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1[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kaseiyakyoku_5276.jpg]]
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3Tokyo, 1923. TheRoaringTwenties are at their 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...
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5Two 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, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_Great_Kanto_earthquake a fateful date]] is nearing...
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7''Kasei Yakyoku'' is a {{josei}} manga written by Makiko Hirata, which was serialized from 1984 to 1988. In 1989, director Creator/OsamuDezaki would release it as a 4-episode OAV series, [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes which now is almost impossible to find. ]]
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9!!Kasei Yakyoku has examples of. . .
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11* AnimalMotifs: "Taka" means "falcon", and Takao/Taka the man is associated with them. Specially in the end of the third episode, [[spoiler: when Sara finds herself in the streets as the earthquake starts, sees a falcon in the sky and screams Taka's name.]]
12* ArrangedMarriage: [[spoiler: Akiko and Saionji.]]
13* BeachEpisode: The third OAV has Taka and Sara finding each other in a small beach town. [[spoiler: And then they have sex.]]
14* BettyAndVeronica: Sara (Betty) and Akiko (Veronica), for Taka. Saionji (Betty) and Taka himself (Veronica), to Akiko.
15* BigBrotherMentor: Taka, to Sara's younger brother Junichirou. He even refers to Taka as "Aniki" ("big brother").
16* BigDamnHeroes: Taka saves Sara, Akiko and Junichirou from some thugs [[ImprobableWeaponUser via whacking them with a pool cue.]]
17* BigFancyHouse: The Hashou clan's mansion. [[spoiler: Which is severely damaged and almost destroyed in the Earthquake.]]
18* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:It has Great Kanto Earthquake, what are you expecting]]. [[spoiler: 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.]]
19* 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: barely 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]].
20* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler: 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.]]
21* CrapsaccharineWorld: Tokyo is portrayed as such, a city full of contrasts where the wealthy have lavish parties while the poor barely scrap by, and the {{Yakuza}} have quite the stronghold on some slums.
22* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: [[spoiler:Averted. When [[MrsRobinson an older woman]] tries to force herself on a teenaged Taka, it is played for drama. It then results in her husband ''[[HonorRelatedAbuse killing her with his katana right there]]''.]]
23* FanDisservice: Seeing the beautiful [[spoiler: Sara]] naked in the second OAV should be a reason to squee, but ''not'' when this happens [[spoiler: after she's stripped and pinned down to the floor by rapist {{Yakuza}}.]]
24** 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 murder his wife right there''.]]
25* FestivalEpisode: There's a summer festival featured in OVA 2.
26* GladToBeAliveSex: Doubles as TheirFirstTime. [[spoiler: 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.]]
27* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Taka's brother Saburou saves Sara from thugs, but gets knifed to death for his troubles. In his last words he tells her that Taka has left Tokyo.]]
28* HistoricalFiction: It describes the Tokyo of TheRoaringTwenties with all its splendor and darkness.
29* HotBlooded: Junichirou is very impulsive, and that gets him in trouble more often than not.
30* {{Josei}}: With {{Melodrama}}, steamy scenes and violence to match.
31* KnightInSourArmor: Taka is a kind-hearted man deep down, but cynical as fuck [[SeenItAll after all the shit he's either witnessed or witnessed]].
32* 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. [[spoiler: It's still not ''as'' horrible as one would think.]]
33* MaidAndMaiden: Sara is the Maid to her mistress Akiko's maiden.
34* MeaningfulName: The title. As explained by The Technogirls's [[http://www.technogirls.org/barbara/anime/kasei.htm fansub group]]:
35-->''The word "yakyoku" translates in a straightforward way as night music, evensong, nocturne, etc. (...) However, the word "kasei" is less easy to render. As spoken, "kasei" could mean "Mars" which would be written as a combination of the usual kanji "fire"+"star". However, the "ka" from the combination "ka-rei" meaning "splendor, magnificence" is used instead of the Mars "fire" kanji, implying that the meaning is not literally "Mars."''
36* MrsRobinson: [[spoiler: Nami's mother. Played for ''massive'' drama since she attempts to rape a teenage!Taka -- and her almost-cuckolded husband ''kills her right there''.]]
37* {{Ojou}}: Akiko
38* 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, and then she manages to escape.]]
39** Also, [[spoiler: a young Taka. For the results, see FanDisservice and MrsRobinson.]]
40* RescueRomance: Akiko and Sara meet Taka when he saves them both from thugs. Predictably, the girls fall for him.
41* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Genderflipped with Akiko (Rich) and Sara (Poor). [[spoiler: Neither wins, though Sara gets closer to Taka than Akiko does. (At least for one night).]]
42** Also played straight with Taka (Poor) and Saionji (Rich). [[spoiler: Neither wins, again. ''Then'' the female Poor Suitor gets together with the Rich RomanticFalseLead.]]
43* PastelChalkedFreezeFrame: It's a Dezaki-directe OAV. It's bound to have these.
44* PrincelyYoungMan: Saionji.
45* SayMyName: Sara 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.]]
46* ShamefulStrip: [[spoiler: Poor Sara]]
47* SheCleansUpNicely: Sara sometimes shows up in really pretty dresses. Somewhat justified as she works for a really rich {{Ojou}}, and Akiko treats her pretty decently compared to others.
48* SmokingHotSex: Taka, after one of his one-night stands. [[spoiler: Though ''not'' after having sex with Sara.]]
49* StarCrossedLovers: Taka and ''both'' of the two girls that love him.
50* TallDarkAndSnarky: Taka
51* TheirFirstTime: [[spoiler: Akiko and Saionji in the fourth OAV, the night after the earthquake.]]
52* {{Tomboy}}: Nami
53* TheWorfEffect: Junichirou attempts to rescue his older sister and Akiko from thugs, but gets beaten up. ''Then'' Taka pulls his BigDamnHeroes. [[spoiler: He gets beaten up again and [[{{Fingore}} his hand is broken]], and the Earthquake begins when Taka is taking him to an hospital.]]
54* UnlimitedWardrobe: Akiko changes her {{Pimped Out Dress}}es in pretty much ''every'' scene she's in. Sara often changes clothes too.
55* WhamEpisode: The end of the third OAV, featuring [[spoiler: the Great Kanto Earthquake.]]
56* {{Yakuza}}: The Itou brothers and Junichirou are allied with them, though not exactly by choice.

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