kanako Miyamoto^[2]; Hamaji's author friend whom she met after Meido published printings about her fusé hunt.

Funamushi (船虫, Funamushi): Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto^[2]; Dousetsu's wife.

Iesada Tokugawa (徳川家定, Tokugawa Iesada): Voiced by: Nojima Hirofumi^[3]; Based on the historical figure Tokugawa Iesada, he is a shogun with an unhealthy obsession of hunting down fusé.

Itezuru (凍鶴, Itezuru): Voiced by: Nana Mizuki^[2]; Edo's top courtesan and Shino's acquaintance who is secretly a fusé. Hamaji and Dousetsu later hunt her down, with Dousetsu being the one to cut her head off.

Makuwari (馬加, Makuwari): Voiced by: Kamiya Hiroshi; A fuse hunter with a fake fusé eye and a bloodlust for hunting their heads for bounty.

Supporting

Bakin Takizawa (滝沢馬琴, Takizawa Bakin): Voiced by: Katsura Utamaru^[2]; Based on the historical author Kyokutei Bakin, who wrote the original epic novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden which the film was based on.

Yoshirou (世四郎, Yoshirō): Voiced by: Hitori Gekidan^[2]

Koujou (口上, Kōjō): Voiced by: Atsushi Abe^[2]

Zanzou (残三, Zanzō): Voiced by: Rokurō Naya^[2]

Aboji (網乾, Aboji): Voiced by: Hideyuki Umezu^[2]

Daikaku (大角, Daikaku): Voiced by: Kenji Hamada^[2]

Juushoku (住職, Jūshoku): Voiced by: Naoto Takenaka^[2]

Hyakka Shōten Shopkeeper (百花商店店主, Hyakka Shōten Tenshu): Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara^[2]

Media

A special Blu-ray and DVD set was released featuring cover art by graphic designer Wakamatsu Kaori. It also included a booklet and postcard set by the same designer.^[4] NIS America later licensed the film and received the English-subtitled film in a Premium Edition on May 6, 2014.^[5] Anime Limited has licensed the film for the British Isles and will release the movie on Blu-ray in 2022.

References

^ "Fusé Historical Fantasy Anime Film's Trailer Streamed". Anime News Network. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Nana Mizuki Joins Fusé Anime Film Cast". Anime News Network. 13 August 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Official website (in Japanese)
^ Wakamatsu, Kaori. "『伏鉄砲娘の捕物帳』のブルーレイ&DVDが発売＆イベントのお知らせ" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 May 2013.
^ "NIS America Licenses Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress Anime Film". Anime News Network. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2020.