The formal title is Ayakashi Japanese Classic Horror. This anime is a collection of three classic Japanese horror stories: Yotsuya Kaidan, Tenshu Monogatari, and Bakeneko.
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Yotsuya Kaidan
"Yotsuya Kaidan" is a retelling of the classic Japanese ghost story, written by the 18th century kabuki playwright Tsuruya Nanboku.
In the anime, Nanboku himself becomes the narrator. Tamiya Iemon is a ronin samurai who marries a beautiful woman named Oiwa. Oiwa is happy with her married life and the birth of their child, but Iemon feels the burden of their poverty.
In return for the promise of a job by a rich man, Iemon promises to marry the man's daughter and conspires to murder his own wife. A servant is ordered by the rich man's daughter to poison Oiwa's food; the toxin permanently disfigures Oiwa's face.
Iemon then orders his servant to kill her after having his way with her. Oiwa commits suicide after coming to know of Iemon's treachery. The servant is also killed, and along with the dead Oiwa, is nailed to a piece of wooden board and tossed into the river.
After Oiwa's death, Iemon marries the rich man's daughter, as promised. But Oiwa's vengeful spirit could not rest in peace, and she lays a curse on everyone involved with her demise. One by one, Oiwa's enemies die a horrible death, including the rich man and his daughter, and Iemon is plagued by visions of Oiwa's ghost. The character designs for this arc were done by Yoshitaka Amano.
Tenshu Monogatari
This arc is based on a play of the same name by Kyoka Izumi that tells the story of a forbidden love between a god and a human. In medieval Japan, Himekawa Zushonosuke is a falconer who is sent by his master Lord Harima to retrieve a precious falcon named Kojiro.
Zushonosuke's search is initially fruitless, though it leads him to a chance encounter with a beautiful woman bathing in a lake. Zushonosuke more or less falls in love with her at first sight.
When news reaches Lord Harima that the falcon has in fact fled to the castle keep of Shirasagi-jo, Zushonosuke is ordered there to bring the falcon back.
Accompanied by two friendly demons, Zushonosuke makes his way to Shirasagi-jo, which is rumored to be inhabited by beings called Wasuregami (Forgotten Gods). At the castle, Zushonosuke is surprised to find the same beautiful woman he encountered before, who introduces herself as Tomihime (Princess Tomi), beginning their forbidden romance.
The character designs for this arc were done by Yasuhiro Nakura who also did character designs for the anime film Metropolis and worked on Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.
Bake Neko
In the Edo period, a granddaughter of the master of a samurai family was planning to marry.
However, at the moment they were to celebrate the wedding, she was killed miserably. A traveling medicine-seller said it was the work of a bakeneko, or cat monster. As if prophesied by his words, the other members of the family began to be killed, one after another.
The medicine seller claims to have the means to destroy the bakeneko, but to do so, he must know not only the monster's form but the truth about what it wants and the reason for its appearance. That was when the family's dark secrets begin to surface.
The character designs for this arc were done by animator Takeshi Hashimoto, who is best known for his animations in the anime films Ghost in the Shell and X.
"Yotsuya Kaidan" is a retelling of the classic Japanese ghost story, written by the 18th century kabuki playwright Tsuruya Nanboku.
In the anime, Nanboku himself becomes the narrator. Tamiya Iemon is a ronin samurai who marries a beautiful woman named Oiwa. Oiwa is happy with her married life and the birth of their child, but Iemon feels the burden of their poverty.
In return for the promise of a job by a rich man, Iemon promises to marry the man's daughter and conspires to murder his own wife. A servant is ordered by the rich man's daughter to poison Oiwa's food; the toxin permanently disfigures Oiwa's face.
Iemon then orders his servant to kill her after having his way with her. Oiwa commits suicide after coming to know of Iemon's treachery. The servant is also killed, and along with the dead Oiwa, is nailed to a piece of wooden board and tossed into the river.
After Oiwa's death, Iemon marries the rich man's daughter, as promised. But Oiwa's vengeful spirit could not rest in peace, and she lays a curse on everyone involved with her demise. One by one, Oiwa's enemies die a horrible death, including the rich man and his daughter, and Iemon is plagued by visions of Oiwa's ghost. The character designs for this arc were done by Yoshitaka Amano.
Tenshu Monogatari
This arc is based on a play of the same name by Kyoka Izumi that tells the story of a forbidden love between a god and a human. In medieval Japan, Himekawa Zushonosuke is a falconer who is sent by his master Lord Harima to retrieve a precious falcon named Kojiro.
Zushonosuke's search is initially fruitless, though it leads him to a chance encounter with a beautiful woman bathing in a lake. Zushonosuke more or less falls in love with her at first sight.
When news reaches Lord Harima that the falcon has in fact fled to the castle keep of Shirasagi-jo, Zushonosuke is ordered there to bring the falcon back.
Accompanied by two friendly demons, Zushonosuke makes his way to Shirasagi-jo, which is rumored to be inhabited by beings called Wasuregami (Forgotten Gods). At the castle, Zushonosuke is surprised to find the same beautiful woman he encountered before, who introduces herself as Tomihime (Princess Tomi), beginning their forbidden romance.
The character designs for this arc were done by Yasuhiro Nakura who also did character designs for the anime film Metropolis and worked on Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.
Bake Neko
In the Edo period, a granddaughter of the master of a samurai family was planning to marry.
However, at the moment they were to celebrate the wedding, she was killed miserably. A traveling medicine-seller said it was the work of a bakeneko, or cat monster. As if prophesied by his words, the other members of the family began to be killed, one after another.
The medicine seller claims to have the means to destroy the bakeneko, but to do so, he must know not only the monster's form but the truth about what it wants and the reason for its appearance. That was when the family's dark secrets begin to surface.
The character designs for this arc were done by animator Takeshi Hashimoto, who is best known for his animations in the anime films Ghost in the Shell and X.
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