History YMMV / AyakashiSamuraiHorrorTales

** ''Theatre/YotsuyaKaidan'' arc: [[VillainProtagonist Tamiya Iemon]], while initially more sympathetic than his theatre counterpart, quickly becomes just as evil. When the father of his fiancée Oiwa breaks off their marriage due to his Ronin status, Iemon murders the man in order to have Oiwa return to him and pretends to seek vengeance. After the TimeSkip, Iemon tortures a servant for stealing his medicine to save his ailing father and kidnaps him. After the birth of Oiwa;s child, Iemon loses all affection for her and agrees to marry the woman who poisoned and disfigured her solely for her wealth. Iemon then instructs one of his friends to rape Oiwa in order to get her thrown out for infidelity, and to murder her if she fights back. After the man informs Oiwa of the scheme, Oiwa is so mortified [[DrivenToSuicide she kills herself]], to which Iemon has no remorse. Iemon then murders his kidnapped servant even after he offers to not spill the truth in exchange for the medicine, in order to frame him as Oiwa's illicit lover, and has his infant son killed with them. When Oiwa returns as a [[StringyHairedGhostGirl ghost]] and kills his new family, Iemon shows no grief.
** ''Bakeneko Anime/{{Mononoke}} Pilot Arc'': [[EvilOldFolks Lord Yoshiyuki]] is the pathetic, geriatric patriarch of the Saika family, and the cause for the Bakeneko's existence. Decades ago, Yoshiyuki kidnapped a young woman named Tamaki, imprisoning her in a tiny cage and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil regularly raping her]] with his family's knowledge for decades, which drove her to [[DrivenToSuicide attempt suicide by starvation]]. After his son Yoshikuni rapes Tamaki out of curiosity, Yoshiyuki is driven into a rage for her "seducing" his son and beats her to death in front of her beloved pet cat, causing it to be twisted into the Bakeneko as a result of grief. In the present, [[DirtyCoward Yoshiyuki lies about the truth]] as the Bakeneko threatens the lives of others, claiming to have treated Tamaki in a loving fashion before the Bakeneko reveals the truth.

* CompleteMonster: [[VillainProtagonist Tamiya Iemon]], from Episodes 1-4--''Theatre/YotsuyaKaidan'' Arc, while initially more sympathetic than his theatre counterpart, quickly becomes just as evil. When the father of his fiancée Oiwa breaks off their marriage due to his Ronin status, Iemon murders the man in order to have Oiwa return to him and pretends to seek vengeance. After the TimeSkip, Iemon tortures a servant for stealing his medicine to save his ailing father and kidnaps him. After the birth of Oiwa;s child, Iemon loses all affection for her and agrees to marry the woman who poisoned and disfigured her solely for her wealth. Iemon then instructs one of his friends to rape Oiwa in order to get her thrown out for infidelity, and to murder her if she fights back. After the man informs Oiwa of the scheme, Oiwa is so mortified [[DrivenToSuicide she kills herself]], to which Iemon has no remorse. Iemon then murders his kidnapped servant even after he offers to not spill the truth in exchange for the medicine, in order to frame him as Oiwa's illicit lover, and has his infant son killed with them. When Oiwa returns as a [[StringyHairedGhostGirl ghost]] and kills his new family, Iemon shows no grief.

* ShockingMoments: The entire ''Bakeneko'' arc is this. The fact that it contains [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt gorgeous stylized artwork]] as a complete contrast to the first two arcs had something with it.

* FirstInstallmentWins: Inverted. The ''Bakeneko'' arc is better received and better remembered than the two arcs that preceded it.

* HolyShitQuotient: The entire ''Bakeneko'' arc is this. The fact that it contains [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt gorgeous stylized artwork]] as a complete contrast to the first two arcs had something with it.

* NightmareFuel: Where to ''even'' '''''begin'''''?

* AwesomeMusic: Both the opening ("Heat Island") and ending ("Memory of Spring") themes are awesome, and the latter also manages to be heart-rendingly beautiful.

* FirstInstallmentWins: Inverted. The ''Bakeneko'' arc is better received and better remembered than the first two arcs that preceded it.

* HolyShitQuotient: The entire Bakeneko arc is this. The fact that it contains [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt gorgeous artwork]] than the first two arcs had something with it.

* FirstInstallmentWins: Inverted. The Bakeneko arc is better received than the first two arcs that preceded it.

* MoralEventHorizon: The ireedemable sins of some characters cause revenge from the great beyond to happen. The Yotsuya Kaidan story has Iemon who murdered Oiwa's father for getting in his way and tortured a man to death for trying to steal a life-saving medicine. And he also tried to get rid of Oiwa by having his retainer rape her. Also Oume and her family disfigured Oiwa horribly in order to make Iemon dump her.
** The Bakenekko story has the whole aristocratic family [[spoiler: with the elderly patriarch kidnapping, abusing and raping Tamaki for his own sexual amusement in his younger days. Later said patriarch's eldest son attempted to have his way with her, and when the patriarch caught them together, he mistook the situation as Tamaki seducing his son and beat to death while his eldest son just watched. The rest of the family, like Sato, were implied to have been involved with Tamaki's abuse as well. Only Kayo and Odajima (the family maid and samurai retainer) had nothing to do with all that and fittingly they were the only who made it out alive though badly shaken and horrified by what they heard]].

* LastInstallmentWins: The Bakeneko arc is better received than the first two arcs that preceded it.

* FanonDiscontinuity: The Bakeneko arc is better received than the first two arcs that preceded it.

* HolyShitQuotient: The entire Bakeneko arc is this. The fact that it contains [[AwesomeArt gorgeous artwork]] than the first two arcs had something with it.

* FanonDiscontinuity: The Bakeneko arc is better recieved than the first two arcs that preceded it.

** The Bakenekko story has the whole aristocratic family [[spoiler: with the patriarch abusing and raping Tamaki and later beating her to death, because his eldest son also attempted to have his way with her and the rest like Sato helped with the abuse. Only Kayo and Odajima (the family maid and samurai retainer) had nothing to do with all that and fittingly they were the only who made it out alive though badly shaken and horrified by what they heard]].

* FanonDiscontinuity:

* NightmareFuel: Where to ''start''?

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* GainaxEnding: Yotsuya Kaidan.
* MindScrew: Just what was the deal with Nanboku, [[MediumBlending the live action sequence]], and Oiwa's curse (Yotsuya Kaidan)?

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Both the opening ("Heat Island") and ending ("Memory of Spring") themes are awesome, and the latter also manages to be heart-rendingly beautiful.

* CompleteMonster: Nearly everyone in the [[spoiler: Bakeneko arc]].

* {{Tearjerker}}: The stinger for the Bakeneko arc. After the credits are done and the Medicine Seller goes on his way, just when you think you're done crying, [[spoiler: you see Tamaki and her kitten walking out of the house, finally together and free, laughing and mewing happily.]] And then you cry all over again.