Winter Cicada
(Haru wo Daiteita: Fuyu no Semi)

While watching Winter Cicada, I was entranced with the beautiful scenes and creative story line. This story comprised of 3 OVAs, was able to convey years of a relationship and really fleshed out the two characters that were the focus. This passionate tale is based in an historical setting which lends a realistic aspect to the tale. There is a series of flashbacks that explains the story and the flashbacks are done very well so that there is none of the confusion that can sometimes happen. The colors are bright and look very good and the music just offsets the OVA perfectly.

The story begins with a brilliant fight between warships. The Bakufu Clan is fighting the Choshu Clan for possession of the Choshu's advanced warship Stonewall. The Bakufu are not successful at their attempt to take the ship. Throughout this, we get the first glimpse of the main characters of the story, Kusaka Touma and Akizuki Keiichirou. Kusaka is from the Choshu Clan and Akizuki is from the Bakufu Clan.

We find out that the Tokugawa shogunate feudal political system that has lasted over 200 years is on the verge of collapse as the feuding clans in Japan are fighting over whether to have an open-door policy regarding foreigners. The Choshu are adamantly opposed, while the Bakufu are more liberal regarding the issue. Kusaka is at a completely different end from the rest of his family, he wants to see a unified Japan with such a policy.

Seven years before the scene with the ships, Kusaka and another member of the Choshu clan, Aizawa, attempt to stop some of the Choshu from burning down an embassy in Edo. By the time they reach the embassy, it is already in flames and they run the risk of being blamed for the act. They try to escape but are blocked by a fence. A Bakufu samurai appears and breaks the fence, letting them escape. From that encounter Kusaka is taken aback. That samurai, who we later discover was Akizuki, makes a speech that affects him to his core because the samurai says all of the things that he believes as well.

A few years later, Kusaka meets with Akizuki again and their relationship begins. It is a wonderful story of two men that come from completely different ends of society and yet forge this bond that lasts throughout the war. The tragic, yet beautiful, ending does not come as a surprise given the social and political pressures that the two are put under but it hurts all the same. I would recommend this story to anyone who wants to see a romantic story with enough action in it to satisfy those who want to see it, and yet a good enough story to appease those who just enjoy a creative plot.