Aoi Bungaku Series

No Longer Human - Chapter 1: Double Suicide in Kamakura

The episode adapts the Japanese novel, No Longer Human (人間失格) by Osamu Dazai. The episode begins with a photograph with the focus being on the young boy in the middle surrounded by a group of women. Cut to a scene of a mysterious human-like figure with a man narrating about how his "life was shameful." Showa Era, 4th year, Summer. A woman rushes off a bus and into a bar. She apologizes to the owners for being late and they question if she was looking for her husband again. She admits she was and quickly goes to change into her uniform. The narrator reveals the woman to be Tsuneko, stage name: Mayumi, and she is a prostitute. The narrator, Oba Yozo, claims, "people called me the murderer of this woman." In the streets, a group of people surround a man advocating about unemployment and the rise of prostitution. Oba Yozo stands up in the crowd and reveals his middle school-aged sister was sold to pay for family debts. The man encourages Oba, and the rest of the crowd, to help him destroy the government. The crowd gets motivated and begins giving them donations. In a bathroom it's revealed the two men were actors trying to con people into giving their money away for their fake cause; Oba even comes from a wealthy family. In a flashback, Oba meets with his father's servant. The servant tells him about how his father is disappointed in Oba and warns him that if he continues going to art school, his father will cut off his living expenses. The servant hands him an envelope and hopes it's not the last. Back in the bathroom, a commotion is going on outside. The Tokko (political control police) are arresting all the scam artists. The two men escape through the window and split up. Oba runs into the bar to escape from a Tokko. Tsuneko is there being harassed by a customer, when she sees Oba, she quickly runs to him to get away from the annoying customer. The Tokko officer enters the bar and approaches Tsuneko, who quickly hid Oba under her dress. The officer is suspicious, but soon leaves. Later, Oba and Tsuneko walk around town pretending to be a couple. They bump into the officer and Tsuneko holds him back telling Oba to run. When Oba comes back, he finds Tsuneko beaten up. In the moment, he kisses her and then has sex with her. The photograph in the beginning is explained. The boy is Oba, and as a child, he was sexually abused by the his father's female servants. This causes him to "don't understand women." Oba and Tsuneko decide that they will do a double suicide as they both hate living. They travel to a cliff and Tsuneko asks Oba to push her off and to come join her soon. The next day, a man finds Oba alive washed up on shore having survived the jump.

No Longer Human - Chapter 2: Ghost

The episode adapts the Japanese novel, No Longer Human (人間失格) by Osamu Dazai. The story from the first episode is continued. We get a glimpse into Oba's childhood, and how he became friends with one of the kids in his school. We also see how he began seeing delusions of himself as a ghostly figure. Then, Oba wakes up in a hospital bed, where hes confronted by the police and journalists. He is informed that his father has disowned him and put him under the watch of one of his father's friends in order to make sure he doesn't try to commit suicide again. Upon being released from the hospital, he is then confined to a room and forbidden from leaving. That night, his house, where he meets a reporter woman. As fate would have it, he is invited to stay at this reporter woman's house, and he leaves his ghostly self behind.

No Longer Human - Chapter 3: Society

No Longer Human - Chapter 4: New World

In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom: Chapter 1

The episode adapts the Japanese novel, Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita by Ango Sakaguchi. A forest bandit finds a beautiful maiden in the forest and takes her to be his wife.

In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom: Chapter 2

The episode adapts the Japanese novel, Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita by Ango Sakaguchi. A forest bandit finds a beautiful maiden in the forest and takes her to be his wife.

Kokoro: Chapter 1

The episode adapts the Japanese novel, Kokoro by Natsume Souseki. 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. In this episode, the story is narrated from the young man's view.

Kokoro: Chapter 2

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. (Source: Wikipedia)

Run, Melos! - Chapter 1

A playwright writes a play based on the story "Run, Melos", and deals with his own feelings of betrayal towards his childhood friend. (Source: Wikipedia)

Run, Melos! - Chapter 2

A playwright writes a play based on the story "Run, Melos", and deals with his own feelings of betrayal towards his childhood friend. (Source: Wikipedia)

The Spider's Thread

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. (Source: Wikipedia)

Hell Screen

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. (Source: Wikipedia)