Line #12 Literature/Kurozuka


1	[[quoteright:312:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Kurozuka2.jpg]]
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3	''Kurozuka'' (黒塚, lit. "Black Tomb") is a 2000 Japanese HistoricalFantasy / AfterTheEnd [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire]] novel written by Baku Yumemakura.
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5	Its story opens with the famous 12th-century Japanese historical figure UsefulNotes/MinamotoNoYoshitsune. After losing to the forces of his brother Minamoto no Yoritomo, who in the wake of his victory would rise to become [[UsefulNotes/KamakuraShogunate the first Shogun to rule all of Japan]], Yoshitsune discards his name for the pseudonym "Kurou" and flees into the mountains with his retainer UsefulNotes/MusashiboBenkei. History records that Yoshitsune [[{{Seppuku}} committed suicide]] after being cornered by Yoritomo's forces. [[WellThisIsNotThatTrope But in this version of events]], Kurou and Benkei instead find a mountain hermitage inhabited by a strange, beautiful priestess with a Christian cross necklace centuries before Christianity should have reached Japan named Kuromitsu. Eventually, Kurou and Kuromitsu fall in love, and Kuromitsu reveals her greatest secret to him: she is an immortal vampire. Soon after Yoritomo's forces catch up with Kurou and Benkei, and in an attempt to save Kurou's life Kuromitsu shares her blood with Kurou. However, before Kurou's vampiric transformation can be completed, someone beheads him.
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7	But instead of dying, Kurou finds himself waking up again and again centuries apart, with he himself seemingly having not aged a day, his memory in shambles, and one all-consuming desire filling his mind: find Kuromitsu. Thus begins Kurou's journey through the ages of Japan, from the 12th-century to Main/PresentDay, through [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt an apocalypse]], into the [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalypse]], and beyond, all to find the woman he once loved.
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9	Has a manga adaptation and a TwelveEpisodeAnime adaptation by Creator/{{Madhouse}}. The anime has some truly outstanding animation and an awesome opening theme if you're willing to deal with its [[MindScrew extraordinarily confusing rendition of the plot]].
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11	----
12	!!The Anime provides examples of:
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14	%%* ActionGirl: Rai of the Haniwa movement.
15	* AfterTheEnd: Caused by nuclear war and the ensuing nuclear winter.
16	%%* BadassLongcoat: Arashiyama of the Red Imperial Army.
17	%%* CoolOldLady: Saniwa, leader of the Haniwa movement.
18	%%* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Kuromitsu.
19	%%* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Benkei.]]
20	* FanDisservice: Arashiyama exposes a resistance fighter's breasts before killing her, ''[[ForTheEvulz just because he can.]]''
21	%%* GainaxEnding
22	* {{Immortality}}: One of the main focuses of the story. Kuromitsu is FromASingleCell.
23	* ImmortalitySeeker: The Red Imperial Army. They want Kuromitsu's blood because it can make them immortal, and their pursuit of her underlies the entire story.
24	%%* MadScientist: Hasegawa
25	* MindScrew: The series has a JigsawPuzzlePlot full of surrealism, flashbacks, illusions, and lack of explanation makes the plot near incomprehensible until the grand finale.
26	%%* NarratorAllAlong
27	* OffWithHisHead: Multiple characters get beheaded over the story, including the protagonist, who gets his head cut off at the end of the opening prologue, only to awaken still alive and with his body very much still attached centuries later.
28	* OneWingedAngel: Arashiyama takes on a far more monstrous form his fight with Kurou. [[spoiler:Kurou still [[OffWithHisHead cuts off his head]].]]
29	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Kuromitsu and Kurou possess the desire to drink blood, have increased strength and senses, and seemingly can't die from old age no matter how many centuries pass.
30	%%* RainOfBlood
31	* ResetButtonEnding: Sort of. Despite the original mastermind behind Kurou and Kuromitsu suffering being dealt with in this latest cycle, Kurou himself is still not complete. [[spoiler:After Kuromitsu again severs his head to transfer him to a new, potentially better body]], Kurou temporarily remembers the endless number of times this same story has repeated itself, and then wakes up again in a new age, his memory in shambles once more, and with the same overwhelming desire to find Kuromitsu. And as he encounters new versions of the characters he met before, and a new version of the story plays out, it is unclear if anything will ever truly change, and if he and Kuromitsu will ever be able to truly be together.
32	* LaResistance: The Haniwa movement. Kurou helps them fight the Red Imperial Army. [[spoiler:Too bad [[EverybodysDeadDave they all get killed]]...]]
33	* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Benkei and Kuon]] both betray Kurou in an attempt to have Kuromitsu love them instead.
34	* SceneryPorn: the apocalypse and post apocalypse are filled with equally gorgeous and tragic destroyed city-scapes bursting with detail.
35	%%* SceneryGorn: Every other second (The other half).
36	* SuperSerum: Kuromitsu's blood has this effect on a few of the people who are injected with it. The rest don't survive.
37	* SuperSoldier: The field generals of the Red Imperial Army, thanks to Kuromitsu's blood. One reason the RIA is chasing Kuromitsu is so they can use her blood to make more.
38	* TimeSkip: The show skips thousands of years early on.
39	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: Kuromitsu's immortality makes her a continual target of the Red Imperial Army.
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41	!!The Manga provides examples of:
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43	* AfterTheEnd: A meteorite hits the planet while nuclear missiles are either being fired to decrease its mass or get one last potshot at an old enemy. Then, nuclear winter hits after the meteorite and the nukes destroy most civilization.
44	* AndTheAdventureContinues: Humans will continue to chase after Kurou and Kuromitsu for their immortal blood. As will clones [[spoiler:like Izana and Shera]], driven by the shared obsessions from a partial GeneticMemory to be with Kurou or Kuromitsu themselves. And Kurou or Kuromitsu will continue to flee. [[spoiler:But at least now Kurou has regained his full memories thanks to gaining a perfect cloned vampire body, and Kuromitsu and Kuro will at last truly be together for the first time in centuries.]]
45	-->'''Kurou:''' [[DontMakeMeDestroyYou Move, humans!]]
46	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Benkei's]] death does not stop Kurou and Kuromitsu from being hunted by humans who want their immortal blood, nor those who want to MurderTheHypotenuse and have Kurou or Kuromitsu's love for themselves. [[AndTheAdventureContinues The two will be forced to flee forever]]. But at least now [[spoiler:Kurou has regained his full memories and personality after having his head transplanted onto a perfect copy of his original body, and Kurou and Kuromitsu will be able to truly be together from now till the end of their days.]]
47	* CurbStompBattle: A trio of nameless {{bounty hunter}}s are sent after Kurou in volume 3 but despite the build up, Kurou easily kills one with RazorFloss and the other two are slaughtered by Kuon ''offscreen''.
48	* DropDeadGorgeous:
49	** The female bounty hunter sent after the protagonists in volume 3 is KilledOffscreen by Kuon and her corpse is later prominently shown slumped against a wall with spread legs and an exposed breast.
50	** In chapter 22, a female guard is brutally beaten to death offscreen by an imprisoned Kuromitsu, [[MuggedForDisguise stripped of her clothes]] and left nude inside the cell.
51	* KatanasAreBetter: Kurou uses the same one from 12th century Japan into the present. And it's still sharp.
52	* GeneticMemory: There are a number of clones in the story who seem to have pieces of the personalities and obsessions of the people they're cloned from. A clone of [[spoiler:Benkei]] even reveals in the finale that he can sometimes see decades upon decades of memories of the man he was cloned from.
53	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Played with. On top of UsefulNotes/MinamotoNoYoshitsune becoming an immortal vampire instead of dying in the 12th-century, and Kuromitsu being the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ningyo Yao Bikuni]] myth as a vampire, the source of Kuromitsu's vampirism is revealed in the finale to be [[Literature/TheBible Judas Iscariot]], who was cursed for betraying Jesus and attempting to take Jesus's divine abitilies by consuming his [[BluntMetaphorsTrauma "immortal" blood.]]
54	* OffWithHisHead: To Kurou, this is a normal occurrence. By the end of the story, he's lost his head eleven or twelve times. Other characters lose their heads as well, such as [[spoiler: Izana, Kuon, and Rai]]. Only [[spoiler: Rai]] is still without a body in the finale.
55	* TimeSkip: From 12th century Japan to somewhere in the Meiji era to modern day Japan to just AfterTheEnd to a century after the end when society has rebuilt itself.
56	* WorldOfBadass: Where even the mooks have machine guns for hands... [[SchizoTech in modern day Tokyo]]. In the future, they have lasers, chainguns, and rockets.

Context Literature / Kurozuka