Episode 370: The Heike Story

In the 13th-century Japanese war epic The Tale of the Heike, a blind monk named Kakuichi compiled the most widely read version in 1371, setting down a story that had been passed orally for generations by traveling priests who performed it for money. The 2022 anime adaptation The Heike Story takes this classic and adds an original character—a young orphan girl named Biwa who can see the future—to serve as the audience's witness to the clan's inevitable destruction.

The hosts of Anime Cherry Bomb, Aaron and Jay, discuss the series as part of their "2022 month" programming, and they are clearly moved by it. "I had no idea it was gonna catch me," Aaron says. "Like it caught me crying at the end." Jay agrees: "Even though it foreshadows these events already, seeing it happen in real time was pretty jarring. I was definitely shook about it."

The Biwa Device: A Witness Who Cannot Intervene

The central structural choice of the anime is making Biwa a passive observer rather than an active protagonist. She is "a self-insert character for us to just follow along," Jay explains, "a third party watching everything happen." Her psychic ability lets her see the future—specifically, the violent downfall of the Taira clan (also called the Heike) who take her in—but she cannot change what she sees. This creates a sustained tone of tragic inevitability.