The Crimson Chrysanthemum Bud

Tagline
N/A

Theme Song
Lunar Sanctum - Kamelot
&
Yoshiwara Lament - 96Neko

Genre
Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Relationships

Series:
Original

Type:
Part of a Series: 1 of 4 - Short Story in the style of a typical Gaiden, plus each part split between two (past and future) timelines.

Characters:
Hiraga Jūbei, Sasaki Genichirō, Koizumi Hisae, Iwatani Kunio, Yamaa Naoya, Oshiro Shuzō

Start Date:
18th January 2018

End Date:
--/--/--

Warnings:
Swearing, ual Themes, Graphic Mutilation, Murder

Author’s Note:
* Themes of traditional Kabuki and Rakugo will be prevalent throughout the series which will contain four interconnected stories; each beginning in a traditional Japanese theatre with an introduction from the narrator which is featured in all four parts.

* I was inspired by works such as Aoi Bungaku (Which I saw in 2010), Mouryou No Hako (Started in 2012 and had to re-watch in 2018), and Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa ai ga Umatteiru (watched in 2015), plus some other bits and bobs I don’t think I’d be able to use in my original story Tales of Horror.

Aoi Bungaku
https://myanimelist.net/anime/7193/Aoi_Bungaku_Series
A series which consisted of adaptations of six modern classics of Japanese literature: Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) & Run, Melos! (Hashire, Melos!), Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro, Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) & The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito), and Ango Sakaguchi's In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no a).

Mouryou No Hako
https://myanimelist.net/anime/4879/Mouryou_no_Hako
It took some getting into to get a grip on what was going on with this one. I tried watching it twice before in the past before actually binging it in one go with my undivided attention to work out why there was a scientific building in the wilderness of Japan, and female heads in boxes being transported on old fashioned trains by the good looking but creepy ‘Mysterious Man’ (I kid you not, that was how he was credited until around the last episode.)

Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa ai ga Umatteiru
https://myanimelist.net/anime/30187/Sakurako-san_no_Ashimoto_ni_wa_ai_ga_Umatteiru
A murder mystery with the female MC who is obsessed with bones, and her teenaged man-slave.

Tales of Horror
https://www.fanficoverflow.com/story/view/490/tales-of-horror-psychological-comedy-supernatural-horror-mystery-relationships-animestyle
Five friends whom share a history are brought back together after an unimaginable incident during their teen years had separated them. Investigating supernatural cases – just how they used to when they were younger - they try to cope with their past regrets and secrets.

Part I of IIII: The Crimson Chrysanthemum Bud

Description:

A young Mangaka’s mentor dies and leaves the manuscript for his life’s work to her in his Last Will and Testament. However, she must follow the set of secretive and somewhat bizarre rules he leaves for her, or else apparent tragic luck will befall her.

Upon hearing that the woman will take over as lead Mangaka, a long-time assistant of the original creator leaves and the woman has to find replacements in an alcoholic has-been and a green rookie with a taste for dark a. Over the growing months, the trio work on bringing the dark historical series to a close, as requested. However, they begin to lose their grip on reality as they spend more and more time on the old man’s story.

At the same time, life imitates art when a sequence of grisly murders seem to mirror the yet-to-be published plot of the jarring story centred around a femme fatale Geisha and a tyrannical vassal of the Shogun; the notorious manga spanning over almost two decades, The Crimson Chrysanthemum Bud.

[In Order of Appearance]

Hiraga Jūbei:

Sasaki Genichirō:

Koizumi Hisae:

Iwatani Kunio:

Yamaa Naoya:

Oshiro Shuzō: