TW// Minor Spoilers Mentions of Abuse Rape Murder not mentioned in this review aside from name but heavily present in Ayakashi I watched Mononoke a few months ago after having it on my plan to watch list for YEARS. As someone who enjoyed other anime like the Monogatari Series which has a similar storytelling style and directing approach to Mononoke I fell in love. In my senior year of college I took a course in Edo period history and now possess more knowledge of the period than I could ever need so when I saw that the prequel to Mononoke was just more Edo period ghost stories I decided to give it a try. Ayakashi does what it sets out to do telling classic Japanese samurai horror stories. However I think the reason that Ayakashi is so underwatched compared to Mononoke which is also underwatched in my opinion but certainly has a sizable cult following is because of the inconsistency in the story arcs. Ayakashi has three different directors for each of the three story arcs in the anime. The arc order depends on whether you watched the US release or the Japanese airing release. I will be referring to the arc order based on the US release which puts Tenshu Monogatari first then Yotsuya Kaidan then finally Bake Neko. In my watch I started with the Tenshu Monogatari story. After completing the first episode I was unsure if I wanted to continue the show. The art felt very dated which does of course make sense since it aired in 2006 but comparing it to the innovative and ecletic art of Mononoke and the last three episodes of Ayakashi it felt a bit jarring and nearly turned me off from the show. I did not expect the whole show to look like Mononoke but after watching it I forgot that most 2006 anime looked like this and NOT like Mononoke. I personally think the first arc is the weakest in the show. The episodes tell a very famous Japanese horror tale of the forbidden love between god and human which Id argue isnt even really a horror story at all but... and while I do think that this anime tells it well nearly everything else about it is severely lacking. Additionally the pacing in the first episode was abnormally fast in my opinion but that didnt seem to be an issue in the later episodes. The second story arc Yotsuya Kaidan was much stronger in my opinion and I liked the integration of the real world elements in the final episode of this story arc and getting the perspective from the playwright woven throughout the story was interesting and kept me engaged in this story more than the first one. Now of course the characters are terrible and unlikable but thats just how it is with these stories. The stories in this anime like with Mononoke serve as a warning almost a fable of sorts about what happens when you do bad things and mess with ghosts and spirits. This arc was definitely hard to watch at times with various instances of sexual assault abuse and of course murder but I was much more engaged with these episodes than the first 4. Now of course the main reason that people watch Ayakashi is the final three episodes the Bake Neko arc featuring our beloved Kusuriurisan and cats. Who wouldnt love this final arc? It has the same charming art sound design and direction as its sequel and the story is an original story written for this anime so it fits the direction and art style chosen perfectly and every element of the final three episodes was done to perfection. This story is told in a much different way than the first two and a lot of the storytelling relies on atmosphere and subtle visual cues rather than explicit narration. This may turn some people off of the show as it can be confusing at times to figure out what is going on but I thoroughly enjoy this and find it a lot more interesting over the tell rather than show approach that is present in the first two story arcs. Overall I did enjoy Ayakashi quite a bit. It is not one of my favorite anime and I dont know if I would rewatch or necessarily recommend it to the general anime watcher but I would absolutely suggest it to someone that is passionate about Edo period japan and ghost stories. If you enjoy Mononoke but dont really care about other Japanese horror tales then this may not be the anime for you as the Bake Neko arc falls at the end of the anime and the other story arcs have no shared connection or resemblance to Mononoke. However I do think it is worth the watch even if it falls behind its successor in various ways. The low ratings on anilist/MAL do not necessarily reflect the quality of the show as a whole but I believe they are this way because people do not go into this show with the right expectations.