Aoi Bungaku Series

Title: "Aoi Bungaku"
Animation Producer: MADHOUSE Studios
On Japanese TV: October 2009- December 2009
Available online?: Yes! Via Youtube and other anime sites.
Genre: Horror, mystery, psychological (episode 1-4)

I came across this gem while looking at another anime blog site and I love anime of Japanese folklore; so when I seen that this was a small collection of Japanese modern era stories i had to check it out! And I really enjoyed it.

As of writing this blog I have watched the first story called " No Longer Human," and it was crazy/depressing/ awesome piece of storytelling! The picture above is not Light Yagami from Deathnote but the tortured soul of Youzou. This character is conflicted about what it is to be human and even views himself to be a monster,not because he's ugly or deformed in any way. But because of an incident from his school years which he never forgot. Another thing that was interesting about this story is that he continually sees this humanoid but disturbing a form at his most vulnerable moments.

The series is 12 episodes long and the character designs were done by three different artists. These artists were Tite Kubo (Bleach), Takeshi Obata (Deathnote fame), and Takeshi Konomi (Prince of Tennis fame).

This series seems really interesting and I can't wait to see Akutagawa's "Hell Screen" (had to read this story in school and it's really awesome so I can't wait to see the anime rendition!! ^^)
So if I were rating this arc on storytelling, animation, and just worth spending time to watch then I would rate it a 4 out 5!