[[anime]]
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''Ayashi no Ceres'' (''Ceres, Celestial Legend'' in English), by YuuWatase, draws on ancient Japanese myth and mixes it with a cynical modern perspective to produce a dark yet compelling tale of a young girl caught up in supernatural events beyond her control or understanding. It starts with twins Aya and Aki Mikage being driven to their grandfather's house on their 16th birthday. On arrival, they are made to view a family relic; the mummified hand of the clan's founder. Wounds appear on Aki; when Aya asks why no-one is helping him, her grandfather orders her death.

During her escape, Aya meets Tooya, a mysterious amnesiac in the hire of her family who helps her. She is then taken in by her friend Yuuhi, his older sister Suzumi and their strange housekeeper Q.

As the series progresses, it is revealed that Aya's family is descended from a "celestial maiden," Ceres, who was trapped on earth and forced to marry a mortal. Aya is the reincarnation of Ceres, who occasionally takes over Aya's body and is willing to take revenge for all the misfortune she went through. Aki is the reincarnation of Ceres' husband from her former life, Shiso Mikage, who over the years has gone... ''somewhat'' insane. Whilst Aya and Ceres cohabit, Aki is totally taken over by his ancestor, who now is on the hunt for Ceres. The rest of the family are trying to create their own army of celestial maidens, through various scientific methods.

''Ayashi no Ceres'' is very violent, and features several characters with varying form of insanity: the Ancestor; Aya and Aki's mother tries to kill Aya; a girl commits suicide as a part of her plans; there is borderline incest as the ancestor in Aki's body tries to have his way with Ceres in Aya's body ''and'' Aya's cousin Kagami, a MadScientist, threatens to rape her. All in all, not recommended for the easily shocked.
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!!This series provides examples of;

* AncientConspiracy
* BadassLongcoat
* BigFancyHouse (Yuuhi and Suzumi's house, TheThingThatGoesDoink included)
* {{Bifauxnen}} (Shuro Tsukasa, raised as a man out of fear of her powers manifesting)
* BrotherSisterIncest (Played completely seriously ''and'' creepily)
* DangerousSixteenthBirthday (Poor Aya ''must'' die when she turns sixteen, since at that age her powers will awaken)
* DemotedToExtra (Poor Shuro barely gets to appear in the anime)
* DramaticWind (Quite a lot)
* DrivenToSuicide ([[spoiler:Suzumi]] attempted this in the past following [[spoiler:the death of her husband and her subsequent miscarriage, but was stopped by her brother in law Yuuhi]]. Later, in a much more malicious case, [[spoiler:Aya's cousin and fellow tennyo Miori kills herself in a ''very'' gruesome manner, [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning purposefully traumatising Aya]] as revenge for her mother's death, caused by Ceres.]])
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas (Kagami's only PetTheDog moment comes when he's shown visiting his [[TheOphelia insane, delirious mother]])
* {{Expy}} (Tooya inherited the looks, the fighting skills, and initial stoicism of his cousin [[FushigiYuugi Tamahome]].)
* EyeScream ([[spoiler:Wei Fei-Li gets one eye ''sliced'' by Tooya's dagger in his ''first appearance''.]] Perhaps even more wince-inducing is [[spoiler:the scene near the end of the manga where, ironically enough, Tooya ''restores'' Wei's damaged eye.]])
* FallingIntoHisArms (Sort of)
* FanPreferredCouple (Many people consider Yuuhi to be a better match for Aya than Tooya, [[spoiler: though she actually ''does'' sort of end up with him. Not on-screen, but considering Tooya is dying already...]])
* FightingFromTheInside
* {{Gonk}} (Mrs. Q/Kyu)
* GroupieBrigade (Manga only)
* HardCutFlashback
* HeroicBSOD (Aya gets this a ''lot'')
* HiddenEyes
* HighPressureBlood
* HotForStudent (Yuki Urakawa and her teacher)
* IllGirl: Yuki Urakawa. Shouta, Chidori's brother, is a male example.
* ImportantHairCut ([[spoiler:Aya gets one of these when she gets depressed over the idea of Tooya leaving her for Miori.]])
* {{Joshikousei}}
* KatsuyukiKonishi (Tooya, one of his first popular roles along with Maxima from TheKingOfFighters)
* KiAttacks (or something close...)
* KissingCousins (Played darkly with Kagami and Aya, and in a more positive (albeit tragic) light with Shuro and Kei)
* LoveMakesYouEvil (and HOW)
* MacGuffinGirl ([[spoiler: Tooya is a male version]])
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning ([[spoiler:Miori's suicide, which is her TakeThat to Aya since her beloved mother was killed in the rampage of the beginning.]])
* MysteriousProtector (Tooya)
* {{Narm}} ([[spoiler: Tooya's "death scene" in the anime was ''so'' ridiculously exaggerated that ThisTroper ended up laughing out loud]])
* NothingUpMySleeve (Quite literally, as Tooya's dagger isn't really in his sleeve...)
* OccidentalOtaku (Alec, an anime/games fanboy from Scotland)
* OffingTheOffspring (several failed attempts in the series, as well some successful ones pre-series)
* OlderThanTheyLook (Chidori is actually a high schooler, but looks like a pre-teen girl when not using her powers)
* TheOjou (Aya)
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent (Aya and Aki, until the beginning of the series)
* ParentalAbandonment (Aya is actually [[OffingTheOffspring set up for death]] by her parents to stop Aya's awakening as a Maiden. Logically, it fails ''big'' time: [[spoiler: the father is killed and the mother is comatose]]. Chidori lost her parents in a bus crash in her backstory. [[spoiler: Miori]] is driven [[{{Yandere}} pretty much insane]] with grief when Ceres kills her mother)
* {{Reincarnation}} (Kinda sorta, in a weird way)
* ShapeshiftingLover (the myth of the ten'nyo has elements of this)
* {{Shojo}}
* ShutUpKiss
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism (Significantly on the cynical side, at least by Watase's standards)
* TheStoic (Tooya, though he [[NotSoStoic softens up over time]])
* SwirlingDust
* TallDarkAndBishoujo (Ceres, Shuro)
* TakingTheBullet ([[spoiler:Aya's father does this for her early on.]] Much later, [[spoiler:Chidori does the same for Yuuhi.]] Both cases are fatal.)
** And while no actual bullets are involved, [[spoiler:Gladys sacrificing herself to save Ceres when the Progenitor tries to rip her heart out near the end of the manga]] involves pretty much the same idea.
* WellDoneSonGuy ([[spoiler:Kagami's backstory]])
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity ([[spoiler: Shiso Mikage wanted to not be a burden on his powerful ten'nyo wife Ceres, so he asked her to give him some of her powers. When he had them, he went completely MAD and killed one of their kids, which prompted Ceres to go MamaBear and kill him]]
* WomanScorned (Ceres again)
* {{Yandere}} ([[spoiler:Miori, who goes mad after losing her mom. Shiso mixes this and WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity.]])
* YumiKakazu (Aya)
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