Anime: Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror

First off, this is a collection of horror tales (two which are actual Kabuki plays and one original). The first one is Yotsuya Kaidan, second is Tenshu Monogatari, and the last one is Bake Neko.

Yotsuda Kaidan: This is a story of a wife who is betrayed by her husband, and so the four episodes are mostly about her death and vengeance.
Animation:
It's a very traditional style that reminds me very much of Amano Yoshitaka's work. It wasn't too terrible nor was it great. Some scenes bothered me but I think it really worked out with Yotsuda Kaidan with its dark atmosphere. Out of the three stories, Yotsuda Kaidan's animation style might bother people the most.
Sound:
Too be honest, I didn't notice it much but I believe it got stronger in scenes that were meant to be more frightening. The opening (which is the same for all of the stories and same with the ending) was somewhat catchy and fun. The ED which was completely different from the OP was amazing.
Story:
It wasn't all that amazing but it definitely showed the evilness of man. Iemon's betrayal was expected and nothing of it was new except for how some of the characters died. I believe it dragged on too much and could've ended it within three episodes.
Characters:
Most of the characters were unlikable and did pretty unbelievable things. Oiwa was especially creepy in every sense and sometimes I couldn't understand the motive of the character's actions. And to be honest, I didn't pity any of the characters and they just seemed to plain to me.
Value & Enjoyment:
It had a slow starting and wasn't all that interesting until one of the characters went a little psychotic. The end didn't even feel that satisfying either but I admit the bit about the tragedies on stage wasn't too bad. Yotsuda Kaidan was probably the worse in the series.

Tenshu Monogatari: It's one of those typical fairytales you hear with star-crossed lovers. One's a human who was sent to search for a lost falcon and the other is a Goddess who lives in a castle and feeds off humans.
Animation:
This is a breath of fresh air compared to Yotsuda Kaidan. This time, the style is more pretty and elegant with the Goddess' colourful kimonos and bright setting (for the most part). I like how most of it revolves around the castle in a forest, a lake and a small village. And it isn't in too bad of a quality either.
Sound:
I can't say its more noticeable than Yotsuda Kaidan. I particularly liked the sound effects though. What I really noticed was Midorikawa Hikaru and Kuwashima Houko as the leads. Both who I like which made it more entertaining for me.
Story:
It wasn't anything new and many events could've been predicted. But it was enjoyable to actually see it instead of hearing it in myths/legends and etc.
Character:
All character personalities has been seen in other anime and I can't say I particularly like any of the characters except for maybe the Goddesses and those demons (I can't remember exactly what they were). I also thought their love was slightly too strong considering their short time together.
Value & Enjoyment:
I'm not too much into romance so I can't say I enjoyed it a lot. It flowed nicely and it didn't seem much like a horror story. Much better than the previous one.

Bake Neko: Last and definitely the best (I would recommend many to just download the whole thing to watch this) and quite original. This is a story about a medicine seller who battles a mononoke (spirit) of a cat that wants vengeance.
Animation:
The style is completely different and seems more silly this time and slightly cartoon-ish. It consists of no shading and mainly textures but the designs are quite fun (to me at least).
Sound:
Although I didn't notice much of the background music until the last ep, it fit everything amazingly well. I especially like how realistically the characters scream (and there's must screaming) and just the tiny noises like the bells and etc. Sakurai Takahiro plays the lead and did a fantastic job! One of his best roles in my opinion.
Story:
The story was unique and quite different from the others. I especially liked how they established the Makoto, Kotowari and etc and I found that I couldn't predict what would happen at all. It had the fear, anxiety, sadness, suspense and much more. I was very disappointed it was only three episodes since the others were four. The way it was told too was great.
Character:
The Medicine Seller (who is given no name) is one of the best and unique character designed ever. I enjoyed every minute of him and if it weren't for him, Bake Neko would never be as great as it is. Supporting characters were fun to watch too. Even though their designs sometimes are just silly, they fit everything just perfectly.
Value & Enjoyment:
I have watched Bake Neko at least three times and I still haven't gotten bored of it. To me, it seemed that Ayakashi showed the worse one first to the best which probably put off many. But Bake Neko is definitely one of the better animes I've watched even with only three episodes, it leaves you wanting more.

Usually series start off well, but become worse later on. This series turns it around; the later arcs are getting better, while the first arc is a real drag to pull through.

Personally, I don't really like samurai-series. I started this series because I like horror-stories, so I took the samurai-stuff for granted and after having seen the first episodes, I thought it was a grand mistake. The first arc, consisting of 4 episodes was so incredibly dull and devoid of any interesting parts that I wanted to stop the series. But, getting to episode 5, another arc started and that's when I thought that the series might be something after all. And indeed, the last arc was incredibly good.

Let's go into details about the seperate arcs first, since this is hard to judge with an overall score. I set the ratings to a 'neutral' 5.5 because of that, so you should rather scroll down to see the real values.

Arc 1[/u]: Despite the almost decent story, the characters are bad, the animation is worse and the rest is just plain uninteresting.

A samurai weds a woman, but ends up dating another woman because of family issues. When he gets home, his own wife appears to be cursed … what will he do now?

The first story is mainly driven by a simple revenge-story with animation which is just as curious and original - and just as ugly - as Gankutsuou. While not excessive, the CG flowing around in this arc is quite a lot.
The story is mainly boring. It does have something to offer, but to me it was mostly uninteresting. I admit it had some unsettling scenes, but that was it. And for a story to be interesting, you need more than unsettling scenes, otherwise it's just another splatter movie without a plot.
The characters acted pretty … well, unsettling too. Every single action they made, made me cringe. Not because it would lead them to a certain death like in movies like Scream where you can actually feel them running towards the knife - although this series has something like that too - but more because the characters do not actually feel like characters. Perhaps it's just me not being able to enjoy Samurai-series, but these characters were really horrible.

Animation - 4
Sound - 6
Story - 6
Characters - 4
Value - 3
Enjoyment - 3

Arc 2[/u]: More plain in animation, but less distracting and also a pretty decent story.

A man who takes care of the falcons ends up retrieving a falcon from a strange castle. It is said that demons live there, but he ends up falling in love with one of them.

Arc 2 was a relief to watch after the first story. The animation is much more plain, much more anime-like and a lot less heartstabbingly bad CG as well. What makes this even more different is that the animation is even more plain than usual, with less details, especially in the character designs. It's not that they have less wrinkles, but you just don't notice them as such.
What makes story 2 much better is that the characters actually behave like characters. They add to the story, instead of simply being part of the story and are realistic. The arc then also becomes much more interesting than the first one. The arc then also starts flowing properly and happenings actually feel like happenings, especially when things have effect on other events. I really cannot say anything much about the story, seeing it is only 4 episodes long and nearly everything seems to be a spoiler. But the story is - while not solid - a pretty nice watch, if you like old fairytales going horror. This is a story out of the book of old Japanese horror as I know them.

Animation - 5
Sound - 6
Story - 7
Characters - 7
Value - 5
Enjoyment - 6

Arc3[/u]: A true horror-story which even nowadays will be appreciated.

Animation
For this arc, they managed to pull off a trick where they put a layer of ‘old paper’ over the animation. This results in a view which looks a lot like how Gankutsuou was made. But unlike Gankutsuou, there is no excessive coloring - this one takes pleasure in use dull colors. This gives an odd feeling to the series, because the layer gives you a feeling that there are wrinkles in your anime. And when a wrinkle is in spot A, when a person walks through that spot, the wrinkle is suddenly on the character and once he leaves that spot, the character is ‘unwrinkled’ again. While it is not as annoying as in Gankutsuou, it is certainly something you need to appreciate to not dislike it. But fact is, it is a very stylish thing to do, so props for the creativity.
The animationstyle on the other hand is a mixture of the previous arcs and a cartoonish-view. A chin of one person now consists of 2 ‘balls’ which indicate that there is a little ditch in the middle, but the animation shows it exaggerated. I personally didn't like the animation because of the cartoonish-view, although I have to admit that it isn't really distracting. Perhaps that is because I've already seen the first 2 arcs and am now used to odd styles. Or perhaps that's because the story was damn good.

Story
I admit that this 3rd arc has the best horror-story of all three, since it involves a very good storytelling and applies a lot of well-done horror-aspects in the plot. Anxiety, fear and a grudge are all part of the plot and it displays well on the characters too, which makes this the story with the best characters. I have to agree that this story is also the most 'timeless' story, seeing it only has a slight link to the feudal age.
But if you want to see a well-told horrorstory which can get you sitting on the edge of your chair, this is one.

Animation - 4
Sound - 6
Story - 8
Characters - 8
Value - 8
Enjoyment - 8

Animation[/u]:

Usually anime is well-known for their display of big-eyed characters. This series actually narrows them and shows eyes as of real Japanese people. The series plays mostly in a Samurai-age, so they tried to give the entire series an authentic feeling. I'm not exactly sure how they tried to do so, but all three stories are quite different in terms of animation, of which I don't consider any of them really good. Original perhaps, but not good.

Sound: What's with the bad rap-song?
Voiceacting has been done appropriately, same goes for the BGM which comes along with all arcs. The OP is a Japanese rap-song, which to me sounded like they were forced to use it in this series. It doesn't fit the series and the OP is quite bad too, imho.
The ED-song on the other hand, is one of those old Japanese songs which suits the anime well, seeing the time it plays in. Add to it that the song is pretty well done too, and then it's clear that this song does add to the series.

Bottom line

While I had nearly deleted the show, I am glad I didn't do so. I am used to bad shows, and the first arc is pretty much a good example for that, but it nearly turned me away from this show. The second arc ended up as a pretty good story, although there was nothing really outstanding. I think it was mostly the relief that the first arc had ended which made this second arc good. But after thinking through, it does have its charms.
The third arc was a really nice piece of work at finally displaying a good real horror-show. While the second arc is mostly a story like a fairytale which is the result of some passed-on stories throughout the ages which ‘accidentally’ became a horror-story (but still was a good story), the third arc was a full-fledged horror story which would even be appreciated in current day and time.

I am on my 6th episode (so I am not covering anything after that). Also do keep in mind that I am complementing the earlier review in this section, so I will not repeat what it has already said.

This anime is perhaps best described by combination of words: ethnic, traditional, theatrical. Now what do I mean? Ethnic in a sense that Japanese here actually look Japanese not because they are in an anime, but because of the way their eyes, make up, dresses and even way of life is portrayed. From here follows traditional – much to the same effect the drawing style is somewhat linked to what you might find in traditional Japanese artworks: pay attention to the make-up, clothing, dresses, lifestyle etc are portrayed. And last, but not the least – a prominent theme of the theatre, actually penetrating anime (especially the first play) all the way through. Much of visual acting, poses, voice acting and sound effects are theatrical. We furthermore are reminded every now and then that we are watching a play and this play is linked to Japanese traditional plot and famous writers, who pondered upon it (like my favourite Akutagawa Ryunoske). So this work is to a large extent dependant on the viewers taste and partially familiarity with the background and the context of Japan to be savored properly. I guess, it might also put some people off. But keep in mind that the second story is in many ways different – much less of theatre, much more of myth and the most charming goddesses I’ve come across in anime. The feel of the story is also lighter and we have comic relief characters, unlike in the first story.
Previous review had already covered the sound largely – I just have to add to that that the opening both visually and soundwise will remind you of Samurai Champloo, though, in my opinion, superiour to it.
I have already covered much of how the story is made and I shall refrain from retelling it in hope that you would watch this anime instead. Will just say that it is a mixture of what I perceive as Japanese kabuki theatre play with Japanese novels by Akutogawa Ryunoske (I hope I got his name right). Common themes are love, betrayal, oath, curses, retribution, destiny, insanity, disease, love.
Characters are a bit stiff, I would say – again remind much of traditional Japanese theatre characters – they are largely representing development of a certain prototype character of a traditional play. Like the protagonist (ronin) suffering from his decisions, which are largely a part of his destiny, a wife, who is then turned into a vengeful ghost, robbers, forgotten gods, shoguns, demons… You can find them (or their prototypes) if you read on noh theatre, kabuki theatre and bunraku theatre (demons).
Value… Well, while first story just seemed original for an anime to me, refreshing my memories regarding the legends, myths and plays of Japan. The second is somewhat lighter and much more emotional – I fell very drawn to its characters. So while the first story seems like it has a fine educational value, the second makes up for a relative stiffness of the first one with its emotional atmosphere and beautiful mysterious (not simply on the outside) characters.
Enjoyment. Well, this one is very similar to value. While first play/novel/story I sort of went through, enjoying it half the way, - the second one is still in development and I am eagerly anticipating every new episode with excitement. So I would say better than average, though for the first part I would have rather read a Japanese novel of a similar kind.
So to round it up – a traditional set of plays/novels/myths wrapped up in anime presentation from, spiced up with modern intro, adjusted a bit for better presentation with this medium, which will probably be only half way popular with the general public.
I tried to give the rating so that it covers both first and the part of the second story. It would have been lower for the first one and higher for the second one.

Ayakashi-as the title says- is a collection of traditional japanese horror tales, thus no main story. The viewer who expects the Hollywood blockbuster kind of horror will be disapointed. Each tale is taken from every day life more or less and has a deeper meaning. By understanding it, we realise that true horror comes from the way people -no matter if they're really evil or been forced to become ones through various circumstances- act in different situations, the choices they make and their results to other people.

For example in the first tale, the ronin Iemon, betrays the love of his wife to achieve personal goals such as a higher status. To do so, he's ready to get married with a younger woman from a rich family. Eventually he's causing his first wife's death. After that, the dead wife becomes a ghost and she's haunting him. Iemon has no peace anymore and the only thing he achieves is to kill everyone close to him and finally to die himself.

In this case one can wonder, who is the real "monster" here? The honorless samurai or the ghost of his wife?

The soundtrack is one of the best i've ever found in a show. The opening theme is a brilliant mix of
japanese three string guitar and fast hip hop with a solid bass sound. The end credits theme is a slow, more traditional song that in my opinion, travels the viewer in the early days of the Tokugawa era.

At this point i would also like to congratulate the editors for providing valuable historical information. Every episode comes with a pdf document explaining customs and facts that actually happened. This is something i've never seen before in an anime and honors the people who put effort and spent time to collect it.

For all those that enjoy the show or are fascinated from the japanese culture, i'd like to offer a piece of information. Try to find KAIDAN (realesd in U.S as KWAIDAN). This is a 1964 japanese movie directed by Masaki Kobayashi. It is an excellent compilation of four other classic japanese horror tales
1.Black Hair
2.The woman in the snow
3.Hoichi the earless
4.In a cup of tea
in my humble opinion is a must have!

*My apologies for any mistakes since english is not my language*