Episode Guide page is now complete! ***WARNING---SPOILERS***

Tactics is a 25-episode anime which ran from October 2004 to March 2005 in Japan, directed by Hiroshi Watanabe (creator of the series concept for Ah! My Goddess!, and director of all the Slayers movies and OVAs); with primary scripting by Kenichi Kanemaki. Chief animation design and character design are by Mariko Oka with art direction by Michiyo Akutsu, and are just deliciously beautiful. The opening theme is "Secret World" by MIKI and the ending theme is "Mienai Chikara" by Akiyama Miki.\

Set in Meiji-era Japan (late 18th to 19th centuries), when Western culture first became a strong influence there, it is a supernatural mystery-adventure with drama, humor, heartbreak, surprising and unexpected character depth, and unrequited shounen-ai romance galore.
The lead character is Ichinomiya Kantarou, a young scholar of anthropology and folklore--and an unapologetic work-dodger and slacker--who all his life has had the ability not only to see demons, ghosts and spirits but to charm and befriend them. This, combined with his spiritual strength, has made him a highly successful exorcist and "ghostbuster" (or "youkai buster", I guess =), able to peacefully talk mischievous entities out of their bad habits rather than always using force. (Though he can kick youkai butt with the best of 'em, as a last resort.) Kan-chan has already used his skill to acquire a useful assistant and companion, a kitsune called Youko, which he bound to serve him by giving her a human name. But the one being he most wants to meet has eluded him: the fearsomely powerful, monster-slaying Black Tengu known as "Ogre-Eater" (Onikui-Tengu). From childhood he has believed that the greatest test of his abilities will be to locate and become the friend of this mysterious creature, whose company will make him stronger than ever. But what happens when he finds, releases--and names--Haruka-san, the beautiful Black Tengu, will be a deeper, more dangerous test than he ever imagined...

What makes this series different from a dozen other supernatural-detective and monster-hunting anime is its exploration of the fragile bridge between the youkai and human worlds--and the chance to watch Kantarou, who wants to live on that bridge, grow up. He's not a bad person, but he's self-indulgent and thoughtless; he's so in love with the youkai domain and so proud of his place in it that it's become, literally, his "secret world" and his refuge from adult responsibility. For the whole first half of the series he's still the same little kid we see in episode one, determined to defend his wonderful, magical playmates to a disbelieving world. But he's lost sight of something important: that youkai are indeed real beings--ancient, powerful, independent creatures who can't always be expected to accompany him on his adventures. It's in watching him slowly realize that he's made slaves of the youkai he loves so much, and that he will only gain the strength he needs by letting them go, that Tactics becomes something special.

Anime News Network explains that "the series title is in English to cover a pun: the Japanese word for 'wizardry', of the kind practiced by Ichinomiya Kantarou, is 'senjutsu'. The homonymous 'senjutsu' (prounounced the same but written with different characters) means 'tactics'. In fact, it could be argued that there is a third pun in Kantarou's writing career: 'senjutsu' (with yet a third set of characters) means 'compiling, editing, writing'.

---Episode listing for the series.

---Lyrics and screens from the opening theme.

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