芸術は爆発だ

In honor of this holiday, I have two highly recommended anime you can watch! You can find subbed episodes on both Youtube and Veoh.

Ayakashi: Japanese Classical Horror Stories

This eleven episode long series maybe short compared to popular anime series, but good things come in small packages. There are three story arcs which have their own animation style and tone, but they all have one theme that bind them together: the darkness of human nature. I recommend watching two out of the three story arcs

Yotsuya Kaidan (episodes 1-4) [link] <-For the original story

The famous kabuki horror story is now animated with the character designs done by Japan's Yoshitaka Amano (who also did Final Fantasy character designs, Vampire Hunter D illustrations and so on). Tsuruya Nanboku IV, the writer of the original story, narrates his story about the beautiful Oiwa who was brutally betrayed by her husband, Tamiya Iemon. After taking a poison that disfigured her face and being crucified to a door that was thrown into a river, her curse continues to haunt us to this day. The ending still gives me shivers down my spine.


Bakeneko (Ghost Cat) (episodes 9-11)

A mysterious medicine seller arrives at the home of the powerful Sakarai family. The daughter, who was about to be married, is brutally murdered. The Medicine Seller, who remains nameless through out the story arc (and yes, that's him in my icon), comes to the conclusion that a mononoke (a demon/malicious spirit), specifically a Bakeneko killed her. Only he can kill the vengeful ghost, but he must know its form (Katachi), truth (Makoto), and regret (Kotowari) to do so. The gorgeous animation keeps me at awe and this story arc spurred a spin-off series known as "Mononoke".


Mononoke

The Medicine Seller is back in this wonderful series. At 12 episodes long, it is well done and the story arcs will have you hooked. Keeping to the original animation style and voice actors, "Mononoke" will keep fans of the Bakeneko story arc coming.

It's 535 day! This thursday is Gojyo Day! 5-5-5!!! ^_^ It's good to be saiyuki fan. I'll see if I can do some kind of sketch.

Joined gaia online. must save gold to buy steel-toed boots...heh, i guess my little metal fetish is growing. too bad i can't have geta like Mugen from Samurai Champloo b/c they got metal plates on the soles. ^_^ plus, i'm thinking of buying the Casshern dvd later on. i don't know why, but i feel like buying it. kishima sensei told me she watched the original series and said it was good.

so tired. i have three tests starting from tommorrow. need to study for global issues tommorrow...argh..
....i still have that paper on Aum Shinrikyo due next week too. crap. need sleep. but now, i must cram....