Ceres, Celestial Legend/ Ayashi no Ceres

"On the eve of her 16th birthday, Aya stumbles upon a secret that her family has kept hidden for years and learns her young life is anything but ordinary. First, she discovers that she's actually a reincarnated celestial maiden who, if pushed, can transform back to her original form. But what she finds out next is even more unbelievable: Her wealthy family wants to kill her."

This brief netflix description was enough to catch my attention, but it doesn't do this anime justice. Aya and her twin brother Aki are put through a ritual, in which the blood of their divine ancestor, Ceres, emerges in Aya, and wounds like the ones Ceres gave to the one who forced her to become his wife appeared on Aki.

The family then attempts to kill Aya, and when her father refuses to harm her, he is killed by his own father. It is then that Ceres, whose spirit resides in Aya, destroys the building and escapes. Toya, a man who saved Aya from being run over, shows up again and speaks to her.

Elsewhere, a woman name Suzumi senses Aya's danger and, along with the random mrs. Q and her brother-in-law Yuuhi rushes to her aid. They show up and take her to their home, where they tell her about her powers.

The whole underlying story is an old legend "One day an angel took off her gossamer robe and was bathing. A man stole away her robe, so the angel (Ceres) could not return to heaven. She was stranded, and forced to become his wife and bear him a child. Aya, Aki, and the whole Mikage (Me-ka-gay) family are descended from that angel. A more accurate translation of the story is available here.

Just as Ceres lives inside Aya, the male ancestor emerges in Aki. He takes over Aki and goes after Aya, constantly asking "Where is my woman?"

Toya and Aya meanwhile, encounter each other repeatedly, and instantly fall in love. Toya has no memory of his past, and the names "Toya" and "Mikage" are the only things he remembers. Toya means "ten nights". Toya has a dagger that mysteriously appears out of his wrist when he fights.

Yuuhi also falls in love with Aya, and she loves him back, just not the way she loves Toya.

The Mikage are working on a project called "c-genome" where they track down descendants of angels from all of the different descendants of the angels from the various versions of the legend and cause all sorts of trouble.

The whole story is incredibly sad, but not sad in a way that gets tiresome. The idea of several guys that all fall in love with Aya/Ceres can seem like the usual unrealistic sort of plot-line, but in this case, it is unique and not tiresome in the least. The story has just enough comic relief so that the terribly sad story doesn't become overwhelming.

As soon as I laid eyes on Aya, I decided she was one of the most beautifully drawn anime girls I've ever seen. Almost all of the characters are very well drawn. Beautiful, but not in the common anime tradition of making them unrealistically beautiful.

I have fallen in love with the opening song, Scarlet by Junko Iwao. It can be viewed below... that is, if it will load.



This is Aya and Toya.