Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Land Of Tanabata’ On Hulu, Where A Telekinetic College Student Uses His Power To Find His Professor

Nothing gets our goat more than a show that can’t figure out a consistent tone, or at the very least doesn’t have the ability to integrate two or more tones into a cohesive whole. The Boys , for instance, was able to be thrilling, funny, vulgar and extremely violent at the same time, especially during its first few seasons. But often, shows that try to mix tones shift between them less seamlessly, like a new Japanese series on Hulu.

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Opening Shot: A man on a horse is being led through a meadow. One of the men with him is holding a canister.

The Gist: In the seventh year of the Eiroku era, a battle is fought over the village on Mount Murakami. A massive army takes on Lord Murakami and a few others. Suddenly there are popping noises and flashes of light. Every single soldier lies dead, with holes in their heads, chests, and other similar fatal injuries.

In the present day, Yōji Minamimaru (Kanata Hosoda), nicknamed Nanmaru, is demonstrating his telekinetic ability to the members of his college’s New Skills Development Research Society, of which he’s he president. He yells then burns a tiny but perfect hole through a number of sheets of paper. Everyone’s impressed, except for his friend Aki (Yui Narumi), who thinks he should be looking for a job.

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She gives him a notice from professor Masami Marukami (Hiroshi Mikami), who has been looking to talk to him. When Nanmaru goes to the professor’s office, he’s not there; his lecturer, Sayuri Emi (Mai Kiryuu), tells Nanmaru that the professor is on a fact-finding mission.

In the meantime, a woman named Sachiko Higashimaru (Ryōko Fujino) wakes up from a recurring nightmare where she feels like she’s falling and/or drowning.

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Marukami learned that he has his telekinetic ability from his grandfather. It skipped a generation, and his parents didn’t seem to talk much about his family’s origins. He starts to feel that his telekinetic power doesn’t really mean much when Professor Emi calls him back to her classroom to tell him that Professor Marukami has gone missing on a trip to Marukami Village for more research.

It seems that the professor also has the same telekinetic ability as Nanmaru, but can generate much larger holes, and can do it almost at will. It comes into play when a businessman in Marukami Village is found dead, with a massive hole in his head and a perfect-shaped hole cut through the window of his office.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Land Of Tanabata , based on the manga Tanabata no Kuni, crosses Shōgun with a show about people with superpowers, like Supacell .

Our Take: The first episode of Land Of Tanabata is slow-moving and confusing, and strangely violent. We get the idea behind the story; Nanmaru is going to learn that his abilities are important, and he’ll likely step up and become the hero of the story as he and the professor’s research team look for him in Marukami Village. But we came away from the first episode not being all that sure of how the show is going to get there.

There are moments when the show is supposed to be lighthearted and moderately funny, mostly involving the fact that Nanmaru screams when he uses his abilities and is exhausted by poking tiny holes through things. There are also moments of great seriousness, like the flashbacks of the hooded Lord Marukami and his followers wielding their telekinetic powers with deadly consequences.

But in between all of that, there seems to be a bit of a murder mystery afoot, with the fate of Marukami Village being a part of that mystery. Given the professor’s prodigious telekinetic abilities, is he the one putting massive holes in people’s heads? Or is it someone else? And how will that tie in with the mystery of just who Lord Marukami was all those centuries ago?

Oh, one other question: Who in the hell is Sachiko and how does she fit into all this? We see her very briefly in the first episode, and have no real idea what her connection to the overall story is. We’re sure there’s a connection somewhere, but the first episode moves so slowly, it doesn’t bother to even give us any hints.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: After killing the army’s general, Lord Marukami extends his hands, with their exceedingly long fingers, in the air and talks about not allowing anyone to invade his domain, including “one day, far in the future.”

Sleeper Star: Mai Kiryuu, as Professor Emi, seems to have a special interest in going to find Professor Marukami. We’re not sure why at this point, but it’s definitely more than just the fact that he’s her mentor.

Most Pilot-y Line: The scenes where someone gets a hole poked in their heads are gross, of course, but they also seem out of place given the overall tone of the show.

Our Call: SKIP IT. The first episode of Land Of Tanabata is strangely both subdued and unbelievably bloody, making for a disconnected viewing experience that doesn’t prod viewers into continuing to follow its story.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

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