Ayakashi : Le théâtre de l'horreur

Épisode 1 - Yotsuya Ghost Story - Part 1

13 janvier 2006 - 3.5/5

Tamiya Yemon, un samouraï, tue son beau-père parce que celui-ci ne voulait plus que sa fille, Oiwa, lui soit liée. Peu après, Yemon abandonne son épouse, qui vient d'avoir un enfant, pour épouser une femme plus jeune…

Épisode 2 - Yotsuya Ghost Story - Part 2

20 janvier 2006 - 4/5

Épisode 3 - Yotsuya Ghost Story - Part 3

27 janvier 2006 - 4/5

Épisode 4 - Yotsuya Ghost Story - Part 4

3 février 2006 - 4/5

Épisode 5 - The Legend of Tenshu - Part 1

10 février 2006 - 3.5/5

Tenshu Monogatari raconte la vie d'un samouraï, le fauconnier du roi. Non loin de son village, il existe un château peuplé d'esprits qui tueraient tous ceux qui s'en approcheraient. Un jour, en cherchant son faucon qui s'est échappé, il rencontre une femme, qui est la propriétaire du château. Il l'ignore, mais Tomihime est elle-même un esprit…

Épisode 6 - The Legend of Tenshu - Part 2

17 février 2006 - 3.5/5

Épisode 7 - The Legend of Tenshu - Part 3

23 février 2006 - 4/5

Épisode 8 - The Legend of Tenshu - Part 4

3 mars 2006 - 4/5

Épisode 9 - Bakeneko - Part 1

10 mars 2006 - 4/5

Bake Neko (ce qui signifie chat maudit). Elle commence avec la petite fille d'un samouraï qui se prépare pour son mariage. Peu après, elle meurt mystérieusement, devant toute la famille. Au même moment, un étranger vient proposer des marchandises à la domestique de la famille. Il déclare que c'est un démon qui l'a tuée, et qu'il peut l'anéantir…

Épisode 10 - Bakeneko - Part 2

17 mars 2006 - 4/5

The moment the bride crosses the threshold of the house to leave, she is struck dead. The medicine peddler, being a stranger and looking rather suspicious, is seized as the culprit and bound. After an older retainer is killed while attempting to fetch a doctor, the medicine peddler breaks his bounds, reveals himself to also be a demon-hunter, and claims the true villain is a bakeneko. The medicine peddler sets up a barrier to keep the demon at bay and begins questioning the family and their retainers to learn the shape (katachi), truth (makoto) and reasoning (kotowari) of the demon so that it can be exorcised. At first the family prevaricates, but as the demon grows stronger, breaking through the barriers of the medicine peddler and killing their members, they begin to talk, alluding to the family's dark past. As the demon breaks through his final barrier, the medicine peddler attempts to unsheathe his sword and destroy it, but fails and is shown a vision by the demon itself.

Épisode 11 - Bakeneko - Part 3

24 mars 2006 - 4/5

In his youth, the head of family had kidnapped a sacrificial maiden, keeping her locked away in a basement prison to be raped and abused at his leisure. Her only companionship was a young cat which she secretly raised with the food she was given, hoping it would one day escape where she could not. One day the head of family's elder son was caught raping her, after which the head beat her to the point of death as punishment. The cat attacked him to protect her, then escaped as she died; its regret from being unable to protect her combined with her sorrow, eventually turning it into a demon. Having finally realized the shape, truth, and reasoning of the demon, the medicine peddler unsheathes his sword, which in reality releases his true spirit-nature from the human shell it is bound within, allowing him to exorcise the bakeneko's grief and release it from its vengeance. In the end, only the two blameless retainers, Kayo and a young samurai, are left to be saved. The story ends with the medicine peddler, once again sealed in his human form, exhausted and bending over the emaciated body of an old cat, at peace in death. As he leaves, he sees a brief vision of the girl and her kitten finally emerging into the outside world.