Aoi Bungaku Series
Season 1
2009 • 12 Episodes
Aoi Bungaku is a 12 episode anime series that is comprised of adaptations of six Japanese literary classics. The stories included are 'No Longer Human' and 'Run, Melos!' by Osamu Dazai, 'In the Forest, Under the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom' by Ango Sakaguchi, 'Kokoro' by Natsume Soseki, and 'The Spider's Thread' and 'Hell Screen' by Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
Episodes
1. No Longer Human - Chapter 1: Double Suicide in Kamakura
October 10, 2009
A 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: Ghost
October 17, 2009
A 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: Society
October 24, 2009
A 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 World
October 31, 2009
A 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 1
November 7, 2009
A 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 2
November 14, 2009
A 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 1
November 21, 2009
A 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 2
November 21, 2009
A 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 1
November 28, 2009
A 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 2
December 5, 2009
A 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 Thread
December 26, 2009
Kandata, 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 Screen
December 26, 2009
Yoshihide, 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.