The old adage about how behind every great man there¡¯s a great woman was particularly true for Katsushika Hokusai. The celebrated ukiyo-e artist (1760-1849) spent the final decades of his life sharing a home with his daughter, O-Ei, who was a skilled painter herself. Only a handful of her works survive, but they demonstrate a singular style. She also acted as a production assistant to her father and they are thought to have collaborated a number of times.

Once a hidden figure in art history, Katsushika Oi ¡ª the pseudonym bequeathed by her dad ¡ª is now more widely recognized. Her story has been told in Keiichi Hara¡¯s anime ¡°Miss Hokusai¡± (2015), based on a manga series by Hinako Sugiura, as well as in a 2018 NHK drama, ¡°Kurara.¡±

Tatsushi Omori¡¯s ¡°Hokusai¡¯s Daughter¡± is also adapted in part from Sugiura¡¯s manga, but it takes a grittier approach than Hara¡¯s feature, closer in spirit to Junji Sakamoto¡¯s pungent period drama, ¡°Okiku and the World¡± (2023). Omori depicts life among the riffraff of 19th-century Edo (now Tokyo) with rough-hewn immediacy, using handheld cameras and minimal lighting. A jaunty, jazz-inflected score by Yoshihide Otomo maintains an off-kilter mood, even if it loses some of its charm through overuse.