Ceres, Celestial Legend

Ayashi no Ceres (Ceres, Celestial Legend in English), by Yuu Watase, 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" ("Tennyo" in Japanese), Ceres, who was trapped on Earth and forced to marry a mortal. Aya is the vessel of Ceres, who occasionally takes over Aya's body and is willing to take revenge for all the misfortune she went through. Aki is posessed by Mikagi, Ceres' human husband from her former life, (also known as the Mikage "First Ancestor", or "Shiso" in Japanese), 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, lead by Aya's cousin Kagami, are trying to create their own army of celestial maidens, through various scientific methods.

Eventually, Aya makes a deal with Ceres. In order to go back to heaven, Ceres needs her Celestial Robe ("hagoromo" in Japanese), which was stolen and hidden by Mikagi thousands of years ago. Aya promises to find it if Ceres promises to not harm anyone else in the mean time. Of course, finding the robe is not easy, and takes Aya and his friends travelling throughout Japan.

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 (although because she thinks Aya is responsible of her father's death); a girl commits suicide as a wicked form of revenge; 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 Mad Scientist, threatens to rape her to make Ceres persona to manifest. All in all, not recommended for the easily shocked.

This manga was a big turning point in Watase's career, and many people consider it to be her best work yet.

Tropes used in Ceres, Celestial Legend include:

Adaptation Distillation
Adult Fear: Ayashi no Ceres might be a dark fantasy drama, but what it all comes down to is a story of a woman who at first has a kind and endearing husband. After receiving some of her powers on his own request so he can help her when in trouble, however, he becomes so obsessed with her that he starts restricting her behavior, like locking her in the house to prevent her from talking to men who aren't him, to beating her, forcing sex on her, and even going so far as to killing one of their children out of fear that she would take her (Ceres) away from him (Mikage). Basically, a story of domestic violence.
Ancient Conspiracy
Anyone Can Die: On top of a large pile of dead mooks, and minor characters, most of the maidens end up dead by the end of the story, including Chidori and Shuro. Bonus points for Tooya, who manages to die twice - one death on screen, and one death implied to happen soon after the bittersweet ending (see below).
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Aya for Tooya.
All Men Are Perverts: Played with. Watase said in one of her freetalks that all of Yuuhi's behaviour towards Aya is totally normal and that he is not a pervert. He is a teenager, after all, and at the end of the day he never crosses any moral lines, not even when Aya offers herself to him out of sheer spite. However, in another one, explaining Mikage's actions and the intent of a group of schoolboys who try to rape Aya, she said that "the desire of raping woman was part of the male instinct to preserve the species". Make out that what you will.
Badass Longcoat
Betty and Veronica: Yuuhi and Tohya to Aya.
Big Fancy House: Yuuhi and Suzumi's house, The Thing That Goes Doink included
Bifauxnen: Shuro Tsukasa, raised as a man out of fear of her powers manifesting
Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Aya found out that she was pregnant with Toya's child right when he was about to be shot dead by Mikagi. Only he got better. Well, kinda.
Bittersweet Ending: The mostly happy ending is rendered bittersweet by the last minute reveal that Tooya is going to die soon, leaving Aya and their unborn child behind. Not to mention, Aki cannot be saved, so he has to die so Mikage will be stopped.
Brother-Sister Incest: Played completely seriously and creepily.
Character Development: Aya, from Ordinary High School Student to full-blown healthy Yamato Nadeshiko who has to rebuild her life after all the crazy shit piling on her.
- Tooya evolves his Sugar and Ice Personality to a more empathetic persona.
- Yuhi starts as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and ends up being a pretty mature young man.
Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: At the end Tooya knows that he will die soon, so he trusts Aya to Yuhi for when his time comes.
Coming of Age Story: Specially for Aya, but it also applies to Yuhi.
Crazy Jealous Guy: Mikagi to Ceres - stalking her across time, killing one of their own children due to jealousy.
- Understanding Boyfriend: He actually started as this, and then became a Crazy Jealous Guy after he and Ceres make the horrible mistake of transferring part of her powers to him, upon Shiso's own request. Kids, this is why you shouldn't do such stuff.
Dangerous Sixteenth Birthday: Poor Aya must die when she turns sixteen, since at that age her powers will awaken.
Demoted to Extra: Poor Shuro barely gets to appear in the anime.
Dramatic Wind: Quite a lot.
Driven to Suicide: Suzumi attempted this in the past following 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, Aya's cousin and fellow tennyo Miori kills herself in a very gruesome manner, purposefully traumatising Aya as revenge for her mother's death, caused by Ceres.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Kagami's only Pet the Dog moment comes when he's shown visiting his insane, delirious mother.
- Also, the death oh Miori's beloved mother was her Start of Darkness.
Expy: Tooya inherited the looks, the fighting skills, and initial stoicism of his cousin Tamahome.
Eye Scream: Wei Fei-Li gets one eye sliced by Tooya's dagger in his first appearance. Perhaps even more wince-inducing is the scene near the end of the manga where, ironically enough, Tooya restores Wei's damaged eye.
Fake Memories: This happened to Tooya during his time with Miori.
Falling Into His Arms: Sort of.
Fighting From the Inside
Finger-Suck Healing: Yuuhi to Aya.
First Girl Wins: male version. Tooya was introduced before Yuuhi, during which time he had already stolen a kiss and indefinitely her heart. First Guy Wins seems to be a recurring theme throughout this mangaka's works.
- This also applies somewhat to Aya, since Chidori could never fully win over Yuuhi since he was always pining after Aya.
Forceful Kiss: Aya and Touya's first kiss. How Yuuhi changes Ceres back to Aya...and the majority of Yuuhi and Aya's kisses. Poor Yuuhi.
Gonk: Mrs. Q/Kyu
Gory Discretion Shot: Used in Miori's suicide.
Groupie Brigade: Manga only.
Heroic BSOD: Poor Aya gets this a lot.
Heroic Bastard: Yuuhi.
Hidden Eyes
High-Pressure Blood
Hot for Student: Yuki Urakawa and her teacher.
If I Can't Have You: If Mikage couldn't have Ceres to himself, then nobody could - even their own children.
Ill Girl: Yuki Urakawa. Shouta, Chidori's brother, is a male example.
Important Haircut: Aya gets one of these when she gets depressed over the idea of Tooya leaving her for Miori.
I Will Protect Her: Played straight with Tooya and Aya, and also with Yuuhi and Aya. Horrifyingly deconstructed in the case of Mikagi and Ceres, as Mikagi's desire to help his kMagicalGirl wife and not just be the Understanding Boyfriend makes things go worse when he gets power to do so.
Joshikousei
Katsuyuki Konishi: Tooya, one of his first popular roles along with Maxima from The King of Fighters, before there was Kam ina.
Ki Attacks: or something close...
Kissing Cousins: Played darkly with Kagami and Aya, and in a more positive (albeit tragic) light with Shuro and Kei.
Love Makes You Evil: and HOW.
Love Triangle: Aya, Tooya and Yuhi. We're talking about Yuu Watase after all.
MacGuffin Girl: Tooya is a male version.
Medical Rape and Impregnate: Was done to Chidori when she was captured by the Mikage.
- And then it was subverted due to her untimely demise before they could implant the fertilized embryo back into her.
My Death Is Just the Beginning: Miori's suicide, which is her Take That to Aya since her beloved mother was killed in the rampage of the beginning.
Mysterious Protector: Tooya
Nothing Up My Sleeve: Quite literally, as Tooya's dagger isn't really in his sleeve...
Occidental Otaku: Alec, an anime/games fanboy from Scotland.
Offing the Offspring: Several failed attempts in the series, as well some successful ones pre-series.
Older Than They Look: Chidori is actually a high schooler (and half a year older than Aya), but looks like a pre-teen girl when not using her powers.
The Ojou: Aya
Ordinary High School Student: Aya and Aki, until the beginning of the series.
Parental Abandonment: Aya is actually set up for death by her parents to stop Aya's awakening as a Maiden. Logically, it fails big time: the father is killed and the mother is comatose. Yuhi, being an illegitimate son, was abandoned by his mother because she couldn't face Yuhi's father's family. Chidori lost her parents in a bus crash in her backstory. Miori is driven pretty much insane with grief when Ceres kills her mother.
Plucky Comic Relief: Yuhi, quite often.
Plucky Girl: Aya. And how!
Power Makes Your Hair Grow: And darken.
Raised as the Opposite Gender: Shuro, because her mother thought that if she knew she was a ten'nyo she'd take the family Celestial Robe and fly away. According to the tie-in novel about her backstory, she figured out she was a girl when she was about eight, but kept up the charade to please her family.
Reincarnation: Both Aya and Aki, not to mention all the celestial maidens.
Refusal of the Call: Aya, big time.
Shapeshifting Lover: The myth of the Celestial Maiden has elements of this.
Shojo: One of the more cynical series, as mentioned below.
Shown Their Work: To write this story, Watase went researching to places related to the hagoromo legend like Miyagi, Tochigi and Okinawa.
"Shut Up" Kiss: A LOT.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Significantly on the cynical side, at least by Watase's standards.
- SPECIALLY by Watase's standards. And she seemed to like that side, since she has rarely leave to the other one ever since this manga. I.e., compare the original Fushigi Yuugi to its ongoing prequel Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden.
The Stoic: Tooya, though he softens up over time.
Swirling Dust
Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Ceres, Shuro.
Taking the Bullet: Aya's father does this for her early on. Much later, Chidori does the same for Yuuhi. Both cases are fatal.
- And while no actual bullets are involved, 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.
Uncanny Family Resemblance: Deconstructed during the story arc involving Miori. Since she and Aya were cousins and therefore had a strong physical resemblance, she was the perfect implement to screw up Toya's mind.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Kagami's backstory.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Mikagi, a Non-Action Guy, wanted to not be a burden on his powerful Celestial Maiden wife Ceres so he asked her to give him some of her powers so he could protect her too. When he had them, he soon went completely MAD and killed one of their kids, which prompted Ceres to go Mama Bear and kill him.
Woman Scorned: Ceres again.
Yamato Nadeshiko: Aya evolves to this throughout the story.
Yandere: Miori, who goes mad after losing her mom. Mikagi mixes this and With Great Power Comes Great Insanity.
Your Days Are Numbered
Yumi Kakazu: Aya
- Relationship Voice Actor: So rather than 'uncle/niece', now Kula Diamond and Maxima are the new canon lovers...