History Manga / KaseiYakyoku

''Kasei Yakyoku'' is a {{josei}} manga written by Makiko Hirata, published in the late 80's. In 1988, director Creator/OsamuDezaki would release it as a 4-episode OAV series, [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes which now is almost impossible to find. ]]

Tokyo, 1923. TheRoaringTwenties are at its peak, and specially in [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan the twelfth year of the Taisho Era.]] At this moment in time, the city is a mixture of extremes: past and present, rich and poor, good and bad. This is a city where we see both horsecarts and motorcars, swords and pistols, lords and businessmen...

* {{Megane}}: Kiyosu Saionji.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Taka's brother Saburou saves Sara from thugs, but gets knifed to death for his troubles. In his FamousLastWords he tells her that Taka has left Tokyo.]]

* HairDecorations: Sara uses hairpins, Akiko has hair bows.

* ManInWhite: Taka wears a white suit with a NiceHat.

* SpiritedYoungLady: Akiko. I, e., she drives her own car in the middle of Tokyo, which was rather... odd in these days. She also puts on a very Western dress that [[ShesGotLegs shows off her nice legs]] in the first OAV's ball, which upsets her RichBitch mother a ''lot''.

Tokyo, 1923. TheRoaringTwenties are at its peak, and specially in [[ImperialJapan the twelfth year of the Taisho Era.]] At this moment in time, the city is a mixture of extremes: past and present, rich and poor, good and bad. This is a city where we see both horsecarts and motorcars, swords and pistols, lords and businessmen...

Two of the persons involved in this CrapsaccharineWorld are Akiko Hashou, a young and beautiful noblewoman, and her equally pretty maidservant Sara Uchida. The girls's lives seem to be going on relatively smoothly until both Akiko and Sara meet Takao Itou alias Taka, a handsome man from a low-class setting, who also has ties to the {{Yakuza}}; this sets off a turbulent LoveTriangle that totally changes the three's lives. For worse, a fateful date is nearing...

* ImperialJapan: During TheRoaringTwenties, natch!
* JapanesePronouns: As an {{Ojou}} reaised in a very rich family, Akiko users the very traditional "watakushi".

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Creator/NachiNozawa as Taka Itou, Creator/ToshihikoSeki as Sara's younger brother Junichirou, Creator/KoujiTsujitani as Taka's brother Saburou. Creator/ReiSakuma as Nami the YakuzaPrincess.

Two of the persons involved in this CrapsaccharineWorld are Akiko Hashou, a young and beautiful noblewoman, and her equally pretty maidservant Sara Uchida. The girls's lives seem to be going on relatively smoothly until both Akiko and Sara meet Takao Itou alias Taka, a handsome man from a low-class setting, who also has ties to the {{Yakuza}}; this sets off a turbulent LoveTriangle that totally changes the three's lives. For worse, a fateful date is nearing: [[spoiler: September 1, the day of the ''Kanto Daishinsai'' aka [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Kanto_Earthquake Great Kanto Earthquake]]...]]

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Creator/NachiNozawa as Taka Itou, Creator/ToshihikoSeki as Sara's younger brother Junichirou, KoujiTsujitani as Taka's brother Saburou. Creator/ReiSakuma as Nami the YakuzaPrincess.

* BigFancyHouse: The Hashou clan's mansion. [[spoile: Which is destroyed in the Earthquake.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:It has Great Kanto Earthquake, what are you expecting. Surprisingly, it's not ''as'' bleak as one would expect: Akiko leaves Tokyo alone but determined to get her own life, Taka and Junichirou manage to escape from the {{Yakuza}} chasing them (but at the cost of leaving Sara), and after a heart-to-heart Sara gets together with Akiko's ex-boyfriend Saionji.]]

* KnightInSourArmor: Taka is a kind-hearted man deep down, but cynical as fuck [[SeenItAll after all the shit he's witnessed]].

Two of the persons involved in this CrapsaccharineWorld are Akiko Hashou, a young and beautiful noblewoman, and her equally pretty maidservant Sara Uchida. The girls's lives seem to be going on relatively smoothly until both Akiko and Sara meet Takao Itou alias Taka, a handsome man from a low-class setting, who also has ties to the {{Yakuza}}; this sets off a turbulent LoveTriangle that totally changes the three's lives. For worse, a fateful date is nearing: September 1, the day of the ''Kanto Daishinsai'' aka [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Kanto_Earthquake Great Kanto Earthquake...]]

* BeachEpisode: The third OAV has Taka and Sara finding each other in a small beach town. [[spoiler: And then they have sex for the first time.]]

* BigFancyHouse: The Hashou clan's mansion.

* BreakTheCutie: And how. Specially Sara, who [[spoiler: gets forcibly stripped and almost gangraped by {{yakuza}}]] in the second OAV, but the worst comes in the fourth, when she [[spoiler: nbrely survives the Kanto Earthquake, loses her and Junichirou's mother, witnesses Saburo's death after barely escaping from more thugs, ''and'' learns that Taka and Junichirou have left]]. [[TheWoobie Wah!]]

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: [[spoiler:Averted. When an older woman tries to force herself on a teenaged Taka, it is played for drama. It then results in her husband ''killing her with his katana right there''.]]

* ImperialJapan: During TheRoaringTwenties, too.

* LoveHurts: It's a love story set right before one of the worst days in modern Japanese history. Of course it won't have a good ending.

* NearRapeExperience: [[spoiler: Sara, in the second OAV, gets [[ShamefulStrip forcibly undressed]] by some {{Yakuza}}. When they're about to gangrape her, she manages to steal the knife that one of them had in his {{sarashi}} and keep them at bay.]]

* PrincelyYoungMan: Saionji,
* SayMyName: Sara mentally screams Taka's name in the third OAV, [[spoiler: as the Kanto Earthquake is unleashed.]] In the fourth, she yells out loud [[spoiler: "SABURO-SAAAAAAAAN!"]] when [[spoiler: said person pulls an HeroicSacrifice for her.]]

* TheWorfEffect: Junichirou attempts to rescue his older sister and Akiko from thugs, but gets beaten up. ''Then'' Taka pulls his BigDamnHeroes.

%% commented out ZeroContextExample * LoveHurts

* MaidAndMaiden: Sara is the Maid to her mistress Akiko's maiden.

%% commented out ZeroContextExample * CrapsaccharineWorld: Tokyo is portrayed as such.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: [[spoiler: Third OAV. Sara. Taka. Small beach resort.It also offers a contrast with how both of them were sexually abused to different degrees.]]

%% commented out ZeroContextExample * HistoricalFiction
%% commented out ZeroContextExample * HotBlooded: Junichirou

* {{Meido}}: Sara

* SayMyName: Sara mentally screams Taka's name in the third OAV, [[spoiler: as the Kanto Earthquake is unleashed.]]
** In the fourth, she yells out loud [[spoiler: "SABURO-SAAAAAAAAN!"]] when [[spoiler: said person pulls an HeroicSacrifice for her.]]

* UnlimitedWardrobe: Akiko changes her {{Pimped Out Dress}}es in pretty much ''every'' scen she's in. Sara often changes clothes too.

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: It has Great Kanto Earthquake, what are you expecting. Surprisingly, it's not ''as'' bleak as one would expect: Akiko leaves Tokyo alone but determined to get her own life, Taka and Junichirou manage to escape from the {{Yakuza}} chasing them (but at the cost of leaving Sara), and after a heart-to-heart Sara gets together with Akiko's ex-boyfriend Saionji.]]

* [[spoiler: ButNowIMustGo: Akiko, who decides to leave her old life behind and build one of her own after the Earthquake. Taka and Junichirou, who leave on a boat after a talk with Saionji.]]
* CrapsaccharineWorld: Tokyo is portrayed as such.
* [[spoiler: DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. When an older woman tries to force herself on a teenaged Taka, it is played for drama. It then results in her husband ''killing her with his katana right there''.]]

* [[spoiler: GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Third OAV. Sara. Taka. Small beach resort.It also offers a contrast with how both of them were sexually abused to different degrees.]]
* [[spoiler: GladToBeAliveSex ''and'' TheirFirstTime: Akiko and Saionji do the deed in the fourth OAV, the night after the earthquake. In a subversion, it does ''not'' help them fix their relationship issues.]]

* HistoricalFiction
* HotBlooded: Junichirou

* LoveHurts

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Creator/NachiNozawa as Taka Itou, Creator/ToshihikoSeki as Sara's younger brother Junichirou, KoujiTsujitani as Taka's brother Saburou. ReiSakuma as Nami the YakuzaPrincess.

''Kasei Yakyoku'' is a {{josei}} manga written by Makiko Hirata, published in the late 80's. In 1988, director Osamu Dezaki would release it as a 4-episode OAV series, [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes which now is almost impossible to find. ]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kaseiyakyoku_5276.jpg

* NamesToKnowInAnime: NachiNozawa as Taka Itou, ToshihikoSeki as Sara's younger brother Junichirou, KoujiTsujitani as Taka's brother Saburou. ReiSakuma as Nami the YakuzaPrincess.

* {{Josei}}: With {{Melodrama}}, steamy scenes and violence to match

* MrsRobinson: [[spoiler: Nami's mother. Played for ''massive'' drama since she attempts to rape a teenage!Taka -- and her husband ''kills her right there''.]]

** Also, [[spoiler: a young Taka. For the results, see fanDisservice and MrsRobinson.]]

* SpiritedYoungLady: To a degree, Akiko. I, e., she drives her own car in the middle of Tokyo, which was rather... odd in these days. She also puts on a very Western dress that [[ShesGotLegs shows off her nice legs]] in the first OAV's ball, which upsets her RichBitch mother a ''lot''.

* TheWorfEffect: Junichirou attempts to rescue his sister and Akiko from thugs, but gets beaten up. ''Then'' Taka pulls his BigDamnHeroes.

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: It has Great Kanto Earthquake, what are you expecting. Surprisingly, it's not ''as'' bleak as one would expect: Akiko leaves Tokyo alone but determined to get her own life, Taka and Junichirou manage to escape from the {{Yakuza}} chasing them, and after a heart-to-heart Sara gets together with Akiko's ex-boyfriend Saionji.]]
* BreakTheCutie: And how. Specially Sara, who [[spoiler: almost gets raped]] in the second OAV, but the worst comes in the fourth, when she [[spoiler: narely survives the Kanto Earthquake, loses her and Junichirou's mother, witnesses Saburo's death after barely escaping from more thugs, ''and'' learns that Taka and Junichirou have left]]. [[TheWoobie Wah!]]

* FanDisservice: Seeing the beautiful [[spoiler: Sara]] naked should be a reason to squee, but ''not'' when this happens [[spoiler: after she's forcibly stripped and pinned down to the floor by rapist {{Yakuza}}.]]
** That same OAV gives us [[spoiler: Taka and his boss]] speaking when the second is in [[FuroScene a sauna]], remembering the day when [[spoiler: he caught his beautiful wife trying to seduce a teenaged Taka]]. Not only [[spoiler: teen!Taka is almost [[HeroicBSOD completely listless]] as she strips both of them (complete with DullEyesOfUnhappiness)]], but [[spoiler: the Yakuza's reaction is to ''grab his katana and kill her right there''.]]

* [[spoiler: GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Third OAV. Sara. Taka. Small beach resort.]]

* {{Megane}}: Kiyosu Saionji, [[spoiler: the RomanticFalseLead.]]

* BobHaircut: Akiko

* {{Yakuza}}: Taka and Junichirou are allied with them, though not exactly by choice.

* PrincelyYoungMan: Saionji, who seems to be a mix between Ice King and YamatoNadeshiko types.

** That same OAV gives us [[spoiler: Taka and his boss]] speaking when the second is in [[FuroScene a sauna]], remembering the day when [[spoiler: he caught his beautiful wife trying to seduce a young Taka]]. Not only [[spoiler: the young Taka is almost completely listless as she strips both of them]], but [[spoiler: the Yakuza's reaction is to ''grab his katana and kill her right there''.]]