Akutagawa-sensei!
Just to make sure, this isn't a lovers' suicide, right?
N-No!
Good.
Ango Sakaguchi.
No, it would be best to call him a nameless bandit now.
What I wanted tonight was this woman's head.
I have no interest in you.
I see.
So let's call it a tie, then.
Wait, Akutagawa-sensei!
Wait, Ango!
Ango!
"Episode 3"
"In the Forest of the Cherry Blossoms, Beneath the Full Bloom."
Ango Sakaguchi's most famous work,
noted for the way in which the beautiful depictions of the scenery and
the gruesome events it describes enhance one another.
The fact that it lets the reader decide for themselves
the answer is probably part of it, too.
Everyone has their own different interpretation.
So the great Shimazaki-sensei has his own interpretation?
I'd love to hear it.
Well...
As I see it,
the bandit, who's the story's protagonist...
Broke bastard.
He had nothing worth taking.
Some country bumpkin.
I think he was satisfied with his life.
He had everything he could want up there in the mountains.
He never ran out of food.
If he wanted something to drink, he could just steal it.
Anyone who passed through the forests and mountains was his prey.
But...
Even a man like him had one thing he feared.
For some reason, the cherry blossom trees in the forest terrified him.
He didn't know why, but he knew he'd find the answer someday,
and so he told himself it didn't concern him.
And then one day...
He met the woman.
She was a beautiful woman.
You're my wife now.
The man thought to himself he was willing to do whatever the woman wanted him to.
The woman, huh?
For a man who lived his whole life never knowing want,
this may have been his first connection with another person.
And that's why he became her puppet.
Even after getting a glimpse of her true nature.
The woman wanted to live in the capital.
Kill them.
Will this do?
Yes. It will.
This is very good.
Good, very good.
You look so friendly.
You're a wonderful couple.
But you'd be lonely if it were just the two of you.
I know! I've got the perfect idea.
Let's do that.
Honey, bring me more heads!
Heads?
If there're lots of heads here, nobody will be lonely!
It'll be so lively here, too!
Won't it be wonderful?
And so the man wandered the capital in search of heads to sever
to fulfill the woman's desires.
A sad and terrifying story.
Terrifying? Hah!
That book's nothing but an ideal.
An ideal?
Yup.
Ango's ideal way of life.
That's the only way I can read it.
Welcome back.
Will this do?
Yes.
Wonderful.
Such a pretty face the man has, right?
So he needs a pretty daughter.
The two will live happily.
And then one day, they'll be drawn together,
and find themselves in the throes of passionate love.
Love is wonderful.
Sometimes it's hatred, sometimes anger, sometimes it's lies...
All of that happens, but it's all for love.
And with that love, any obstacle just becomes fuel for your passion.
How wonderful...
But the flames of passionate love can bring wicked things, too.
I'm jealous!
Why do you have all the luck? Damn it!
The man died, painfully.
Tell me. How long will we be doing this?
What do you mean "how long"?
That's a strange thing to say.
Every day I bring you new heads to play with.
I don't understand why.
Then why don't you try it?
I...
I'm sick of this.
What? Did you get scared?
When did you get so weak?
I'm not weak.
That's not it...
If you're not weak, what are you?
I hate the fact that there's no end!
Now you're making even less sense.
Life has no end.
Every day you eat.
Every day you sleep.
No end, right?
That's different than playing with someone's head!
Traitor!
You can't stay here, then!
You can't stay in the capital.
Will you go back to the mountain?
The mountain?
Of course, I'll go with you.
Together we'll live in the mountains. And then...
No!
We can't go back!
I'm staying here!
Staying here with you forever!
So don't go!
Don't leave me alone!
Of course.
I won't go anywhere.
I see.
What the hell is he doing?
Where are you going?
To defeat that woman and wake up Ango!
Right now, he's Ango Sakaguchi, but he's not Ango Sakaguchi.
He's just a bandit.
You saw it too, right?
That woman's insane!
He can't stay with her!
But right now, that's what he wants.
In the original book, the bandit gets sick of living with the woman,
and tries to go back to the mountains.
But right now, he's afraid of going back.
As if he knows what happens if he does.
What happens if he does?
You're his friend and you didn't read his book?
I'm sure I did, but... I just can't remember.
Let's get the story moving.
Give it a kick in the butt.
I don't understand the attraction of the capital.
What are they talking about?
What is there to say?
There's nothing I want to say.
You bastard!
Sorry, we're going to borrow her.
If you want her back, come to us.
We'll be waiting under the cherry tree.
You almost killed me, so...
Now we're even.
Is it just me, or are we the bad guys here?
Did you think you were a good person?
Why do I have to stand watch too?
Hey, Saku Oda! Saku Oda!
Saku Oda--
What are you doing?
Oh, is that you, Chuya-kun?
You found me, huh?
You don't intend to delve like that, do you?
I have to go...
My friend is suffering inside that book...
Chuya-kun?
Look, what do you want me to do?
I can't go myself.
Why can't I go in?
I'm gonna kick Ango's ass later.
It's probably Dazai-kun's and my fault that he's trapped in there.
Now, a toast to the success of the Modern Literature Discussion Group!
What do you mean, "success"?
Saku Oda's two hours late!
Sorry, sorry.
But you were both drunk off your asses when I got here!
So we're even.
Yeah, right.
Gah, I've got so much more to say!
That's enough insulting Shiga-sensei.
That guy's got ears everywhere!
Who cares? Insults are the beginning of corruption.
There we go! Ango's gonna tell us about corruption again.
Again?
You like Shiga-sensei.
Yeah. I've got nothing against Shiga.
But if Dazai wants to insult him, I'm not going to stop him.
'Cause it's fun to listen to!
Yup!
A man who's pure of heart is boring.
Men become interesting after they fall.
Well, I won't deny that the true nature of man can be found there.
Listen to this, I came up with an idea for a new story!
What? Tell me about it!
The hero's a bandit.
Someone who's fallen as far as he can go!
He lives in the mountains, killing as he likes, and wanting for nothing.
What a jerk!
But he's satisfied with his life.
Do you know why?
Because his life is all he knows.
Correct.
He's spent his whole life in the mountains!
He's never been bothered by it.
Doesn't that seem cool?
But wouldn't he be lonely by himself?
If he was always alone, he wouldn't know what "lonely" meant.
Wow, he'd be invincible!
Yeah. Invincible, in a sense. Perfect, and complete.
But then one day he meets a woman,
and shockingly, falls in love with her.
What do you think happens?
He stops being invincible.
Yes!
When you fall in love and live with someone,
sometimes you'll have trouble with the fact that you have different values.
You may want your distance.
But love is like the truth of nature of the heart.
Once you've fallen, you're not going back.
So what does that man do if the woman dies?
He falls into loneliness for the first time in his life.
Great ending, right?
Ango tried to depict a man's fall.
He wanted to be that man.
He wanted to complete his aesthetics.
But now he's...
What is this scary woman?
Just a normal human.
She is?
People can't accept someone whose values are too different than their own.
Sometimes that person will seem to be something inhuman.
You're Delvers, aren't you?
Her disgusting hobbies may make her seem less like a woman,
and more like a monster.
To him, and to us.
So she was the Taint?
He's finally here...
Ango?
I can't lose her! I...!
I don't want to be alone!
My love!
You make me so happy!
I couldn't live without you either...
So... protect me!
Ango Sakaguchi!
In this story, the woman becomes a monster and the man kills her himself!
So...
You have to be the one to defeat her!
Ango Sakaguchi.
Yes. That's my name.
I...
Ango!
I know.
It's my own book!
In the end, the bandit kills the woman,
and dies knowing true loneliness.
Such is the beautiful life of a fallen man.
But now, I...
I'm scared of loneliness!
Saku Oda and Dazai both left me!
Just two years after we drank together that night!
So I don't...
...want to lose anymore!
What are you talking about?
You're a storyteller, right?
So don't fear loneliness!
Saku Oda!
Looks like I made it in time for my big scene.
Ango!
The Ango Sakaguchi I know is a show-off,
but he keeps showing off until the very end!
That's right.
You don't need to tell me.
Don't fear loneliness. Don't fear the fall.
I...
I am going to be a great storyteller!
"Ango Sakaguchi" I am going to be a great storyteller!
What are you doing?
You promised we'd always be together!
If you kill me...!
Shut up.
These beautiful cherry blossoms will become the light that illuminates me.
And then I'll see that there's nothing around me.
I'll understand that I'm lonely.
Come on, don't die before I do.
You'll make me sad.
This is the proper ending for this story.
Sheesh.
You took too long.
What are you doing here, Chuya?
I came to laugh at peach flower boy when he came back with his ass kicked!
So mean!
And while I'm at it...
Hey.
You showed up, huh?
So it seems.
Yes. Looks like another success.
Ango Sakaguchi will come to aid us, too.
I'm curious, too.
I can understand why Dazai and Oda were called into Sakaguchi's book.
But him?
Yes.
He may hold the key to this battle.
"In the Forest of the Cherry Blossoms, Beneath the Full Bloom" "Part 2"
Literary Gourmet!
The Monkfish Hot Pot in My Memories!
"Ango's Hot Pot in My Memories!" The Monkfish Hot Pot in My Memories!
I'm really... hungry.
What's going on? It's pitch black!
"Bubble bubble" I made you a stew!
No! I can't tell what's in it!
Eat it!
"NOM!"
"Gwaah!" Dazai-kun, what's wrong? Dazai-kun!
"Flip"
It's good...
"Monkfish Hot Pot" "A stew that uses every part of a high-quality monkfish. Originally a dish made in Ibaraki." The soft, tender liver is delicious!
"Monkfish Hot Pot" "A stew that uses every part of a high-quality monkfish. Originally a dish made in Ibaraki." And the seasonal vegetables pair perfectly with the meat of the fish!
It's going inside my friend's mouth.
I couldn't make something bad, could I?
Ango!