~~~READ "IN SHORTS" FOR THE GIST
This anime is an adaptation of 6 modern japanese pieces of literature:
~No Longer Human (NLH): (episodes 1-4) a rich student who wants to be an artist gets lost in his dreams and falls prey to drugs and alcohol in the mist of his depression
~In the Forest, Under the Cherry Blossom in Full Bloom:(5-6) a mountain man falls in love with a woman who forces him to kill to fulfill her wants
~Kokoro: (7-8) a scholar invites a monk (his childhood friend) to stay with him where the landlords are a mother and her daughter. the monk falls in love with the daughter. the anime shows both the scholar and the monk's side of the story
~Run, Melos!: (9-10) a young man and his best friend make a promise to meet but doesn't show up, influencing the young man to write a tragic screenplay about it
~The Spider's Web: (11) a killer on the loose gets caught and executed. he is sent to hell to pay for what hes done
~Hell Screen: (12) the greatest painter in the world gives up everything, including his and his only daughter's life for art
STORY 5/10: even though the pieces of literature were all made by the same author, the stories arent consecutive. No Longer Human felt drawn out to me and it felt aimless. Not sure if thats the emotion the series want to invoke but it did. Under the Cherry Blossom was my favorite because the pace was quick and the script commanded attention unlike the others. it was also very cheeky and had plenty of funny moments to break up the darker moments! Kokoro was a confusing little love story. It was bland with very little depth coming from the scholar (the main character). Run Melos! was a little above average in story. it reminded me of a love story that was touching but i wasnt crazy about it. The Spiders Web and Hell Screen were pretty good. it was dramatic, deep, intense, the color scheme wasnt the average dull colors. it was captivating to watch
IN SHORT: No Longer Human and Kokoro were very dull, basically the same scenes over and over. No Longer Human seemed drawn out and Kokoro wasnt edgy enough for me (its a love story). Run Melos! was like a love story. Wasnt TOO crazy about it but it wasnt bad. Under the Cherry Blossom, The Spiders Web and Hell Scene were my favorites. It was dynamic, not too drawn out, right to the point, right about of edgy and gore!!
ART 7/10: the art was beautiful in every story. everything was drawn beautifully. the characters were very diverse. the animation was also pretty clean as well! there were no trouble spots either. if someone was carrying something heavy, it was accurately portrayed. the color scheme was the problem. No Longer Human was basically all one color. it kinda hurt my eyes and it made me sleepy actually. it didnt add the eerie touch it wanted to. Under the Cherry Blossoms, Spiders Web and Hell Scene were my favorite. vibrant colors, dynamic contrast, different background settings that kept my interest. they were just really pretty. Kokoro and Run Melos were average. Run Melos was a little better because of the attention to details but they were both decent.
IN SHORT: art and animation for all were top notch. characters in all stories were diverse. No Longer human was all one color basically. boring, unappealing. Run Melos and Kokoro were decent in attention to detail. Under Cherry Blossom, Spiders Web and Hell Scene were my favorite. colors were contrasting, vibrant patterns, dynamic contrast, detail on scenery were gorgeous! very pleasing to watch
SOUND 8/10: it was very pretty. the music seemed to fit the series. the motif of the ringing bell was a nice touch. Again Under the Cherry Blossom wins best in show once again because they created their own show tunes for that specific story and they were catchy!! it was eerie and oddly fit! No Longer Human had excellent jazz music that also very much fit the story and it was great. one thing that bugged me was the voice acting. for some reason the narrator voice acted the main character or one of the main characters in every story and he was terrible. very monotonous!! his voice only fit the scholar in Kokoro. there really wasnt any inflection in his voice that i could remember. also hearing his voice got tiring after a while.
IN SHORT: the anime's strongest category. the music was pretty and it fit well. my favorite part of the series! narrator did one of the main characters in every story and hes honestly terrible.
CHARACTERS 5/10: i cant remember a single character from any of the stories except for Under the Cherry Blossom. they were all boring. Cherry Blossom had the most diverse and memorable characters. They had the crazy wife, the tough mountain man afraid of cherry blossoms, and all of his ex wives and their personalities! (they even had one wife who only spoke english which i thought was comical). but that story made good use of the varying personalities to make some moments light and cheeky, which was a nice break from 4 consecutive episodes of monotony, self destruction and sadness.
IN SHORT: almost all of the characters were boring and made no impact. Under the Cherry Blossoms had the best, and diverse characters.
ENJOYMENT AND OVERALL 5/10: every other episode i was contemplating dropping the series all together. I just really couldnt get into it. i watched and liked Death Note, and Japanese Horror Classics which are on the same lines as this anime but Aoi Bungaku just didnt click with me. I did appreciate the modern literature, but things can get sticky when you take modern literature, interpret it in a certain way and then produce it as an anime. you have to really have a specific taste in anime to get into this series.
IN SHORT: the series wasnt bad, it just wasnt for my taste. i recommend this anime to:
~~people who have a strong constitution/like gore
~~like psychological animes
~~like historical animes
~~like/dont mind constantly changing plots
~~like shorter animes
