Alternative Titles
Ayakashi
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 11
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Jan 13, 2006 to Mar 24, 2006
Duration:
23 min. per episode Rating:
R - 17+ (violence & profanity)
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 7.761 (scored by 1299 users)
Ranked: #4232
Popularity: #594
Members: 2,987
Favorites: 14 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
drama fantasy historical horror |
SynopsisA collection of three classic Japanese horror stories: "Yotsuya Kaidan," the story of a wife betrayed by her husband who seeks vengeance even in death. "Tenshu Monogatari," the story of forbidden love between a goddess and a human, and "Bakeneko," the story of a mysterious cat monster with a vendetta against a certain family. |
Related AnimeSpin-off: Mononoke
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Recommendations
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Ayakashi is the series Mononoke branched from. The last arch of the series involves the Medicine Seller, a type of prequel. Either way, both series deal with monsters, demons and ghosts. Bonus points if you love ancient Japanese ghost stories.
Mononoke is the continuation of the third part of Ayakashi, and in my opinion, the most interesting part of it, filled with mysteries and enexpected spins of the main plot. So if you once liked Ayakashi and its peculiar style, then you'll definetly like Mononoke for its unconventional and somehow experimental approach towards the design of an anime.
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Both Ghost Hunt and Ayakashi deals with supernatural events and ghosts. Ayakashi is an anime based on Japanese folklores and legends about ghosts and demons and Ghost Hunt is more of a detective anime. Nevertheless, fans of Ghost Hunt will surely enjoy Ayakashi because of the interesting and at time horrific stories.
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Reviews
| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
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Oct 24, 200711 of 11 episodes seen 24 of 30 people found this review helpful This is my first review on this particular site, so if you have any constructive (!!) criticism, please don't hesitate to message me.
Ah, Japanese culture. So varied, so complex, so .. involved. Ayakashi is a collection of three Japanese legends and folklore, each one told in a stand-alone fashion and with different art styles. They may as well be completely different anime, but nay, it is all packaged together for your convenience!
The first, a variation of the tel...ling of the Yotsuya Kai Dan is very dark, befitting for such a tragic tale. It fills the 'horror' genre very well, with its manifestations of vengeful spirits, curses, and tense moments. It flows very well, with real story or character bumps along the way; all goes on as it should. For a historical piece, this one is very involved, and it would be good to have some in-depth Japanese cultural knowledge, or there will be some things you will miss that are important to the story, since Yotsuya Kai Dan makes excellent use of imagery, the mark of a truly good horror story. The seinen-esque style of this one will let you know this is a story that will not end well~ There is a small cast of characters here, but very involved, as no character that is introduced is disposable; they all have a significant impact on the story, which is also very complicated. Pay attention! Anyone that does not enjoy figuring out complicated plot lines and lots of talking will probably not enjoy this.
The second is a bit of an oddball: Tenshu Monogatari. I would recommend watching it last, as it completely changes gears into a sort of fantasy-genre fairy tale. It's a little more forgettable as the cast of characters is rather large, and not much screen time is given to some of the other goddesses in the story. Animation in this one is noticeable more colorful than Yotsuya, which is fitting as the first tale is very doom and gloom while Tenshu is a love story with a cast of goddesses whose main way of differentiating each other is the color of the very complicated things they wear. The difference between the goddesses' realm and that of mortals is notable because of this, you'll see a lot more neutral tones in the few times you see the mortal realm. More imagery! The characters are a little forgettable, since as I mentioned, most of them do not get enough screen time, though what I saw of the other goddesses reminds me slightly of Aa Megami-sama. This one is sweet as a standalone story, but a little strange to find in the mix of Ayakashi.
The third story is definitely the best, and has generated a spinoff of its own recently: Bakeneko. This entire story is animated with a rice-paper overlay effect and in vibrant, oddly-textured colors, making it look like a moving representation of a Japanese ukiyo-e. To say Bakeneko is beautiful is a severe understatement. Bakeneko very aptly fills the hole left by Tenshu in the 'ghost story' description, as well as having a crafty mystery spin to it. This story also has quite a bit of Japanese folklore in it, so some knowledge of the history of exorcism is good to have. The first two episodes of Bakeneko are buildup to the finale, filling in the story and coaxing the mystery from the woodwork in several pieces, to lead up to the shocking conclusion! The characters are very unique, very memorable, especially the Medicine Seller for his enigmatic air and his transformation in the conclusion, which is wisely not explained as to add to the mystery. For such a short story, it is surprisingly easy to develop feelings for the victim woman in the story, making the finale so much more believeable, and in so many words: freaking awesome. Very well done; I loved this one the most and it is apparent why this one was chosen to be continued in its own series, Mononoke.
All in all, all stories were told very well, and are all completely standalone. If you don't like one, please try the others, you are bound to find one you like. The animation style differs according to each one, but fits each story well, and the characters are mostly well done, with the exception of Tenshu's not getting enough air time. I definitely recommend Ayakashi if you are a fan of historical Japanese tales, folklore, and legends, or just a fan of historical Japan and its culture. read more
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
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Jun 2, 200811 of 11 episodes seen 4 of 8 people found this review helpful (Notice, if you can't be bothered to read the review, skip to the end where there will be a Why you would and Why you wouldn't watch the anime. I found it kinda hard to review this anime because it is not all one story, it is three. I wrote this review at the time when I was watching it so there may be a mistake or two or it may have more information about one of than the other.)
Story - There are three stories in this anime whic...h, is broken up into chapters. The first story being Yotsuya Kaidan which is a retelling of a Japanese ghost story about a woman who was betrayed by her husband; because of the betrayal the husband was cursed by his late wife.
The second story in this anime is Tenshu Monogatari, which is a story about a forbidden love between a human and a God.
The third and finale story of this anime is Bake Neko, which is a story about a samurai family that begins to have mysterious deaths that claim to be the cause.
Art - I feel like it's hard to comment on the art of the anime because, since theres three different stories to be told there are three different types of art for each of those stories.
The art done in the second story of this anime was done by a Yasuhiro Nakura who also did the character designs for the animes Metropolis and
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.
Sound - The sound and background music through the anime is something very common to what you would here in traditional samurai
animes; there are many parts in this anime where the music in the background can become very sinister sounding which intenses the mood of
this horror. One thing that I will always be reminded about this anime is not the stories itself, but the actual opening to this anime, I find it very intresting and it was something I was not expecting to hear; it is a mix between some form of Japanese rap/pop and the old traditional Japanese music that would have been played during those eras.
Character - There are many characters through out these stories, you wouldn't be expected to remember them all since their is always new characters introduced. Since this anime is a horror and supernatural, some characters would have a curse on them or a ghost; a particular good point about the characters that are cursed is that you would get to see what that curse is and what they would have to go through.
A ghost in this anime is a onryo, a vengeful spirits which are mostly woman who have suffered because of their male lovers (a good example of
an onryo is Sadako from the movie Ring). I could explain more about the characters but there are quite a few, it is recommended that you just watch the anime.
Enjoyment - I enjoyed this anime very much, I rarely get to watch animes that are based around the history of Japan and when I do get to watch them, they always seem very rewarding.
The first story was more about horror and the second was more about romance; there was something different with each story and was enjoyable.
Overall - There were many times during this anime when I would
get a shiver down my spine because it is both very intresting to watch and yet chilling because of the mentions of the curses. I will definatly say that after you've watched this you would want to know more about these curses and the stories that were told in greater detial. One great thing about this anime is that if you have a one in three chance of liking it, meaning you may like one of the stories but may not like another; but to be honest I would find it hard not to believe that someone wouldn't like none of these stories.
Why you would watch this.
If you're a fan of the history in Japan and like to watch animes that have the genre of historical, then I recommend this anime.
Since this anime involves curses that may still be around in the present day, an anime that explains how they came to be could very intrest anyone that enjoys the supernatural.
If you're a fan of the movies Ring and Ju-on: The Grudge then I think you'd enjoy watching this anime, it may not be the scariest thing you're ever seen but it is still very entertianing.
Why you wouldn't watch this.
Again, this is a review where I don't know why you wouldn't watch it; I guess you may have no time on your hands? Or maybe you're just afriad of getting nightmares. read more
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Opening Theme"HEAT ISLAND" by Rhymester
Ending Theme"Haru no Katami (Memento of Spring)" by Chitose Hajime
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Related Clubschiaki's favorites!, seinen & josei, MoNoNoKe, MAL Magic Society, Anime art that r0cks!!, Creepy Anime/Manga Club, Dark Anime Club, The Pets of Anime/Manga Club, ~Takai's BEST~, The Kusuri-Uri/Medicine Seller Fanclub, Artsy, Anime Males with Long Black (very dark) Hair , CREAPY ANIME CHARACTER/ANIME CLUB, Horror Anime Fanclub, noitaminA
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