Miss Hokusai

A sarusuberi in Tokyo.

The Japanese title is sarusuberi (百日紅), the Japanese name of Lagerstroemia indica. Sugiura explained that Japanese culture remarked that the tree keeps blooming abundantly while its flowers fall. The author compared the vigor of the plant and that of ukiyo-e.[2]

The manga story consists of episodes which are not necessarily connected to each other. They feature O-Ei and her life in Edo, as she works in the studio of her father. The younger sister appears in one of the episodes.

The anime story begins in Edo in 1814, during the Edo period. O-Ei is one of the four daughters of the painter Tetsuzo, who later became known as Hokusai. The film takes place when O-Ei reaches adulthood, while her father, aged about fifty, is already a recognized artist in his country. Tetsuzo is known for his famous painting skills, such as painting the Great Daruma or two sparrows on a grain of rice. O-Ei has the talent and obstinacy from her father. The studio in which they both work is completely cluttered. O-Ei paints often at her desk, without signing her work, in order to complete the orders, and does not get any recognition for her talent.

The film alternates episodes of the life of O-Ei and her father and the painters that visit, especially Zenjirō Ikeda (Keisai Eisen), who later became known for his bijin-ga, and Kuninao Utagawa. Several scenes feature Japanese mythology and Buddhism. After accidentally damaging a Japanese dragon painting that her father had to deliver the next day, O-Ei had to repaint the dragon herself. During the night, a heavy storm breaks out and the dragon descends from the clouds. This could be derived from a Tang period story which details a technique for capturing a dragon in a painting. The topic of ikiryō is also depicted, such as when Tetsuzo's astral hands fly, or when they investigate rumours about a famous oiran in the Yoshiwara district, whose astral head tries to leave her body during the night. The Amitābha Pure Land Buddhism is also a theme, such as when the wife of a patron is losing her mind because of a painting of jigoku (Buddhist hell) by O-Ei. Tetsuzo realizes that O-Ei did "not finish" the painting and he completes it by adding the image of Kṣitigarbha, which finally gives the wife peace. The Buddha makes another appearance with two Bodhisattvas in a dream sequence.

The film also explores the relationship between O-Ei, Tetsuzo, and her half-sister O-Nao from her father's first marriage. O-Nao is blind from birth and sickly, but Tetsuzo, who is afraid of death and disease and hates the sick, never visits her. O-Ei takes care of her by taking her to Ryōgoku Bridge, describing the landscapes and making her touch, listen and feel the world. When O-Ei's younger sister falls ill, she convinces her father to finally visit, and he even paints a picture of a protective deity. But the little girl does not recover and passes away. She enters the studio in the form a strong gust of wind, leaving behind on the floor a single tsubaki flower her older sister once gave her.

O-Ei remains single and is not interested in romantic relationships. She gains the interest of one of the male painters who often visits her father. However, O-Ei is interested in a different man. She attempts to pursue him, even taking the uncharacteristic effort to dress up to go to a show with him, but ultimately gives up her pursuit after seeing him with another woman. Her father entrusts her with orders for erotic shunga prints, and customers reproach O-Ei's drawings for being too coldly executed. She visits a male prostitute in an attempt to gain sexual experience to improve her erotic painting techniques, but in the end she remains uninterested in sexuality.

The film ends by detailing the fates of the main characters. Tetsuzo, who became Hokusai, died at the age of 90. On his deathbed, he humbly lamented, if only had lived for 5-10 more years, he might have become a great artist. Zenjiro gained some fame from painting women. He died a year before Tetsuzo. O-Ei got married, but it didn't work out. She returned to Tetsuzo's workshop, surviving him by nine years. One summer's day in 1857, she went for a walk and disappeared. The exact circumstances and place of her death are unknown.

O-Ei

Voiced by: Anne Watanabe (Japanese); Erica Lindbeck (English)

Katsushika Hokusai

Voiced by: Yutaka Matsushige (Japanese); Richard Epcar (English)

Ikeda Zenjiro

Voiced by: Gaku Hamada (Japanese); Ezra Weisz (English)

Utagawa Kuninao

Voiced by: Kengo Kora (Japanese); Robbie Daymond (English)

Koto

Voiced by: Jun Miho (Japanese); Barbara Goodson (English)

O-Nao

Voiced by: Shion Shimizu (Japanese); Courtney Chu (English)

Iwakubo Hatsugoro

Voiced by: Michitaka Tsutsui (Japanese); Marc Diraison (English)

Kichiya

Voiced by: Miyu Irino (Japanese); Kevin T. Collins (English)

• Official website
• Official Japanese website (in Japanese)
• Sarusuberi (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Sarusuberi Miss Hokusai at IMDb
• Sarusuberi Miss Hokusai at The Big Cartoon DataBase