is a Japanese
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series, created and written by
Shō Aikawa and produced by
Bones
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...
. Directed by
Hiroshi Nishikiori
is a Japanese anime director. He debuted in 1999 with ''I'm Gonna Be An Angel!'' Two years later, he directed ''Angelic Layer'', which won the Animation Kobe in the television category. Some of his other major works include ''Azumanga Daioh'', '' ...
, it featured character designs by
Toshihiro Kawamoto
is a Japanese animator. He is co-founder and director of the anime studio Bones. He was character designer and animation director of '' Cowboy Bebop''.
Biography Early period
Upon graduating from high school, Kawamoto was first employed in the m ...
. It was broadcast for twenty-five episodes on
MBS
MBS may refer for:
People
* Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia
* Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician
Places
* MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US
* Mari ...
–
TBS from October 2006 to March 2007.
Plot
In 1843, the fourteenth year of the
Tenpō
was a after ''Bunsei'' and before ''Kōka.'' The period spanned from December 1830 through December 1844. The reigning emperor was .
Introduction
Change of era
* December 10, 1830 () : In the 13th year of ''Bunsei'', the new era name of ''T ...
Era, ten years before the arrival of Commodore
Matthew Perry
Matthew Langford Perry (born August 19, 1969) is an American-Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994–2004).
As well as starring in the short-lived television series ''Stud ...
and the
Black Ships
The Black Ships (in ja, 黒船, translit=kurofune, Edo period term) was the name given to Western vessels arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries.
In 1543 Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking G ...
,
Edo is under attack by beasts from the underworld, known as . Members of the Bansha Aratamesho, called the , are assembled to repel the emergence of these yoi.
Characters
Ayashi of the Bansha Aratamesho
;
:
:An almost 41-year-old drifter with the power of Ayagami. He goes by the name of "Yuki". Originally a son of a
Hatamoto
A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...
Samurai, he left home 25 years ago, after having visited the "Other World". He vanished from home when he was 15 and re-appeared a year later. To him it seemed that an instant went by and came to in the same room he had been in when he first left. He is the only person known to have visited it and returned. He later thanks his mother for the 15 years she spent with him, though he has spent 25 years away from home he can not agree to return and be the head of the family. Because of his time away in the Other World he found himself unable to appreciate human food and places and felt dissatisfied with the normal world. However he knows that he must remain in this world and feels persecuted by the Other World and that is why he became a drifter, never staying in one place for more than a year. Most importantly, he was left with the power of Ayagami, which allows him to draw out a creature's true name and turn it into a weapon.
:Fifteen years ago, he met and befriended a man named Kumoshichi who goaded him into fights and gambling. Kumoshichi was in a relationship with Oshino who cared deeply of him and hoped to marry. At one point Yukiatsu and Kumoshichi had an argument and Yukiatsu was forced to kill him in self-defense. The event was so traumatic that Yukiatsu blocked out the memories, and unconsciously summoned a Yoi in Kumoshichi's form. At some point he was brought to the vagrant camps, escaped, was recaptured, and escaped again; his arm and shoulder are still tattooed from this.
:After he returned from the Other World, Yukiatsu was very reckless and rambunctious. He had trained and become a samurai as a child, later became a ronin and then worked as a bodyguard. Because of his high fighting skills, he started fights, tricked people in gambling, and sexually harassed Oshino because he was desperate to feel alive. This was the cause for the fight between Yukiatsu and Kumoshichi. After losing his friend, he became much more quiet and restrained. Because of his status as an eternal outsider, from society and from the human race, Yukiatsu tends to be extremely sympathetic to people who fall outside the bounds of society, whether they are vagrants or foreigners.
;
:
:The 20-year-old leader of the Ayashi of the Bansha Aratamesho. He is also a scholar in . He often finds himself torn between his Ayashi work and the government's political schemes.
;
:
:A cross-dressing Shinto priest. His appearance and mannerisms are so convincingly feminine that despite his masculine voice, he is often mistaken for a girl. His cross-dressing is not due to his sexuality or preference, but rather to an enduring family tradition of having priests who dressed as women during rituals. Genbatsu apparently frequents the geisha district, and has many female friends there.
:He fights using several different firearms, ranging from a large gun to a bazooka and grenades, and seems to function more as a munitions expert than as a priest. He frequently works alongside Abi, and the two seem to be very close friends (even drinking and partying together).
;
:
:A young girl who dresses as a boy because of her background in the theatre, where women are not allowed to perform. Saizo was also raised to be as masculine as possible by her homosexual father, who died in a fire after Saizo accidentally walked in on him and his lover. She believed her father hated her because her name is seemingly related to the word for "sin." As a result, she is secretly tormented by the belief that she herself is inherently sinful.
:She fights using a paper fan which unfolds to become a long rope of paper, which can be used to temporarily tie up Yoi. She was also trained by her father from a very young age to perform a mysterious dance which attracts Yōi, which is said to be the dance performed to draw the goddess Amaterasu from her cave.
:Though it was not explicitly mentioned, there were implications that she is around fourteen years old when she said she was not even born fifteen years ago, and that she turned thirteen at the same time when her father started turning on other actors before the theatre burned down, which occurred a year ago.
;
:
:A man from the
Emishi
The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean "shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contemp ...
mountain people, fights using a spear which can split mid-throw into five lesser, seemingly magical spears. He seems to have a close relationship with Genbatsu, perhaps because of their similar temperaments. He is extremely tall, muscular and darker-skinned than his friends, and tends to be dressed more roughly.
South Edo Magistrate
;
:
:The South Edo Magistrate, Lord of "Kai". A strong supporter of the Chief Elder Mizuno Tadakuni Tenpo Reforms.
;
:
:A retainer of Torii Yōzō. He works under him as spy.
;
:
:A Rangaku scholar.
;
:
:A relative of Honjō Tatsusuke. She is revealed to have gone to the Other World and returned, giving her the ability to breed the Yokai-like creatures the Magistrate use as a task force against other Yokai.
Shogunate government
;
:
:Biological brother of Mizuno Tadakuni, the financial magistrate and political opponent of Torii Yōzō. Ogasawara's superior.
;
:
:Appointed as Elder at age 25. He negotiated on behalf of the Shogun government with Matthew Perry.
;
:Recently been dismissed from the post of North Edo Magistrate and has been transferred to the post of Chief Censor. Political opponent of Torii Yōzō.
Other characters
;
:
:An Aztec girl who works in a circus alongside her massive horse, . Atl was born in Mexico and was orphaned while living in Texas with her family; when she prayed to the Aztec god Quetzacoatl, she summoned a Yoi in the form of a horse that could also become a dragon. Since she had heard from some samurai stranded in North America about Japan, she decided to go there in hopes of finding a peaceful home.
:However, Atl was reviled for being a foreigner, and had to artificially tint her bronze skin with makeup to pass for a Japanese person. She and her horse Quetzl (whom she called Yukiwa) performed together in a circus, until her status as a foreigner was revealed. After this, Genbatsu arranged for her to be a ward of the geishas he knew in the red light district, although she herself would not become one.
:For reasons that are never fully explored, Atl is able to see Kumoshichi, and is able to correctly identify him as a Yoi despite his human appearance. No one other than Yukiatsu is able to do so.
;
:
:Yuki's friend, whom nobody except Yuki can see. The real Kumoshichi was Shikiji, a man who Yuki knew about fifteen years ago. However, he attempted to snap Yuki out of his self-destructive haze by tricking and goading him into a life-or-death fight, and forcing Yuki to stab him in self-defense. Yuki blocked out the entire incident, and unconsciously created a Yoi in Shikiji's form. After this, Kumoshichi followed Yuki everywhere and often would give him advice.
:Yuki was shocked when he realized that he had killed the real Shikiji, and that his longtime friend was actually a Yoi he had created. When the horse/dragon Quetzl began running wild, Kumoshichi merged with him and successfully calmed the Yoi until it was no longer dangerous. As a result, Kumoshichi only existed after that as a part of Quetzl - a talking horse.
;
:
:A youngster offered in sacrifice to a Yōi by his father, but then escaped with his mother. Ota was supposedly going to be a sacrifice to the mountain god near his village due to a bad rice harvest-(as it had caused a lot of people in his hometown to starve and die from
malnutrition
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
), but it seems to be implied that his father intended to kill and eat him instead (having done the same to the boy's older sister). When the mountain god appeared and absorbed Ota's father, the boy was exposed to the Other World. His mother Tae took him on the run to escape the Yoi, but the boy kept searching for the Other World because of the hardships of this one; after meeting and talking with Yukiatsu, he decides to stay with his mother in the real world.
;
:
:Ōta's mother, who goes on the run to avoid the mountain god that wants her son. She is attracted to Yukiatsu and seems hopeful of marrying him at one time, but eventually settles down in another city with her son.
;
:
:A bumbling auxiliary policeman (Okappiki) obsessed with catching Yuki.
;
:A group of masked bandits whose goals are a mystery. Like Ryūdo, they can use Ayagami and often create Yōi. They are led by a man called Akamatsu, who has an X-shaped scar on his face.
;, also known as
:
:A young painter with remarkable talent. He was once sent briefly to the Other World after he grabbed a severed head which was floating down the river and nearly drowned. He is confident and self-assured beyond his years. He often visits brothels despite being underage, claiming (perhaps truthfully) that he is there to practice his observational art, and because he developed some interest on Atl. He proved to be useful to the Ayashi providing reliable information and protecting Atl from harm in their absence.
Broadcast and release
''Ghost Slayers Ayashi'' first aired in Japan on October 7, 2006 in the 6pm Saturday prime-time slot on MBS and TBS. It was originally slated to be 52 episodes; however, due to low ratings during its broadcast run, the series' length was cut in half, to 25 episodes. From episodes 1-12, the opening theme is "Ryūsei Miracle" by
Ikimono-gakari
The romanization of the group's name does not have the hyphen according to Sony's websites for their albums. is a Japanese pop rock musical duo, duo from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan consisting of Yoshiki Mizuno and Kiyoe Yoshioka. The group starte ...
while the ending theme is "Winding Road" by
Porno Graffitti
, also known as , are a Japanese rock band from Onomichi (formerly Innoshima), Hiroshima Prefecture. The band got their name from the album ''Pornograffitti'' by the band Extreme. They currently record under the SME Records label and their ag ...
. From episodes 13–25, the opening theme is "Lone Star" by Captain Straydum, while the ending theme is "Ai Toiu Kotoba" by Saki.
A five-part
OVAs
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
titled ''Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi: Inferno'' were released, set six months after the events of the TV series.
Manga adaptation
A manga adaptation by Yaeko Ninagawa was serialized in
Square Enix
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...
's
''seinen'' manga magazine ''
Young Gangan
is a manga imprint owned by Square Enix Holdings. It originated as a manga imprint for Enix before the company re-branded as Square Enix. It publishes manga in several anthologies aimed at different reader demographic groups in the Japanese mark ...
'' from September 15, 2006, to July 20, 2007. Square Enix collected its chapters in two ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes, released on February 24 and October 25, 2007.
In North America, the manga was licensed for English release by
Bandai Entertainment
was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.
Most of the anime and f ...
. The volumes were released on September 16 and December 16, 2008.
See also
*
Bansha no goku
The Bansha no goku (蛮社の獄, literally "Indictment of the society for western (or barbarian) study") refers to the 1839 suppression of scholars of Western Studies (rangaku) by the Edo Shogunate government of Japan.
The incident was provoke ...
References
* "Tenpo Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi". (November 2006) ''Newtype USA''. p. 15.
External links
Official websiteAnimax's official website for ''Tenpō Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi''*
{{Young Gangan
2006 anime television series debuts
2006 manga
2007 anime OVAs
Anime with original screenplays
Aniplex
Bandai Entertainment anime titles
Bandai Entertainment manga titles
Bones (studio)
Films with screenplays by Shō Aikawa
Gangan Comics manga
Historical fantasy anime and manga
Mainichi Broadcasting System original programming
Seinen manga
Television shows about exorcism
Yōkai in anime and manga