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Ayakashi
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Animation - 7.3 |
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Sound - 8.3 |
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Story - 7.7 |
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Character - 7.1 |
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Value - 7.3 |
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Enjoyment - 8.2 |
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Average - 7.7 |
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| Average |
5.2 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| Based on the first 4 episodes - the story dealing with Oiwa's curse:
Ayakashi seems to be more of a cultural lesson than something meant for entertainment. However, do not expect to learn anything either - except maybe about their folk tales and horror stories. Initially, I had a very hard time watching past the first episode because it was just plain uninteresting. I've done some studies on Japanese Noh, Kabuki and Bunraku plays and these stories are actually more entertaining and dramaticized versions of related material, which doesn't say much. The first story is just really pointless.
Anyway, in terms of traditional Japanese stories, Ayakashi remains pretty faithful in story execution. However, these stories aren't exactly the most fun or scary to watch. It gets to the point of tedium for the majority of the story. In general, the story just follows traditional Japanese story progression - very slow, not much climax, a lot of adultery or love mishaps, and a lot of ghosts messing with the lives of normal people. As far as the first story goes, it is safe to skip it.
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Ridian |
(2007-01-07 19:34:18) 2006-12-22 16:53:56 |
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| It's hard to go wrong with adaptations of folk tales. Eons of telling and retelling have made their plots watertight and recognizable to a very wide audience, and despite the fact that I'd never heard these old Japanese stories before, I still found Ayakashi's treatment of them extremely enjoyable. The three stories within this series are markedly different in every possible way - art style, direction, plot, and even character design - and yet all of them manage to succeed in their goals (for the most part).
The one problem with folk tales is that, in case you hadn't noticed, their plots tend to meander. They feature lots of aimless sidequests, underdeveloped characters, and plot threads left to die. This issue is most prevalent in Yotsuya Kaidan, where the characters do things that absolutely transcend explanation for the sake of moving the plot along. The tempo of the story flip-flops from a ton of things happening at once to really unusual, meaningless dialogue and exposition. There are a lot of useless characters introduced, only to be killed off by Oiwa's curse moments later. The story itself feels rather obscure for at least the first half.
There's also a little of this obfuscation in Tenshu Monogatari, but it's not as severe - just a few dropped characters, even though one is fairly important. Bake Neko, fortunately, is quite tautly plotted, with all its subplots and characters accounted for.
All of the stories can be plodding. Barely anything even seems to happen in Bake Neko until its second episode, and Tenshu Monogatari feels like it can be completed in half the running time. This pace, however, adds atmosphere to each of the stories, allowing the viewer to get a feel for the setting and the characters within it. This is especially valuable, since folk tales rarely place any influence on characters, instead opting to host a bunch of rich adventures for those characters to go on. The people within the tales generally serve as markers to take the reader/listener/viewer from place to place. As such, none of the characters in Ayakashi are really that memorable, except the medicine seller in Bake Neko. A few of them are kind of interesting, but not in a way I'll remember in a year or two.
Still, Ayakashi offers three very interesting tales, blissfully devoid of filler. All three are very evenly done. Ultimately, I feel Bake Neko is the strongest story in the series. Yotsuya Kaidan and Tenshu Monogatari are also good, however...about equally so. If you're looking for stylized, slightly dark, traditional entertainment, Ayakashi is a definite alternative.
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Caireen |
(2006-12-13 18:26:44) 2006-12-13 14:23:24 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| 3 very light weight tales of sinister goings on - most definitely not horror! Ghosts, demons and curses all compliment each other in this interesting set of Japanese horror stories. Each is very different and obviously animated by different studios, the quality of which ranges from good to almost bad!
This series is definitely worth a watch, but I wouldn't say there's a whole bunch of stuff to get your teeth into.
***
I'm going to break this review down into 3 sections; one for each story.
Please read on for more indepth details.
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Ayakashi is a short 11-episode series that premieres 3 Japanese horror stories. That was the first description I found about this fantastic show. As it turned out, what drawn me at first was its name because I thought it sounded cool (Am I kidding? No. Lame? Yes). Anyways, besides its name, it seemed to fall under the horror catagory and since I haven't seen too many of them, I decided to give it a try.
The intro is not too spectacular (it reminds me of Samurai Champloo). The stories were wonderful. You can feel the emotions that each character had. Even though there were several fight scenes, the focus was on their feelings. Unlike other anime where epic battles define the series, Ayakashi makes you appreciate the stories. Rather than praise the special effects in a 5-minute dogfight, you remember how the abandoned wife felt betrayal, the forbidden passion between a mortal and goddess, and the fury of an enraged demon. The ending though is the best. The melancholy voice and emotional accompanient sends tingles up my spine. I would not hesitate to rank this as the best ending ever made.
There is an extra document that gives more background information and is suggested to be read BEFORE watching.
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petran79 |
(2007-11-26 17:01:07) 2006-05-09 13:32:29 |
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| (release by gg fansubs, the only ones that finished the project. Included also some usefull info in pdf. Very good work overall.)
This anime recently caught my attention because of the genre, namely Asian horror. The way it was adapted to anime left me satisfied for the most part. Though I knew that I'd hardly be scared watching an anime, there was actually a creepy scene in the first story and it is the first time I felt scared watching an animated feature. Since this anime had an effect on me who saw dozens of horror movies (most of them failures) I have to label it as one of the good titles of 2006 and perhaps of the best horror titles, if a more subtle meaning is applied to the term horror and not that of the mainstream horror movies, though some of them were really good too (no, not Silent Hill) . True horror fans should also watch such kind of movies and not just the slasher type ones.
All of the 3 stories had a certain charm. Initially I was to dismiss the third story but in the final episode it managed to amend the boring moments of episode 9.
The 3 stories are completely different in direction, pace and animation and they could easily be distributed as different productions.
The first story is the one that features most of the horror elements and it could be described as a true ghost story. It has also the best design and the ghosts were creepy. Since it was an adaptation of an old theatrical piece the way they directed it and included the original writer (he had died of course, they just animated him) as the narrator worked very well and made the first story the best of the trio.
The second story was the least scary, though there the characters were better developed. It was also the most action paced in the end. The romance between the falconer and the Forgotten Goddess was very well developed. Also the other Forgotten Gods were nicely animated, as if they were directly torn from a drawing.
The third story tried more to be a psychological thriller than a horror story and it succeeded in the final episode. Problem was it was boring till the middle of the second episode, and also the character design was peculiar, reminding me of some of Satoshi Kons animes, thus perhaps the psychological effect.
Since animation is different for the three stories I'd have given it an 8 it if wasnt for story 3. But even then the animation is very atmospheric and like a Japanese horror animated feature should be, excluding the third story. The characters look very realistic and their eyes in the first story are induce horror. The OP animation was also nice, changing with each story everytime.
The OP was perhaps out of place, but tolerable considering I dont like rap, let alone Japanese rap. The ED song was very well composed and sung. One of the best I've heard. The music in the series was changing from atmospheric to action-paced without ruining the overall horror feeling. It needs to be said that the music here is traditional Japanese and, excluding the OP, fitting for the genre.
The characters were Ok for a horror story. In such short stories there's hardly space left for character developement. Though the first story is certainly worth watching in a Japanese theatre to be truly appreciated. The second story had some good characters, while the third story featured a weird medicine guy who looked like an elf and made excorcism in an exciting fashion. The other characters in the third story were rather funny than fear-inducing, and I never expected it to have the most tragic outcome of all the three stories.
For horror fans the title shouldnt be missed.
It is worth giving it a shot since it is one of the best titles for what it has to offer. Very good direction overall.
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This review is base on 11 epsisode (complete)
This anime has three stories. It would have a better score if not for the last story. I really don't like the last story. However, I really like the first two story, especially the first arc.
Overall, this anime is very good. I recommend anyone to watch this, especiall the first 4 eps (first story)
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DazeD |
(2006-03-19 18:01:46) 2006-03-19 17:11:00 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| This wasn't really on my watch list... but after awhile I gave in an took a watch. It was horror so it was somewhat up my alley since I like horror movies and animes.
So far after watching five episodes I think I will cast a verdict.
Animations - It was unique due to the fact that the characters look different than the recent animes I've seen. Also it has that little texture which gives it an old looking type of anime feel.
Sounds - Openning was not that good in my opinion. However, I favored the ending song. The japanese voice acting was well presented, however the moaning of the dead wife could have been done better.
Story - So far there is only one story. That is the story of a wife who was pretty much killed by her husband. Not literally. Nevertheless he was an accomplice and being the husband that makes him pretty the killer himself. Now he is haunted by the condemned soul of his wife. This gives it a uniqueness. However, wish there was more to it. For example something surprising and unexpected.
Characters - There weren't any information of the characters before hand. So the audience is pretty much dumped into the midst of the story. There is little to no character development making it very disappointing.
For an anime with the word "Horror" in the title I was seeking for more of a scare. However, I was disappointed. I was more frightened watching Hellsing. They could have gone a realistic route rather than making the animations as it is. Nevertheless it is worth a watch. Hopefully things will sway uphill for the future stories. I am looking forward toward the second story of the goddess and the falconer. (I like anime romance stories.) =P
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Bella |
(2006-05-04 02:23:35) 2006-03-07 22:06:31 |
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| Average |
9.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| the animation is absolutely.....different. i was kinda sceptical about the whole anime at first and then i decided to brave it and after the 1 story i'm totally hooked!!
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| Average |
8.8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Ayakashi is a really different anime. The character design, voice acting and almost every other aspect of the anime is SO different from the other animes that are available today. For me, it's fresh, exciting, and extremely scary.
Sure, the characters' design looks a bit bit weird, and their eyes really creep me out. But overall, I find the anime to be strongly themed. There would usually be a theme for each scene, and because of that, really helps draw me in.
Sound is one of the stronger aspects of Ayakashi, and I meant voice acting, songs, sound fx, etc. The voice acting was really good, in my opinion. Also, it had this special tone to it that I can't quite nail down, but still, really hooked me. Take Oiwa for example, when I first saw and heard her speak, I was kinda uneasy (it WAS weird! Trust me), but later on, I actually got used to her voice and appearance REALLY fast. And regarding the songs. I'm not really fond of the OP, but I LOVE the ED. It has a really calming effect, which in itself is eerie.
Story. There are a total of 3 stories, but I'm only reviewing the 1st one (4 episodes) for now. Of course, I'll add more once I've watched the rest. Anyway, the premise for the first story Yotsuya Kaiden is really simple (see AnimeNFO's description). But it's the execution of the story that made it really special. Unlike modern days horror movies/anime, it doesn't go about giving you random scares. Rather, the tension builds up slowly, with occasional "Wham!", and finally ends with a series of ever increasing "Wham!" "Wham!!" WHAM!!!". And because of the way the story is presented, it's REALLY scary, even after watching Ayakashi. Heck, I actually slept with my lights on (For the FIRST time in more than a decade).
Character. Well, honestly, there isn't much about the character. There're hardly any background information about them. The good thing is, it gets directly to the point, and that's good. The character designs looks really odd, and Oiwa's face is REALLY eerie. Add her really COOL voice, and she's one of the eeriest chara I've ever seen.
Value... I'll prolly never watch the episodes again... alone, anyway. But the enjoyment was REALLY immense. I've not felt this scared in years, and even though almost ALL of the scares were cliched, as I said previously, it's the way the whole story is presented that really drew me in. Everything was extremely well thought out, and presented in an extremely tasteful (though weird) manner.
Conclusion, I'm probably just a scaredy cat. But thing is, this anime WORKS for me. All I know is it frightened me enough to have me sleep with my lights on, and that's good enough for me. Now, I'm not saying that Ayakashi is for everyone, but do give it a try, and when you do, give it a chance to pan out what its got to deliver. Because as I said, Ayakashi is one of those shows that builds the tension and emotion through out the show, before ending in a sequence of ever-increasing climaxes.
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