The Fable

 The Fable (ザ・ファブル) is a 25 episode yakuza dramady based on the manga of the same name by Minami Kitsuhisa.  The anime originally aired during the Spring and Summer of 2024.

    Legendarily skilled and prolific hit-man The Fable is forced into a years sabbatical by his boss and handler in order to protect their business from too much unwanted attention.  He and his driver are forced to assume fake identities as siblings and spend the time under the protection of a small yakuza clan in Osaka.  The Fable assumes the name Sato Akira and his driver takes on the name of Sato Yoko.  Neither knows the others really identity or anything about their real lives, keeping things as professional and discreet as possible.  But now they must pretend they are life long siblings among a group of strangers, many of whom do not know who they really are.  Akira has one job for the entire year, don't kill anyone and don't attract attention.

    The only people in the yakuza clan who know that Akira is The Fable are the boss and his right hand man Hiroshi.  Hiroshi doesn't like the situation and looks to test Akira, to see if he will be more of a liability than an nuisance.  He harbors a great distaste for professional killers, equating them to nothing less than psychopaths and degenerates.  What  he doesn't understand is how bizarre and unusual The Fable really is, nor is he exactly prepared for what his suspicions will unlock in the sleeping killer.  Akira kills because hes unnaturally good at it, but isn't particularly blood thirsty or insane.  Its just a job to him, one that lets him do what he wants to do and he excels at.  In reality he's detached from normal humanity but not because he's a killer...he's just plain weird and eccentric in unusual and unpredictable ways.  He has to spend the whole year not working, pretending to be a normal human...or getting close to it to attract too much suspicion.

    The initial concept has been intrigued.  Fable is only good at being a cold killer but lacks the ability to function as a 'normal' human being and barely understands his problem.  He freaks out when he bites I to hot food.  He's obsessed with a hack comedian.  He sleeps in a bathtub.  All around it's amusing to see him move through the world.  Those around him are truly a rogues gallery of misfits and criminals.  One of the best characters is his the woman posing as his sister, Yoko.  She's there to keep an eye on him and remind him of his promise to their boss.  She gets bored rather quickly and begins to entertain herself by abusing weak men.

    The story only has one premise on the surface, be normal for a year, after that anything goes.  Without trying he becomes entangled in all sorts of problems, whether it's Yakuza trying to test him, without even knowing who he is.  Or becoming involved in protecting a woman from a crazy stalker.  The characters flow naturally in and out of the story as it builds a well fleshed out underworld the two cast always find themselves swimming in.  The best arc of the story has to be the last one where a botches job resurfaces by chance.  Over all, this was a wholly entertaining and often times amusing crime story.  Definitely something worth checking out if you want a in-depth story that doesn't involve super natural teenagers fighting monsters.

The series was simulcast on Hulu/Disney+.