Nippon Connection Review: ‘The Witches of the Orient’

Before Hinata and Kageyama stole anime fan’s hearts in the unfathomably popular manga series Haikyu!!, there was Attack No. 1, a 60s‘ volleyball anime without which Karasuno’s charming duo might never have experienced the joy of executing a perfect quick attack. The show, known as one of the foundational influences in the proliferation of the shōjo subgenre, is inspired by one of the most dominant teams to ever set foot on any court in any country, ever: Nichibo Kaizuka. 

Nicknamed the “Oriental Witches” by the Russian media because of their otherworldly skill, Julien Faraut’s inventive new documentary, The Witches of the Orient, charts the team’s journey from textile factory to Olympics finals, and from the 1950s to present-day. The story centers around the team’s dedicated core players, as well as the controversial methods of their coach, Daimatsu Hirofumi, better known as “Demon Daimatsu”. 

At the height of their rule, the player’s daily schedule went like this: get up at 6:30; be at the textile factory by 8; work until 4:30; and finally, practice at maximum intensity with Daimatsu and the team until around midnight. And then rinse and repeat. Say what you will about the demon’s coaching methods, this regimented, military-like routine created gods of the sport, and spurred an absolutely filthy 258 game win-streak.

Faraut’s multimedia approach splits the film into freshly spliced archival footage, portions of the original anime, and modern-day portraits of the players to see where they are now. And sometimes, all of these parts collide in miraculously edited sequences of absurdity, emulating a fraction of the ferocity contained in the player’s routine.

The film’s most interesting sequences are these excessively edited montages, where animated volleyball motifs are superimposed over real-life dives and spikes, matching the hypnotic drums of K-Raw and Jason Lytle’s bubbly dance score; it’s gaudy, but elegantly so, making it impossible to resist The Witches of the Orient’s high-throttle.

With longtime Kore-eda cinematographer Yamazaki Yutaka credited on the project, the assembled images are as immaculate as you might expect from the After Life cameraman. Even moreso, the meticulously composed pictures are accentuated by Faraut’s deft use of time; cutting between the flushed, youthful faces of players hurling their bodies around with reckless abandon during practice, to the women — older now, but filled with their same seriousness and warmth — at a roundtable lunch, speaking amicably about the full lives they’ve lived.

While some sections of the film might not match the eye-widening intensity of others, the finale takes the cake; a heart-racing, newly colorized Olympics finals match against the Witches’ longtime rival, the USSR. This broadcast, “one of the highest rated broadcasts in Japanese television history” shows the team at their physical and mental peaks. An absolute joy to watch, the game’s blinding speed is pure adrenaline in the bloodstream even 60-some years later, and showcases the fruits of devoted training. 

We’ll leave the game’s final result up in the air for now, however it’s abundantly clear that the mid-match drama, high intensity, and compelling characters that we’ve come to know and love from Haikyu!! are without doubt, standing on ground which the Witches paved.