Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion is an anime based on the eponymous manga detailing the first Mongol invasion of Japan. Before I dive in, some context is needed. Just be aware I'm not a Japanese history expert, so forgive me if I have any inaccuracies.
If you know anything about pre-medieval history, you probably know that the Mongols were fearsome warriors who managed to conquer a large chunk of Asia and Europe.
The Mongol conquests over the years (Source)
Unfortunately, due to a lot of infighting, the empire broke up into 4 independent territories, each with their own leader. In China, Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, conquered the country's then ruling Song Dynasty to set up his own empire, the Great Yuan (purple on the map).
The Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368) was like no other Chinese dynasties. For the first time in its history, the middle kingdom was ruled not by the ethnic Han, but by the Mongols. At the time, the Mongols were considered to be barbarians by the Han, and they were right, as they lived up to their barbarity. One good example of that was the Four-Class System which the Mongols implemented once in power. This system divided Chinese society into 4 classes; the Mongols, the Semu people, the Han and finally the Song southerners, and as one would expect, the two classes at the bottom were heavily discriminated against by those on top in all areas of life, from taxes to punishment.
Prior to the Mongol invasion of Japan, the Japanese were ruled by the Kamakura Shogunate, a feudal military government established by the Shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1185. Essentially, the shoguns would rule the country by controlling puppet emperors to do their bidding. The stark difference from this period compared to the one before was its heavy emphasis on the military and a less centralised bureaucratic system they previously had in place. Consequently, this period also gave rise to a new warrior class; the samurai who valued duty, loyalty and bravery above everything else. For their guiding force, this new fighting class also adopted Zen Buddhism, which appealed a lot to their warrior sensibilities. It's also to note that the first acts of ritual suicide (seppuku) were committed during that time.
In 1266, after successfully subjugating the kingdom of Goryeo (Korea), Kublai Khan set his eyes on the eastern Island nation. He felt confident enough that he sent people to deliver his letter, addressed to the heads of Japan. The content? Unconditional and amicable surrender to the Mongol empire as a vassal state.
Original Letter from Kublai Khan (Source)
Translation of the letter (Source)
If Japan accepted, that would have been the end of the story, but instead, the regent of the shogunate, Hōjō Tokimune rebuffed the Mongols by ignoring their demands. The Mongols would continue sending emissaries to Japan, sometimes using Koreans but to no avail. Hurt by this affront, Kublai Khan decided to prepare for an invasion of Japan. However, he didn't have the resources for a navy, and hence, sought help from the king of Goryeo who built him ships for the invasion.
To my surprise, this anime only deals with the first invasion of the Mongols when they first landed on the island of Tsushima. After watching it and consulting online resources about this event, details of this invasion is scarce, which is why I think it was a brilliant idea to have the story happen on the island. That way, the writers, or should I say the manga artist, had the freedom to freely invent his own characters and have the drama unfold there, without going against the island's own history.
A view from Tsushima Island (Source)
Definitely, the most significant event of this invasion was that the head of the Sō clan and ruler of Tsushima, Sō Sukekuni, fought the invaders but was ultimately killed in action.
Sō Sukekuni
Additionally, we know from history that the islanders who resided there at the time were killed by the Mongols, and the Goryeo forces led by the Korean general, Kim Bang-Gyeong.
Kim Bang-Gyeong
One overlooked aspect of this series that I haven't seen anyone talking about is that one of the Yuan General is a Jurchen (Also known as Manchu), which is indeed a rare sight. Honestly, I don't think any other anime or manga has ever represented Jurchen people before, so this is probably a first. These people share a distant past with the Mongols but have otherwise developed their own language and culture separate from them. Their homeland used to be called Manchuria, which was located northeast of China. However, unlike the Mongols, the Jurchen people's identity has pretty much disappeared since they have integrated deeply into Chinese society. Yet, only 268 years after the end of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, these people would unify China again resulting in the last dynasty of the country (Qing Dynasty). Like their distant relatives, the Jurchens also oppressed the Han as well by forcing them to adopt a particular hairstyle.
Liu Fuheng
And make no mistake, Liu Fuheng was also a real historical figure. It's kind of amazing that these names pop up all over Wikipedia, even though they have no English articles of their own. Perhaps, they weren't renowned enough to deserve their own page.
The amount of historical details is not confined to the Mongol side, as the Japanese characters would sometimes also refer to the Genpei wars (180–1185), which was a major clan war that led to the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate.
Of course, I can go on about the richness of the setting, but you get the gist of it. I have the impression that people who watched this series have kinda overlooked many details this show has to offer and I do believe that just knowing a little bit of what you are watching as a general rule can help the experience tremendously.
All I've done is give you tidbits of what the setting is, but I haven't told you what it's actually about. The story follows that of Kuchii Jinzaburō, a samurai and former retainer of the Kamakura Shogunate. He's also one of the prisoners from Hakozaki who were in exile to Tsushima Island.
Kuchii Jinzaburō
Once there, he along with a group of other prisoners are recruited by the daughter of Sō Sukekuni, Princess Teruhi to lead the first line of defense against the incoming Mongol invasion.
Princess Teruhi
That's all you really need to know about the story before diving any further. Heads will be chopped, tears will be shed, top 10 anime betrayals will happen. Furthermore, if you're familiar with romantic anime subplots, then you should probably guess why she was included in the first place. Princess Teruhi will make funny blushing faces and act like a total tsundere towards our main character, Kuchii Jinzaburō, to his great confusion. If you're into that sort of thing, then by all means, watch this anime. In fact, I can guarantee you that a very large portion of the show's audience will be checking out, or has already checked out Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion just for her. After all, she has a mark on the left eye, which I'm guessing is a sign of cuteness among the kawaii community.
Personally, the only reason I even watched this series was that I wanted to learn more about the period and I wasn't disappointed in that aspect. However, if one were to watch Angolmois beyond its historical setting and Princess Teruhi, then I'm afraid to tell you that it isn't exactly groundbreaking in any fashion. The paper-thin characters act like they're supposed to without anyone that truly stands out, and the dramatic sub-plots rely too much on characters betraying each other to get the plot moving forward. With such a wide cast, only the main character Kuchii Jinzaburō has any apparent thickness to him, with a well-defined goal, and personality. After all, even though he's a complete foreigner to the island, he got to know the people there and felt that he had the obligation to defend it.
My other problem with the show is its apparent lack of animation. Clearly, not a lot of money was poured into this project, but more infuriating is the digital photoshop-like filter plastered all over the screen in an effort to supposedly give the series a more "historical" look. It's cheap and it doesn't work. I believe there are moments when filters should be used as they can greatly enhance a particular scene, but the effect is entirely unnecessary if it's all over the artwork from beginning to end.
You can't mask bad animation with filters, Studio NAZ
Yet, I do recommend Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion even with all its misgivings, just because it's a piece of Japanese animation that deals with a major historical event in Japanese history that's NOT from the Sengoku era (We have enough of those). I must emphasize this because too often a brand new historical anime series is announced, it's almost always from the Sengoku era. I like Masamune Date and Nobunaga Oda as much as the next guy, but sometimes, it's simply too much.
For those who can't afford to waste too much time on anime, Angolmois' short length is also appealing, clocking under 5 hours. To end on an even more positive note, both the opening and ending songs are pretty good and they should keep you in tune for the entire experience.
And as always, see you next time for another anime post!
