Kyougoku Natsuhiko: Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari

In an attempt to turn his floundering career around by compiling one hundred ghost stories, struggling author Momosuke Yamaoka roams through Edo-period Japan searching for material. During his travels, the young man wanders deep into the mountains, where he encounters a monk named Mataichi. Failing to heed the monk's advice to turn back, Momosuke presses forward and soon witnesses a murder carried out by Mataichi and his two associates. As it turns out, Mataichi's gang also investigates paranormal incidents—aiming to make those in the wrong pay the ultimate price.

Continuing to seek out subject matter for his stories, Momosuke repeatedly crosses paths with the trio of outlaws, becoming increasingly involved in their schemes each time. As the author strays further toward the world of darkness, he grapples with both the morality of the group's actions and the line between humans and the supernatural.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ogin Main

Kobayashi, Sanae Japanese

Mataichi Main

Nakao, Ryusei Japanese

Nagamimi Main

Wakamoto, Norio Japanese

Yamaoka, Momosuke Main

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Kyougokutei Supporting

Kyougoku, Natsuhiko Japanese

Chiyoko Supporting

Shitaya, Noriko Japanese

Jihei Supporting

Aono, Takeshi Japanese

Ooishi, Hiromichi Producer

Okazaki, Takeyuki Producer

Murata, Yuuichi Producer

Tonokatsu, Hideki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Oct 26, 2023

Kizna_Towryk

Recommended

Requiem from the Darkness - 2003 - 7.5/10

The anthology series is an adaptation of Kyogoku Natsuhiko work. Genre is Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Fantasy with Historical and Psychological themes.

Show consists of a writer who journeys across the country to write an anthology of disturbing / ghost stories and his misadventures along the way. MC often meets the Ongyu, a trio with supernatural powers that hunt the wicked, on these travels.

Show depicts a lot of graphic gore and violence. Most characters are deformed in one way or another, the surroundings are dark and often quite literally twisted, setting the mood for all the disturbing things the ... viewer is about to witness. Supporting characters are sparsely developed through out the series to maintain mystery; aside from the MC, whom undergoes changes as a result from the events of the series.

The art style is reminiscent of Puppet Princess, Cheeky Angel, Monster Rancher, and Detective Conan which is no coincidence since they're all TMS Studio projects.
Suggested + Similiar genre/theme shows to this would be:

◇ Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror
◇ Mononoke
◇ Petshop of Horrors
◇ Hell Girl
◇ GeGe No Kitaro
◇ xxxHOLIC

- Thank you @Infinite_Jester for the reccomendation on your horror thread. This was a gem, and I was SO surprised to not have seen it before due to my love of horror.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jul 10, 2023

_DOLOS_

Recommended

Mushishi, ACCA-13 now this I just feel like screaming "SUGOI"
These animes don't have a definite plotline so the character personality is a major deciding factor for people to watch or drop and this is where it exceeds your expectations. Wise, sly and bulkhead all three options are there for you
The MC is not as dumb as the poster make him appear so he too will not disappoint you

As for the plotlines it follows 1v1[1ep, 1plot, 1youkai] you won't feel like the stories being dragged at all. It's not Pokemon i.e. ghost and it's ability there's an intricate plot staged before ghost is introduced so you ... won't find that the plot has been half baked in order to focus on youkai.

Art style is next level. I mean this is 2003 anime last checked, the colours are symbiotic with the art style producing an eccentric and entrancing effect on the story

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 20, 2024

nozomiEX

Mixed Feelings

This review comes fresh off of a second watch-through, mostly because I saw that I had already rated it here but didn't remember a thing about it. But now that I've seen it again, I remember my feelings from then and they hold true still, and just so this doesn't happen again, I'm leaving this as a note to self, and may as well share it here.

First off, I have to praise the artstyle. It's an inspired spooky style with lots of little touches to the environments, the buildings, the people or more appropriately, creatures, that give the show identity and atmosphere. It's ... probably the greatest strength of this anime. The animation itself, as well as overall production values, however... they're definitely on the cheap side, to put it kindly.

As for the narrative, the basic set-up for each episode is that Momonosuke, the protagonist traveling in search of scary stories for a book he's writing, will come across some horrific seemingly supernatural situation, where he either serves as a passive witness to the events that unfold, or well-meaning participant trying to help people, with most of the situations as well as Momosuke's role ending up having been set in place by a trio of ghoulish tricksters he becomes increasingly involved with, who serve as karmic retribution for the ne'erdowell of the week.

The execution, however, is flawed in several general ways. The way the stories are set up, rather than all the elements being introduced in the beginning and coming together as the curtain peels back, instead we get staggered, trickled out exposition that comes out of nowhere in scattered chunks. This exposition is often very blunt too, and makes the mysterious openings seem stupidly simple after all is said and done, and if the elements in these dumps were introduced from the start, the mysteries would be child's play to at least get in the ballpark of what's going on. It's understandable why they then decide to just omit these elements from the stories until they become relevant but that leaves us with unsatisfying ass-pulls or nonsense that feels cobbled together at the last minute. Some character will just come in at the eleventh hour to say "It's so sad that that captain of the guard whose been hunting the ghost, his wife died 10 years ago in the exact same way as the current murders... such a shame" and then it's like oh gee I wonder what's going on.... But then in another vein, there's a lot of stuff that's also convoluted but not vital to the story. Deep-cut historical and occult references (at least to a weeb like me, but I think even a standard Japanese audience might not know all the things that are referenced) that might build some ambiance, but don't serve much purpose except to make it seem like a deeper mystery going on. It's not so much that these things are being set up, but when the more critical components AREN'T getting this treatment, it's feels like a waste. It's like all the things in that should be simple and easy to grasp are needlessly complex and involved, while all the things that should be intricate turn out to be overtly basic.

There's an over-arching plot going on beyond the episodic stories as well, but it's sadly underdeveloped. It focuses on Momonosuke's relationship with and the nature of the three fiendish characters, as well as Momonosuke changing from interacting with them, but developments come in sudden and overstated bursts while skipping over the crucial interstitial stuff. The whole thing (including the epic finale) is all just kind of done half-way.

The pitfalls in both the episodic and background story writing are surely just a matter of not having enough time to build up all the things they need to and satisfactorily pay them off, having to fit an entire ghost story plus overarching plot into 20 minutes an episode and only 13 episodes to do it. It's just too little time. If it was perhaps done like Mononoke where instead of 1 story per episode it uses its time to strongly build up 3 stories over several episodes each, or if it got 24 episodes and got to do two parters and main story and episodic story specific episodes, or if it was 40 minute episodes, or just some other way to divvy up the time and give more time and effort to each individual component, it could've smoothed over most of the issues I'm sure. But coulda woulda shoulda, and all that. What's here is just a watchable but not quite at the next level experience.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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