Post by muirae on Jan 26, 2008 2:21:21 GMT -5
Anime Title: Ayakashi ~ Classic Japanese Horror (or just Ayakashi)
Genre: Horror, but it's not too scary.
Why Suggest?: It's a unique and fresh perspective on the genre. Not a typical anime. See below for more detailed rambling.
---
Ok. So. I've Ayakashi is an 11-episode anime split into three parts, each of which tells a different classic Japanese horror story and has a different art direction. They're like three entirely seperate shows, almost. I'm going to briefly go into each one.
The first one is based on a tale about a wife who had smallpox that scarred her face and was betrayed by her husband. She puts a curse on everyone. There is much death and waaiiiiiling from the cursed wife.
The story is filled to the brim with Japanese honorifics, customs and things like that - the fansub came with its own set of notes to help with understanding. I had to watch the first few episodes twice to understand what was going on.
The art isn't really like you average anime, the people have a more realistic appearance (comparatively). I kept checking the credits for Yoshitaka Amano because this looks just like his work. But it's not.
The next story takes a drastically different turn, art-wise:
From not-very-anime-like to SUPER ANIME. Most of the character designs in this part, especially for the males, are so bad they made me cringe. The girls' designs are pretty, though.
This one is about the princess of the "forgotten gods" falling in love with a human. Apparently, that's a bad thing, because these forgotten gods live off of human flesh. Huh. Well, of the three, this is my least favorite story. It has a happy ending though.
The last story, titled "Bake Neko" (I can't remember the names of the other two) is really the only reason I really wanted to put this anime up for suggestion.
And, to be truthful, there's only really one thing about the last story that makes me love it so:
BAM.
This guy, right here.
Known only as the "Medicine Seller", he was the whole reason I picked this anime up in the first place. Seriously, look at 'im:
I admit, I went a little screenshot-happy watching this.
Ok, but besides him, this really is hands-down the best of the three. The story is about a family who, on their daughter's wedding day, is visited by a violent demon. A wandering medicine seller happens by and helps the family get to the root of the problem.
Incidentally, the character of the medicine seller was so popular he got his own spin-off anime called "Mononoke". Haven't watched that yet.
Even just the opening of this part is amazing. The art reminds me a lot of "Gankutsuo", in that it's overlayed with textiles and patterns of all sorts. Makes it quite the visual feast. Ahahaaaaa....ah ha.
I'm done.
EDIT: I lied, I'm not done. I love learning about the connections between roles (concerning voice actors) and was amused to discover that the medicine seller is also Cloud Strife, Yuri Shibuya (Kyou Kara Maoh!), Yu Kaneda (D.Grayman), Sasori (Naruto), and...many more. Hehehe...he.
Genre: Horror, but it's not too scary.
Why Suggest?: It's a unique and fresh perspective on the genre. Not a typical anime. See below for more detailed rambling.
---
Ok. So. I've Ayakashi is an 11-episode anime split into three parts, each of which tells a different classic Japanese horror story and has a different art direction. They're like three entirely seperate shows, almost. I'm going to briefly go into each one.
The first one is based on a tale about a wife who had smallpox that scarred her face and was betrayed by her husband. She puts a curse on everyone. There is much death and waaiiiiiling from the cursed wife.
The story is filled to the brim with Japanese honorifics, customs and things like that - the fansub came with its own set of notes to help with understanding. I had to watch the first few episodes twice to understand what was going on.
The art isn't really like you average anime, the people have a more realistic appearance (comparatively). I kept checking the credits for Yoshitaka Amano because this looks just like his work. But it's not.
The next story takes a drastically different turn, art-wise:
From not-very-anime-like to SUPER ANIME. Most of the character designs in this part, especially for the males, are so bad they made me cringe. The girls' designs are pretty, though.
This one is about the princess of the "forgotten gods" falling in love with a human. Apparently, that's a bad thing, because these forgotten gods live off of human flesh. Huh. Well, of the three, this is my least favorite story. It has a happy ending though.
The last story, titled "Bake Neko" (I can't remember the names of the other two) is really the only reason I really wanted to put this anime up for suggestion.
And, to be truthful, there's only really one thing about the last story that makes me love it so:
BAM.
This guy, right here.
Known only as the "Medicine Seller", he was the whole reason I picked this anime up in the first place. Seriously, look at 'im:
I admit, I went a little screenshot-happy watching this.
Ok, but besides him, this really is hands-down the best of the three. The story is about a family who, on their daughter's wedding day, is visited by a violent demon. A wandering medicine seller happens by and helps the family get to the root of the problem.
Incidentally, the character of the medicine seller was so popular he got his own spin-off anime called "Mononoke". Haven't watched that yet.
Even just the opening of this part is amazing. The art reminds me a lot of "Gankutsuo", in that it's overlayed with textiles and patterns of all sorts. Makes it quite the visual feast. Ahahaaaaa....ah ha.
I'm done.
EDIT: I lied, I'm not done. I love learning about the connections between roles (concerning voice actors) and was amused to discover that the medicine seller is also Cloud Strife, Yuri Shibuya (Kyou Kara Maoh!), Yu Kaneda (D.Grayman), Sasori (Naruto), and...many more. Hehehe...he.
