Aoi Bungaku Series
2009 · Animation, Drama, Mystery · 1 Season · 12 Episodes ·
An animated adaptation of six classical Japanese literature pieces, including No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) and Run, Melos (Hashire, Melos) by Osamu Dazai, Kokoro by Natsume Souseki, Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) and The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito) by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita) by Ango Sakaguchi.
Episodes
1. No Longer Human - Chapter 1: Double Suicide in KamakuraA high school student becomes lost and alienated. Despondent and aimless, he falls into a cycle of self abuse, depression and drugs that taints his life for years.
2. No Longer Human - Chapter 2: GhostA high school student becomes lost and alienated. Despondent and aimless, he falls into a cycle of self abuse, depression and drugs that taints his life for years.
3. No Longer Human - Chapter 3: SocietyA high school student becomes lost and alienated. Despondent and aimless, he falls into a cycle of self abuse, depression and drugs that taints his life for years.
4. No Longer Human - Chapter 4: New WorldA high school student becomes lost and alienated. Despondent and aimless, he falls into a cycle of self abuse, depression and drugs that taints his life for years.
5. In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom - Chapter 1A forest bandit finds a beautiful maiden in the forest and takes her to be his wife, but she is more than she seems to be.
6. In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom - Chapter 2A forest bandit finds a beautiful maiden in the forest and takes her to be his wife, but she is more than she seems to be.
7. Kokoro - Chapter 1A young man lives in Tokyo as a renter with a widow and her daughter. He invites his childhood friend, a monk, to come live with him, hoping to help him. When the monk falls in love with the widow's daughter, it drives a rift between them. The story is narrated from two points of view, the man's and the monk's.
8. Kokoro - Chapter 2A young man lives in Tokyo as a renter with a widow and her daughter. He invites his childhood friend, a monk, to come live with him, hoping to help him. When the monk falls in love with the widow's daughter, it drives a rift between them. The story is narrated from two points of view, the man's and the monk's.
9. Run, Melos! - Chapter 1A playwright writes a play based on the story "Run, Melos", and deals with his own feelings of betrayal towards his childhood friend.
10. Run, Melos! - Chapter 2A playwright writes a play based on the story "Run, Melos", and deals with his own feelings of betrayal towards his childhood friend
11. The Spider's ThreadKandata, a cruel and evil bandit is executed and lands in hell. The one good thing he had done in his life was to not kill a spider he met in the city. The spider drops him a thread to climb up into heaven. His elation is short-lived, however, as he realizes that others have started climbing the thread behind him.
12. Hell ScreenYoshihide, the greatest painter in the country, is commissioned to draw his greatest work, an image of the king's country inside his mausoleum. In the despotic king's realm, Yoshihide can see nothing but the suffering of the commoners. He decides to make his last work a tribute to the country as it really is.
