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.

Loveless

O.0 I just saw the coolest anime ever! It's a 12 episode series called Loveless, I've seen some good reviews, but when I actually tried to find it, the best I found was here.

This pic is the typical one used in reviews, so I'm guessing it's on the dvd cover. (Soubi left and Ritsuka right) One of the coolest things about loveless is that humans have kitty ears! (apparently they lose them with their virginity) The basic idea is that Ritsuka lost his memory, and the only one there for him was his brother Seimei. Then his brother is murdered, and he leaves him Soubi with orders to protect Ritsuka. Soubi is your typical masochistic/pedophile type... but he's really cool.

The fight scenes are so cool. It takes place in a sort of inter-dimentional zone type thing, and they call them spell battles. Basically, they manipulate words to make things happen. The word manipulation involved in that is very interesting. It's sort of a mixture of comedy, angst, mystery, and action. The only bad part is that it leaves you mad for more answers.

The last episode for instance, consists of Ritsuka having this weird incense-induced dream/vision where all of his friends are killed by Soubi on Seimei's orders. (soubi's earless by the way) It basically ends with him fighting pre-destination and saying he'll create his own. It really is a beautiful and touching story, and it's the kind of show where you experience the frustration along with the main character.

I loved everything about this anime, and I'm greatly hoping they make a second season. It is also a manga (graphic novel). But really, loveless is one of the most touching anime's I've seen yet. (Other favorites including YuYu Hakusho, FullMetal Alchemist, Chobits, works of Miazaki, which include Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle, and hundreds more.

What I found to be one of the greatest things about this was the music. Both the opening and closing were FABULOUS! The opening song: Tsuki no curse is a really cool song. The lyrical translation comes out as follows:

Evil curse of the moon
Come to me from inside a frozen dream

In this world of nothing but empty words
Our love begin to fall apart
But I still I hope someday it will reach your heart
Even if the wounds in your arms run deep
And you hold me tight, so I won't fall
I want to feel these lips of mine melt that strong wish away

Ah, I wonder if even in the past
Beauty and love were made to last
Let's keep walking to a new tomorrow
And a prettier night

Evil curse of the moon
Come to me from inside a frozen dream
Take me far, far away
To a place I've never seen
I don't care where we will go
If we can believe in love
We'll never be alone

While that song is cool, the ending song "Michiyuki" is absolutely AMAZING! It's beautiful! The lyrics translate as follows:

Even if we try
To embrace until
Our souls fill with pain
Still we will not be
Able to become
Only one, again

If, together, we strive
To get close, in the dark
Even kindness begins
To turn into pain
So please deepen our bonds and
Make this sorrow end

From today on, we won't even dare to dream
Holding onto each other filled with despair
And together we'll walk until we reach
The next cruel dawn
I am sure that the words that we want to say
Must be tangible in this world, somewhere
Hiding underneath the shadows of our love
In our silent nights
I'm sure, even now.

The songs are actually sung in Japanese though. The end theme "Michiyuki" has been recorded and uploaded here at youtube.com.
The OP "Tsuki no Curse" can be found here at Youtube as well. They are both great!

Charming

I'm going to experiment for a while, then I'll really start.