Aoi Bungaku (Or Blue/Evergreen literature) follows the adaptions of some of the most popular Japanese literature in the mid 20th century, and how their messages still resonate today.
As for the story, Aoi Bungaku is split into 5 arcs, one 4 episode arc with three 2 episode arcs. The last 2 episode can be left as either separate stories or together as they contain the same characters, setting ext. Furthermore, the show contains a male narrator (or guide) who not only tells us about how the books came about, but the psychology and personality of the writers themselves, as well as their life stories. This gives vital information into why the stories can be so dark and why the characters are they way they are. In terms of themes, as mentioned above, the psyche of the characters play a key in making this a good series. From inner bouts of depression, money, suicide, murder and betrayal, some of these themes play apart in every arc. It's realism into the topic of suicide was very stark and informative. But with each arc, the story changes from friendship based, to the mythical and so on, so there is a good choice of different stories to choose from, as well as many different types of atmospheres too, some sinister, some emotional.
Unfortunately, the main flaw of the anime is it's inconsistency in its arcs, some of which (especially the 1st and 4th) were done superbly, whilst the rest left much to be desire due to the lack of story development in the 2 episodes the arcs had. Nevertheless, the added introduction of the male narrator filled in a lot of the gaps left by the arcs.
As for animation, Madhouse did a brilliant job of making the arcs feel authentic to the genre it portrayed. From the dark and dulled down colours in the first arc to the bright and dazzling scenes in the last, they definitely spent no time making sure the animations were fluid. The character models all differed for the right reasons, which was nice.
In terms of the characters, it's a tale of two sides really. The character development in 2 of the 5 arcs are done brilliantly, from demonstrating how their backstory made their character, whether it be sexual abuse leading someone into dabbling with prostitutes, to a best friend betraying their trust, it did make for a spectacle to watch. Unfortunately, the direction of the other characters went off at a tangent, in the end, some characters were done well, others more shabby.
As for the music, for the most part, it was mixed in well with the different arcs, sad music for sad scenes, emotional music for emotional scenes, simple yet well executed. They're wasn't an opening song, as it was substituted for the narrator which was fine. The ending was a personal favorite of mine. Overall, the music was done to a good standard.
To sum up, Aoi Bungaku sets a slightly high bar for anime's based on real novels, but dropped at the final hurdle by keeping the a high standard in all the different arcs. I do recommend it for those looking for a new change to the psychological genre of anime.
