Aoi Bungaku Series Episode 11 - Kumo no Ito (The Spider's Thread)

As compared to the previous stories, I was rather lost after watching Kumo no Ito by Akutagawa Ryunosuke. It wasn't because the story was too complicated. On the contrary, the story was too simple and the message was very straightforward. That made me wonder why this story deserved to be covered in the Aoi Bungaku series. After doing some research on this novel and Akutagawa himself, my interpretation and opinion of the story has somewhat changed, although I'm still not pleased with the anime version.

Prior to watching this, I've not read any of Akutagawa's works but I have heard of screen adaptations of his other works like Rashomon and Jigokuhen. It seems like Akutagawa had two distinct categories of works i.e. themes based on classics and the other being children stories. Kumo no Ito happens to be in the latter group. This is probably why the story didn't have subtle themes unlike the earlier stories in Aoi Bungaku. And that could be why, as an adult, I felt that the story was too simple. In addition, the anime left out an integral part of the story and this could have resulted partly as to why I sensed that something was missing.

The novel begins with Buddha looking into Hell through his lotus pond in Paradise and seeing lots of sinful people who are suffering there. Buddha takes notice of a man Kandata, a thief who had done evil deeds without batting an eyelid. The only good thing that Kandata did in his lifetime was to spare the life of a small spider. In view of this act of mercy, Buddha decides to give Kandata a chance to get out of Hell by dropping a spider's thread into Hell. Kandata believes that he can get out of misery by climbing up the spider's thread but is horrified to see that other sinners in Hell are also doing the same. Fearing that the spider's thread will snap, Kandata shouts at the sinners below him to get off the thread. Just then, the thread snaps and Kandata falls back into Hell. Seeing Kandata's behaviour, Buddha puts on a sad expression and leaves the lotus pond.

As you can see, the novel is based on the concept of karma in Buddhism whereby you reap what you sow. Kandata was a bad guy who thought of himself only. As a result, he was put in Hell following his death. The small act of sparing the spider's life gave him a second chance. Although Kandata made use of the chance given by Buddha, the fact that his inner self remained unchanged sealed his fate. However, the anime didn't give the full picture of the story. It began too quickly and ended in the same way as well.

In the anime, we see Kandata's evil deeds as he kills mercilessly and steals whatever he wants. He even dares to make a mockery out of the king who is out on a parade. Unexpectedly, Kandata is wounded by a child whose mother was killed by him. When Kandata tries to hide from the soldiers, he comes across a spider and decides against killing it. Soon, Kandata is caught by the solders because he is unable to run due to his injury. After Kandata is put to death, he goes through hell because of his evil deeds. Suddenly, a spider's thread descends from above and Kandata views it a chance to get out of Hell. As he climbs up the thread, Kandata sees other people also doing the same. Worried that he might lose the chance to save himself, Kandata shouts at and kicks the people below him off the thread. Suddenly, the thread snaps and Kandata falls back into Hell.

There are two major differences between the novel and the anime:

1) The novel depicts Buddha as an onlooker to Kandata's deeds while the anime dives straight into Kandata's deeds.

2) In the novel, Kandata shouts at the sinners in Hell to get off the spider's thread while in the anime, he also kicks them off it.

I'm not too concerned with the second difference because I think the anime wants to reinforce the fact that Kandata is selfish and evil by nature. It's the first point which I think has botched up the story. By potraying Buddha as the onlooker who dropped a lifeline to Kandata, this would have been a more logical way to explain why Kandata was given that spider's thread and who gave it to him. I would prefer it if the anime had adopted a retrospective approach rather than jump straight into Kandata's evil deeds. There was simply too much emphasis on showing the evil side of Kandata.

Another grouse I have would be the graphics. Coincidentally, I dislike the character and set design for this story and Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita and they happen to be from the same person. Maybe it's the fantasy nature of the story which warrants such a drawing style or it could be the manga-ka's style which I'm not used to. It's just that after watching refined graphics from some of the earlier stories, the character design and colour balance this time were really an eyesore.

I'm not entirely sure that Kumo no Ito and Jigokuhen were linked in their novel versions but you can see that there are two characters who appear in both stories i.e. the king and the artist Yoshihide. That is probably why Sakai Masato takes on the role of Yoshihide rather than Kandata who is voiced by Miyano Mamoru. No wonder Kandata sounds a lot like Yagami Light. As Sakai doesn't have much airtime, I can't really judge his performance this time.

On the whole, I'm not too pleased with Kumo no Ito so this is how I'll rank the stories now in terms of satisfaction:

1) Ningen Shikaku
2) Hashire Melos
3) Kokoro
4) Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita
5) Kumo no Ito

Now, how would Jigokuhen figure in this ranking? We'll see very soon.

Aoi Bungaku Series Eps 9 & 10 - Hashire Melos

It's been slightly more than two months since my last post and an alarming five months since my last review. I think I've been neglecting this blog for too long so here I am, with a new review of another story in the Aoi Bungaku series. I don't really have a fixed schedule when watching anime these days. Coupled with work commitments, it's getting difficult to write detailed reviews or synopsis as before. I'll just have to make an effort to post more regularly or else this blog will probably go to waste. I can't believe that it's been five long years since I started on this blog...

待つ身が辛いかね。待たせる身が辛いかね。 ~ Is it painful to be waiting? Or is it painful to be the one making somebody wait?

This message forms the basis of Hashire Melos which is written by Dazai Osamu. From what I remember, most of Dazai's stories are about the dark side of humans. This novel is probably one of those with a more "posititve" theme i.e. trust between friends. At the beginning of the anime, Sakai Masato's commentary did mention that this novel was written at a time when Dazai had just got married and was leading a peaceful life. Maybe that's why the mood of his works was different from those which he wrote during the last years of his life e.g. Ningen Shinkaku. According to Kazuo Dan, a friend of Dazai, Hashire Melos was probably written due an incident which happened in Atami.

Dazai was having a holiday in Atami and did not return for days. His wife was worried and asked Dan to go there and have a look. She even gave Dan some money in case he needed to pay for Dazai's bills. However, when Dazai saw Dan, he got his friend to participate in merry-making. In the end, both men used up the money which Dazai's wife had given to Dan. In order to settle the bills, Dazai persuaded Dan to stay behind in Atami as a "hostage" so that he could return to Tokyo and borrow money from another friend Ibuse Masuji. After waiting for days, Dazai did not return. Dan had to promise the hotel in Atami that he would come back to settle payment and rushed back to Tokyo to find out what had happened to Dazai. To his surprise, he saw Dazai playing shogi with Ibuse and had not even broached the subject to the latter. When questioned by Dan, Dazai said the above line which suggested he was also tormented for having to make Dan wait.

In the novel, the story is about Melos, a young man who tries to assasinate the king who kills people due to distrust in others. However, he is caught and faces the death sentence. In order to attend his younger sister's wedding, Melos asks the king to allow his friend to be a hostage while he promises to return in three days. The king doesn't expect Melos to return but Melos' friend agrees to it because he has faith in Melos. Subsequently, after overcoming many difficulties, Melos returns and saves the lives of himself and his friend.

In the anime, this story is relegated to the side in the form of an ongoing play. This is written by Takada, a scriptwriter who also does not believe in people like the king in Melos' story. He was asked to write the script for the play and is forced to come to terms with his past as a result.

Takada used to have a buddy Joushima in school and they arranged to leave their hometown for Tokyo. However, due to unforseen circumstances, Joushima fails to turn up thus causing the latter to be extremely hurt by the betrayal. 15 years on, Takada is still torn over the pain he suffered. However, when he receives news that Joushima is on his deathbed, Takada rushes back to their hometown and finally comes to terms with his past after knowing the reason for Joushima's no-show.

I like the presentation of this story. If it had been solely focused on the Melos story, that would have been a bore. By drawing parallels between Takada-Joushima and the Melos story, it is easy for the viewer to get emotionally involved and feel the pain that Takada is experiencing. In addition, we get a taste of how Joushima feels for not fulfilling the promise he made. The contrast of feelings is central to the theme: is it more painful to wait or is it more painful to let someone wait? By not over-simplifying the story to a mere replication of the novel, I think the anime version has done reasonably well to capture my attention, at the very least.

With regards to character design, this is done by Konomi Takeshi who created the Tennis no Oujisama series. Being a fan of Tenipuri, I find that the characters in Hashire Melos do resemble a mixture of those in Tenipuri. For example, Melos' body look like Akutsu Jin's but his face seems like a modified version of Shishido Ryo plus Ootori Choutarou. I'm not sure how others see it but I just get the feel that there are some similarities between both sets of characters especially the sharp chins. It doesn't bother me that much, just that I get a bit distracted trying to figure out who resembles who. I think I was more irritated to see the character design in Kokoro which had too much traces of Death Note.

It was a pleasant surprise to see some familiar names in the cast like Kiuchi Hidenobu and Takahashi Mikako who were also in Tenipuri. I like Kiuchi's potrayal of Takada very much but Takahashi may need to tone down on her kawaii-ness because it seemed terribly jarring to my ears this time. Sakai Masato did fairly well as Melos but I still like his performance in Ningen Shikaku the best, so far. I've still got two more stories in Aoi Bungaku series to watch so I'll come to a conclusion as to which of his performances was the best.

Based on the four stories I've seen so far, here is how I would rank them:
1) Ningen Shikaku
2) Hashire Melos
3) Kokoro
4) Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita

How would this ranking change after I watch the remaining stories? We'll see very soon.

Aoi Bungaku Series - Kokoro (Eps 7 & 8)

This is yet another famous classic in Japanese literature and I'm sure most people who had gone through Japanese classes would have heard of the author Natsume Souseki. In my class, what our sensei introduced us to was a light-hearted novel titled "Wagahai wa Neko de Aru". This novel, Kokoro (Heart) is also considered as one of Natsume's signature works and was said to be in a constant bestseller race with Dazai Osamu's Ningen Shikkaku which I had reviewed earlier. Although I have not read the novel yet, I did hear about the storyline previously. If you had read Wagahai and contrast it with Kokoro, you will see a vast difference between the two. Wagahai is a sarcastic look at society from the eyes of a cat but with lots of humour. However, the atmosphere in Kokoro is gloomy and grim. It is not surprising, considering that we are talking about the dark side of humans.

The novel itself is divided into three portions but the first two portions are not covered in the anime. What happened was that Natsume actually started writing the final part and it became longer than he expected. As such, Kokoro was then expanded into three parts with the order jumbled up. Actually, the crux of the story is in Part 3 so it is not surprising that the anime chose to focus on it.

What surprised me was that they finished the whole story within 1 episode and used the other episode for a fictional view of the events from another viewpoint. To put it simply, the first episode was Kokoro in its original form but the second episode was fiction. For people who have read the novel, I wonder how they would feel about this decision.

In this story, we have four main characters i.e. Sensei, K, Ojou-san and Okusan. Sensei is staying at Okusan and Ojou-san's place as he studies in an university. He has a friend K who keeps a distance from people and concentrates on studying only. K seems intent on leading a lifestyle like a Buddhist monk with no desires. Sensei invites K to stay with him in an attempt to get him to warm up to people and because he knows that K's financial situation isn't that good. However, the unexpected happens as Sensei finds out that something is going on between K and Ojou-san. In an attempt to prevent K from getting Ojou-san, Sensei leaps at the chance offered by Okusan and manages to get Ojou-san's hand in marriage. Unable to withstand Sensei's betrayal, K commits suicide. Even though Sensei manages to marry Ojou-san, he feels as if a part of him has died together with K and his marriage is destined to end in tragedy.

Despite the story being dark if not as dark as Ningen Shikkaku, I like it because it offers a very realistic look at humanity. Be it in the old days or in the modern era, something like this could happen to any one of us. It is natural for people to think of themselves. In this case, Sensei felt threatened because of K's appearance. Then again, he was the one who brought it upon himself because things might not have come to such a state if he didn't bring K back home. That is why that although he felt justified in marrying Ojou-san (he thinks that K doesn't deserve her even though it wasn't mentioned explicitly in the story), he also felt bad for betraying K and causing him to commit suicide. Although K may appear very strong and unfeeling, he's actually quite fragile emotionally. Maybe that was why he had to commit suicide after losing Ojou-san. It was probably more unbearable for him to see Sensei and Ojou-san get married as compared to death.

In the first episode, it gives the impression that K was the one who took the initiative to get close to Ojou-san and she was not keen on him initially. The scene when K stood in front of Ojou-san in his underwear gives the impression that he was trying to test if Ojou-san was still going to be friendly to him when he tried to show himself as a scary person. However, the second episode takes on a different view of the situation and depicts Ojou-san as a manipulating and pretentious woman who was leading K on all the time. That scene where Ojou-san literally crept into K's futon was probably the most extreme behaviour you would expect from her. Although the second episode offers a fresh perspective to the situation, I thought it was better if this episode could be used to explain more on Sensei's anguish after K's suicide and how his life and marriage suffered as a result. Nonetheless, K's perspective was enjoyable to watch on its own although I thought it wasn't too relevant to the main storyline because of its make-believe nature. It only complicates things as we are not exactly sure what is going on.

Sakai Masato's voice is more suited for characters with a quiet and brooding charm. The last story was a great disappointment so I'm quite happy to hear him do what he's good at. The biggest difference between Youzou and Sensei would be the development and contrast in their feelings shown through Sakai's voice. Youzou appeared dejected and depressed for most of the story. Even when he was supposedly happy, it felt so unnatural and forced as if he was just trying to show everyone how good his life had become. Youzou seemed very intent on showing his happiness. However, Sensei's feelings are shown like a slow streaming river. At first, he appears like an earnest young man who's truly concerned about his friend (although some people may also feel that he's just trying to make himself feel good and superior because he can extend aid to someone) but if you compare how his voice sounds when he feels threatened by K's presence and when K killed himself, the progression is displayed so gradually that you hardly feel the difference.

With regards to the character design, this is where I'm not too happy about. Seeing Sensei is as if I'm looking at Youzou and Yagami Light at the same time. I know that these manga artists would probably have a distinct drawing style but it tends to get repetitive over time. As for K, I was wondering if Natsume did describe him as someone like that. He looks too huge as compared to the rest of the characters and it's as if the artists are making him out to be a big boor in order to show the contrast between K and Sensei.

On the whole, I like this story pretty much but when it comes to completeness and quality of production, Ningen Shikkaku had an edge over Kokoro. I wouldn't consider Ep 8 as redundant but there is a possibility of a higher level of presentation if both episodes had been dedicated to Part 3 of the novel. Of course, considering that Ningen Shikkaku had four episodes to develop its story, it had an advantage over Kokoro which only had two. If I consider Ep 7 on its own, it is a pretty succint account of events but the ending could have been expanded to increase the viewer's satisfaction.

Aoi Bungaku Series ~ Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita (Eps 5 & 6)

As I had never heard of this story nor the author Sakaguchi Ango prior to the production of the Aoi Bungaku series, I had no prior expectations about it. This could be good in a sense because I won't be prejudiced against the presentation of the story. However, right from the first three minutes or so, I already felt that this story didn't interest me. Or should I say handled really badly. Although it got better at several points, I still felt that the story left a bad aftertaste.

Compared to Ningen Shikaku, I find myself getting really irritated with this story at many junctures even though it spanned two episodes only. First of all, the character design got me riled up. From the very refined and detailed drawings in Ningen Shikaku, the drawings of the scene and characters are so coarse as if this anime was produced many years ago when technology wasn't that advanced yet. I do not know whether this is supposed to be the drawing style of Kubo Tite (the author of BLEACH) but this style certainly doesn't go down well with me. At the very beginning, it felt as if I was watching the chibi version of an anime. The first few scenes were terribly done and simply set things off on the wrong foot. It's kinda stupid to see Shigemaru fighting in such a manner with the man whom he robbed.

In addition, humour was also added in at the wrong time and in the wrong way. The story is supposed to be set in the 12th century but what's with the IPod and mobile phone camera jokes? If the producers wanted to make the viewers laugh, I'm afraid those jokes were pretty lame. In fact, it spoilt the mood which was building up especially for that part when Shigemaru was lamenting his inability to cope with living in the city. Another eyesore was the sudden fighting scene where Shigemaru's wife, Shoko charged towards him as if she really wanted to kill him. That was really dumb because it failed to add anything substantial to the story.

A lot of detail and effort was put into those scenes when Shoko was singing. I'm sure those background visuals took a long time to produce. However, I didn't really like those scenes and wished that they could end earlier. I didn't know that Mizuki Nana was the VA behind this character though as I couldn't recognise her voice. Nonetheless, I thought her potrayal of the role was pretty good although I thought singing was seriously not warranted for the story to progress. It's not so much to do with whether her singing was good. To think that there were so many songs in just two episodes! The time could have been spent in a better manner.

This time round, I thought Sakai Masato didn't do well. Frankly speaking, a lot of Shigemaru's emotions were not depicted in such a way that it will leave an impact on the viewer. The limited scope of the character development coupled with the fact that he had to do some of those jokes which I mentioned earlier made it difficult for me to like his potrayal of the role this time. He is just not suited for showing the violent, crude or corny sides of Shigemaru. As such, I think it's better for him to steer clear of such "twisted" roles which require him to balance gyagu with the serious stuff.

As this story isn't straightforward (in terms of relaying its message), I would have preferred spending more time trying to understand what the author was trying to convey rather than seeing senseless pranks. Actually, right till the end, I was kind of puzzled as to what the story was driving at but after thinking through for a while, here are my conclusions and views about the various parts of the story:

1) Why Shigemaru was scared of the sakura tree and why he moved to the city
Unlike the modern era when people marvel at the marvellous sights of sakura in full bloom, the sakura tree was viewed with awe and fear at the same time. People loved the beauty of the sakura tree but they were also scared since there was a common belief that the sakura tree was masked in some mysterious veil unknown to them. This could be why Shigemaru was so scared of the tree. Then again, why did he keep going to see the tree despite his fear? This seems to reflect human nature. Sometimes, we know that someting is wrong and yet we still go ahead to do it. Likewise, Shigemaru knew he wasn't suited for city life yet he was tempted by Shoko's description of that unknown place. People are all curious and greedy but sometimes, when something is not suitable for us, we still hang on to it. I get the feeling that this could be the main message in the entire story.

Although I am not convinced that there is anything in the city which is so important to Shoko that she wanted so much to return there, I think it could be partly due to her desire for control. In the mountains, she was totally reliant on Shigemaru for her survival. However, in the city, she took on the role of a master. Shigemaru's inability to adapt to a change in environment switched the tables this time. And since Shoko isn't the typical traditional type of Japanese woman depicted in that era, it is of no surprise that she wants to do something unlike the norm i.e. controlling her man instead of letting him call the shots.

2) Why Shoko told Shigemaru to kill his wives
Actually, I didn't know the woman's name until I checked the official website. Either they did not mention her name at all or I was not paying attention. Anyway, on the surface, it may seem like jealousy. However, I think Shoko's motive for doing this wasn't so much of wanting sole attention from Shigemaru. She knew that he was already eating out of her hand when she wanted him to find that hairpin and carry her back home. No matter what she said, he would listen. Or I should put it this way, he would fall for her bait whenever she taunted him. I feel that Shoko's reaction of disdain when she saw the wives was because she felt that the wives were in a lower class than her. She didn't think that they deserved to be living in the same place with her especially when she saw people who were dressed shabbily, looking unhygenic and behaved rudely. Her princess complex was probably what drove Shoko to instigate Shigemaru to kill.

3) Whether Shoko was a ghost
I'm inclined towards the view that she wasn't a ghost. Shigemaru might have been hallucinating when he was standing below the sakura tree thus he killed Shoko. In any case, Shigemaru's obsession with the sakura tree was the primary driving factor for his life which had gone awry. Coupled with the fact that he had been suppressing himself so much when he was in the city, the sakura tree or rather his imagination took over and caused him to kill Shoko. Maybe deep down in his mind, he feels that Shoko is the biggest cause for his unhappiness. And the sakura tree was merely the trigger for the explosion of his emotions.

4) Why Shoko left a note saying that she would be back soon
Shoko was very confident that Shigemaru would listen to her. She had absolutely no intention to return to the mountains because that wasn't what she wanted. She pretended to be understanding towards Shigemaru and expected that he would be persuaded to return to the city with her. However, her biggest problem was that she underestimated Shigemaru. She expected that Shigemaru would not be able to live without her but in fact, I feel that she's the one who cannot live without him. She needed Shigemaru to bring back the heads for her pleasure. That was why she bothered to pacify him. If Shigemaru was totally useless to her, Shoko would have let him go when he wanted to go back to the mountains. And this in turn resulted in her murder.

I'm very disappointed with the presentation of this story especially when I contrast it with what Ningen Shikkaku had to offer. I can only hope that the remaining stories will turn out well and not fall short of expectations given their reputation as literature classics.

Review of Aoi Bungaku Series ~ Ningen Shikaku (Eps 1 to 4)

It's been ages since I last posted a review and this marks the first in 2010. I've been neglecting this blog for so long and it's time to get things going again. For the past 1 or 2 years, I've not had the urge or interest to check out the newer animes because the genres tend not to be my cup of tea. I think the last series which I followed faithfully was Higashi no Eden but that was kinda disappointing at the end.

As such, getting started on the Aoi Bungaku series was a step back into the anime world for me. Based on the fact the anime is based on the signature works from some of the best Japanese authors, I was assured that the story wouldn't be too bad. Coupled with the fact that Sakai Masato was chosen as the navigator and main voice actor for the series, it gave me a boost of confidence about the quality of the series. People who have seen his dramas and movies would probably agree that this guy can act. Of course, voice-acting is different and more challenging because we can't see the voice actor's facial expressions. However, this also shows us the depth of acting one can achieve just by relying on the voice. In addition, looking at the cast list which consists of many notable names in the seiyuu world like Park Romi and Noto Mamiko so this series did looked like a sure-win on paper.

After finishing the first story Ningen Shikaku which spans four episodes, I'm impressed.

Ningen Shikaku was written in 1948 by Dazai Osamu and is one of his signature works. The novel was actually released in three parts and just before the final installment was published, Dazai committed suicide with his lover. As such, this novel was seen as a suicide note by him. In addition, as there were some parts of the story which seemed to reflect Dazai's real life e.g. the names of the women whom he was involved in appeared as women in the lead character Youzou's life, there was talk that Dazai was potraying his own life through Youzou.

As the general atmosphere in the story was rather gloomy and pessimistic, the colour scheme in this anime wouldn't be considered vivid or impressive given today's standards. I can accept that since this is consistent with the storyline. If you are looking for light entertainment, you might want to give this a miss. Another point to note is that whenever I look at Youzou, I'm reminded of Yagami Light in Death Note. I guess this is largely due to the fact that the revised version of the novel has a brand new cover drawn by Obata Takeshi thus the resemblance is striking.

The story weighs heavily on the viewer because Youzou's life is simply like a tragedy played out before your eyes. Although he was born into a rich family, being sexually abused by his caregivers made his personality twisted. Coupled with his father's expectations, he was forced to retreat behind a socially-acceptable but unreal facade which he had to create in order for him to live on. He started to put on a pretence before people and gradually found it difficult to show his true self. He was constantly haunted by his past and he could never find a way to break free other than drift along in life. Coupled with the fact that he didn't have anyone to accept him for who he was, Youzou suffered. Time after time, just when he thought he had got over a hurdle, another challenge came his way. It was as if he was trapped in a maze and could never find a way out. However, when you come to think of it, Youzou didn't really try to do anything to get out. He was merely riding on the kindness that people showered on him and when things went awry, he started to blame everyone except himself.

I like Sakai Masato's potrayal of Youzou especially in the first two episodes. Without even looking at his facial expressions or what Youzou was doing on screen, the despondent and resigned attitude showed through Sakai's voice. It does bring out the sadness in Youzou's life. This has made me more excited to see how he will potray the other roles for the remaining stories. On the other hand, I thought the BGM and ending theme were quite lacking so I was a bit disappointed about that.

On the whole, this anime shows a lot of promise and I hope the other stories will be handled as well, if not better than what Ningen Shikaku had displayed. At the very least, the anime has sparked my interest in trying to find the novel so it is considered successful in this sense.

Aoi Bungaku Series starting from 10 Oct 09

NTV will be showing an animation series titled "Aoi Bungaku Series" which comprises of 6 famous literature works from various leading authors. The series will begin from 10 October at 1.20am (1.50am for the first OA) on Saturdays.

The idea for the series began when Shueisha re-published the 6 novels in a new version with covers drawn by famous manga artists Obata Takeshi (Death Note), Kubo Taito (BLEACH) and Konomi Takeshi (Shin Tennis no Oujisama). Based on their drawings, MADHOUSE will be in charge of producing the anime series.

Actor Sakai Masato will be playing the lead characters for each story as well as take on the role of a narrator. The six stories include works from Daizai Osamu - "Ningen Shinkaku" (4 episodes), "Hashire Meros" (2 episodes), from Sakaguchi Ango - "Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita" (2 episodes), from Natsume Souseki "Kokoro" (2 episodes) and from Akutagawa Ryuunosuke "Kumo no Ito" (1 episode) and "Jigokuhen" (1 episode). This is the third time that Sakai Masato tries his hand at voice acting and he has re-read the novels so as to prepare for the recording.