"Ghost Slayers Ayashi"

[Owarikenshi]

"Something is hidden below beautiful Edo!" From the character designer of "Cowboy Bebob" comes this beautifully drawn, hauntingly evocative anime steeped in the imagery of classical culture and fanciful interpretations of Shinto.

Set in a gritty backdrop of famine and social displacement, the mysterious wanderer-protagonist Yukiatsu (who at age "almost 40" breaks the mold of much anime) must rediscover how to use a hidden power of "Ayagumi," the ability to use "true names" to exorcise otherworldly beasts plaguing the material world. Very clever use of Jp. characters as holding hidden magical properties resonates with Buddhist "seed syllable" lore as well as Shinto. Very fun stuff; superior character development too, which stays historically true to the Edo jidai.

All period details, costumes and backgrounds are accurately and beautifully rendered; in fact, the artwork throughout this is absolutely outstanding. If you're looking for a more "serious" anime, you will find this series a feast.

Put "Grave of the Fireflies" together with "Dune" and "Onmyouji" and set it in the Bakumatsu, you might come up with something like this.

Official, licensed Complete Collection on 6 DVD's available on Amazon.com with English dubs 'n subs. My one quibble is the English dubbers could do better with names like "Ogasawara." But this is nitpicking.

Highly recommended!

Owarikenshi

[Matsuhide]

Sounds intriguing, will have to give it a shot.
Thanks!

Just ordered and looking forward to it!
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Rekishi to wa, takeyabu ni, tadayotteiru kiri no you na mono desu.

[Owarikenshi]

If you're into artwork, Episode 8, "The Foxes' Theatre" is worth the price of the whole thing.

So trippy one could wonder what kind of mold grows on the rice in some people's storehouses . . . even Miyazaki hasn't done anything this cool! Totally can't believe this isn't more widely known--unless it's just too "Japanese" for most Westerners and because they don't get the references.

Enjoy!

Owarikenshi

[Matsuhide]

Into artwork?!...
Well if you consider being an artist being "into artwork," well then yeah, I guess so
Seriously though, everything you described sounds right up my alley and so did the other reviews I researched. And it just so happened I got my $50 rewards amazon card in the mail today, so...
Now if they'd just release Hakaba no Kitaro, Katanagatari, and/or Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi (which are ever-so historically accurate, I know) over here...
Thanks again for the recommendation, I'll be sure to contribute my $.02 once I've watched it.
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Rekishi to wa, takeyabu ni, tadayotteiru kiri no you na mono desu.

[Matsuhide]

Finally finished watching this series (which IS "Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi!").
I gotta say, overall, pretty darn good.
It took getting all the way through the first disk to make up my mind, 'cause there's a lot of wierdness mixed into the whole series but, in the end, the researched period elements and wierdness win out over the random over-the-top elements and wierdness.

There is a very bizarre combination of gererally incompatible genres going on in this series which, though not unheard of in anime in general, can be very polarizing to the viewer. The setting and concept are fantastic! The art direction is generally fantastic as well, though there are some rough patches around the middle of the series (also not unheard of in anime), and some character design elements are bizarre (I'm not sure I'll ever come to accept that Ryuudou's eyes ARE purposely drawn in the center of his forehead, though I understand the stylistic rationale for doing this).

For the most part, episodic plot elements and arcs are where the series shines the most, in my opinion. Taking into account the general concept of the series, elements such as misinterpreted folklore/mythology (Eastern and Western) and historical consperacies and cover-ups are a boon to fans of alternate history writing. And the youi (monster-spirit, but not quit youkai) designs are usually interesting yet different enough to be intriguing.

The biggest problem is the action elements, which are generally so exaggarated it feels like you're watching something adapted from Shounen Jump (which, maybe it was, I don't know). Then there are the recycled dramatic "power-up" sequences that made me feel like I was watching Voltron (" And I'll form.. THE HEAD!"). There are also some occasional Super-sentai-esque elements borrowed occasionally throughout the series that are just bizarre (though occasionally interesting), such as one particular youi that is an Aztec god, a telepatically-talking horse, the main character's imaginary (dead) friend, and/or a golden, spinning, flying UFO/top that characters can ride atop and fly around on, depending on plot "necessity."

I know it's not uncommon to throw such elements into a blender and hit "puree" for anime, but this series had A LOT of potential and could have SHONE were it not so often derailed by some truly distracting devices. It's rather disappointing to get wraped up in an interesting premice, sucked into some cleverly-researched plot twists, and (occasional) character develotment, only to have the climax of a three-part story arc devolve into wire-fu ("cell-fu"?), minute-and-a-half long weapon/creature summoning sequences, and giant robots fighting in the streets of Edo. Kinda breaks the mood; at least for me... (Though some of these elements and a few special guest appearances [no, not from other anime] work pretty well in the series' final arc. In fact, perhaps all the other sillyness in the series was a gradual build-up to this point which would have been completely bizarre and out of left field [well, to most] otherwise?)

Still, I really WANTED to like this series and, for the most part, do; though I'm not sure how much of my end assessment is tainted by that initail desire.

Ayashi is NOT for everybody! In fact, I'd say that probably the only people that will be able to tolorate the more questionable elements of the series are Japanese mythology/folklore fanatics with a decent appetite for Japanese history (don't see how you could be the former without the latter) and the type of anime aficionado that has sat through countless hours of bad anime only to feel it was all worth while when you finally come across Escaflowne. (In other words, myself, Owarikenshi, probably Akaguma, and maybe Azuki arai.)

Overall, a biased 3.75/5.
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Rekishi to wa, takeyabu ni, tadayotteiru kiri no you na mono desu.

[Owarikenshi]

You left out one group--"stoners."

This is "Yellow Submarine" for anybody smokin' the sakaki leaves . . .

Owarikenshi

[Matsuhide]