History Anime / AyakashiSamuraiHorrorTales

* SurpriseIncest: [[spoiler:Osode and Naosuke turn out to be blood siblings, as he finds out from reading her birth certificate. Learning this is what finally [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone makes him regret his actions]], and [[{{Seppuku}} slits his stomach]] in penance.]]

* SympathyForTheDevil: The Mdeicine Peddler knows how dangerous the Bakeneko will become if left to its whims, but does acknowledge the suffering it had to go through and empathizes with it before cutting it down.

* ''Yotsuya Kaidan (Yotsuya Ghost Story)'', an adaptation of the classic Japanese ghost story about betrayal, murder, and revenge from beyond the grave. Written by Creator/ChiakiKonaka.

* GuiltByAssociation: Despite TheReveal of the ''Bakeneko'' arc having nearly [[spoiler:all of the elder characters]] play a part in the Mononoke's creation, only [[spoiler:Mao, her parents, and the perverted servant]] are innocent of any crimes committed against it, but are killed anyway.

* GyaruGirl: Kayo has many of the visual and personality traits of one. She's chatty, dresses in loud and flashy colors, and has the [[AmbiguouslyBrown brown skin]] and exaggerated makeup of a typical gal.

* TooDumbToLive: The band of thieves and their women are practically walking around with death flags over their heads in the beginning of ''Tenshu Monogatari''. They knowingly enter a supposedly haunted building complex, ignore the warnings of the mysterious old woman near the door of Shirasagi Castle, and (with the exception of one) decide to get [[DeathBySex down and dirty]], leaving them distracted when the Forgotten Gods come and kill them.

* ReverseWhodunnit: We know from the start that the main antagonist and the killer is a Bakeneko (heck, it's ''right there'' in the title of the arc); the problem is ''why'' it's even there, which the Medicine Peddler needs to know to begin exorcising.

* SituationalSword: The Sword of Exorcism the Medicine Peddler always keeps with him can seal away any Mononoke, but only under three conditions; he has to know what Form it has taken, the Truth concerning the current state of its being, and the Motive for its appearance.

* DerangedAnimation: Oiwa's curse results in a couple strange sequences. The "Bakeneko" short takes it UpToEleven by being ''made'' of this trope.

* SpoiledBrat: Cranked UpToEleven and lampshaded with Oume, a merchant's daughter.

* FakeRelationship: Osode is subject to this with Naosuke, pretending to be married so that they can eventually find her former fiance's killer and avenge his death. [[DramaticIrony Little does she know that Naosuke was his killer, and that]] [[spoiler:[[DramaticIronu Yomoshichi's not even dead]]-- he switched clothes with one of his own men to deliver a message]].

* DeadUnicornTrope: The author of [[spoiler:Yotsuya Kaidan]] suggested that [[spoiler:Oiwa's curse]] may have been generated not by a real event, but by the people taking the story serious, being afraid and perpetuating [[spoiler:the curse]] with their fear.

* SympatheticAdulterer ''Tenshu Monogatari'' has poor Oshizu as the losing end of a romance between Zushonosuke and Tomihime. While he did seem to love the former woman before meeting Tomihime and eventually marries her, nothing could stop him from falling in love with Tomihime; he has Tomihime on his mind the whole time following their first meeting and Oshizu's left accidentally stumbling onto the two consumating their love, and then later having to pretend he died when he leaves her to save Tomihime. None of this is portrayed as a moral wrong, merely tragic on Oshizu's end. [[spoiler:Though her eventually telling the emperor's men about Shirasagi Castle and her trying to kill Tomihime do lose her sympathy points.]]

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: ''Tenshu Monogatari'' has poor Oshizu as the losing end of a romance between Zushonosuke and Tomihime. While he did seem to love the former woman before meeting Tomihime and eventually marries her, nothing could stop him from falling in love with Tomihime; he has Tomihime on his mind the whole time following their first meeting and Oshizu's left accidentally stumbling onto the two consumating their love, and then later having to pretend he died when he leaves her to save Tomihime. None of this is portrayed as a moral wrong, merely tragic on Oshizu's end. [[spoiler:Though her eventually telling the emperor's men about Shirasagi Castle and her trying to kill Tomihime do lose her sympathy points.]]

* TheNarrator: Nanboku in ''Yotsuya Kaidan''.

* KarmaHoudini: Of all the people that had a hand in the Bakeneko's creation in its titular arc, only [[spoiler:the patriarch, who was the cause of the Bakeneko's existence in the first place by abusing Tamaki]] comes out unscathed. [[spoiler:Though by this point, he's completely blocked out all of the atrocities he's done to her, genuinely believing that he did nothing wrong. His bloodline did largely get wiped out though, so one could take that as punishment enough.]]

* ClingyJealousGirl: [[spoiler:Tamaki from ''Bakeneko''...or what the elderly patriarch's eldest son believed. When she died, her devotion to the elderly patriarch was such that her jealousy transformed her into a monstrous spirit as an attempt to ward off any chance of her former patron taking in another woman. Except that's not what happened at all]].