"Inu-Oh," the animated film depicting 14th-century Japan, starts conventionally with the look and exposition one might expect of such a venture. After all, it's adapted from Hideo Furukawa's historical novel "Tales of the Heike: Inu-Oh," set during a period of warring clans in the 1300s. Still, there are hints early on that this won't be like other period epics: It focuses on biwa priests and Noh performers. There's a fleeting glimpse of a baby born impossibly deformed. And a mystical accident leaves Tomona, a fisherman's son, fatherless and blind.
Then things get crazy.
Visionary animation director Masaaki Yuasa says through an interpreter, "The turning point, going from traditional to unconventional, is when Inu-Oh [a Noh performer] and Tomona meet. From there on, a lot of strange things happen, unexpected things. Things get innovative."
