Karas (anime)

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Karas

鴉 -KARAS- (Karas)
Genre	Science fiction
OVA
Directed by	Keiichi Sato
Studio	Tatsunoko
No. of episodes	6
Released	7 February 2005

Karas (鴉 -KARAS-) is a six-part OVA that takes place in a futuristic setting. It is produced by Tatsunoko Productions. The first DVD of episodes 1-3, "Karas: The Prophecy", was released April 24th 2006 in the UK, and April 25th in the US. The second DVD which contains episodes 4-6, "Karas: The Revelation", will be released in September, 2007. Karas is being released in commemoration of Tatsunoko Productions' 40th anniversary.

1 Summary
2 Story
3 Characters
4 External links

[edit] Summary

The world of the humans and the world of the demons (youkai) have overlapped one another, leaving humans to walk the streets of life as they normally would, while demons walk, hidden from the naked eye, down the very same streets. A young woman named Yurine, and her servant Karas, have long maintained order and balance between the overlapped worlds, ultimately keeping the demons from interrupting the lives of humans. However, humans have come to forget and jest at the existence of demons, and no longer understand the privilege it is to live without fear. Disgusted by this arrogance, an old Karas turns his back on the laws he had once upheld, and takes the form of a human named Ekou, while creating an army of Mikura, or mechanized demons, to ready an attack on the human race.

A young man named Otoha inherits the powers of the Karas and takes his place at the side of Yurine, who claims that his soul called out for her while he lived the life of a human. They live in the world of the demons. It is now up to Otoha to prove himself as a Karas, and restore the balance that Ekou threatens to upset.

Meanwhile, a superstitious police officer named Sagisaka and his rational new recruit, Kure, follow the trail of the murders dealt by Ekou's Mikura, as well as the trail of a good demon turned human named Nue. The prophecy unfolds from here...

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Prophecy contains the first 3 OVAs of a 6 part series.

1) Ekou is fighting and eventually killing a Karas. Three years later, Kure witnesses an attack on a film crew by a water demon and survives. He is sent to a new police department with Sagisaka and begins investigating the bizarre murders, which Sagisaka believes they are done by youkai. He and his ally, Kure, are also hunting Nue, because they believe he may have something to do with the incident in the subway restroom. Meanwhile, demon hunter Nue is on the trail of Suiko. His assassination attempt is interrupted by the new Karas. Otoha enters and engages Suiko in combat, eventually killing him.

2) It is revealed that Sagisaka believes in youkai because his daughter, sole survivor of a brutal demon attack at her school, is one of the few who lived to tell about the demons. But she is hospitalized for mental/emotional problems caused by the demon attack, and her father is still waiting to get her testimony of the events. Kure and Sagisaka pursue Nue and run into the red car Mikura, which attacks them. Nue attacks the car, but is unable to kill it, and is injured before Otoha appears in Karas form and kills it.

3) Nue and Otoha face off, and Yurine orders Otoha to kill him. Nue's yokai friend pleads for Nue's life, and Otoha is unable to bring himself to attack Nue because he feels that Nue isn't evil. Nue flees with a bad injury. Meanwhile, Ekou and his minions move their plans forward; it is revealed that Ekou is using another Yurine as a power source for his mechanised Mikura demons. Two of his minions, Tsuchigumo (a spider-woman) and Kamaitachi (A robotic blade-spinning freak) attack the city and Karas is forced to fight Tsuchigumo miles away from where Kamaitachi was making his move. As Karas engaged Tsuchigumi, Yurine realizes that Ekou's true target was actually Otoha's hospitalized, comatose human body. Karas's fight with Kamaitachi is cut short once he sees his true body. At that point, Yurine lets her guard down and is abducted by Tsuchigumo. Without Yurine's aid, Karas loses power and disappears. Before Kamaitachi kills Otoha, Nue appears and fights with Kamaitachi, but is so weak that he can't transform into a Mikura when he runs out of bullets. Otoha awakens from his coma and kills Kamaitachi while in human form.

[edit] Characters

Karas Armored warriors. They are few to become Karas, but the only two that can transform are Otoha and Ekou. When summoned by Yurine, Otoha steps through the magic portal opened on her command and becomes clothed in impenetrable armor and is bestowed a magical katana. Upon becoming Karas, he gains the ability to move with incredible speed and attack with amazing physical and magic power. At times, he is moving so fast that it appears that everything around him is moving very slowly or has stopped moving completely. Also, upon becoming enraged, his eyes turn a fiery red, allowing him to transform his sword into a massive blade capable of hewing any foe. Karas can also transform into two alternate forms: a large car equipped with powerful missiles and a bird-like jet fighter with a gun that fires bolts of energy. However, Otoha is not the only one who can transform into Karas. The evil Ekou can also transform himself into Karas. This version is different however, as its suit is blackened with evil, and its skills are enhanced beyond those of a normal Karas. As Karas, Ekou has killed any Karas that has come before and after him, and as fate shall have it, sometime in the future there will be a duel of Karas' once again ... between Otoha and Ekou.
There is a third, female Karas, who is yet unnamed. She is accompanied by another Yurine.
- Otoha Chosen as the new Karas and still proving himself to Yurine. While not fighting Mikura as the Karas, Otoha is a doctor in the spirit realm helping benevolent spiritual entities, who are becoming sick due to Ekou's actions in both worlds. At the end of the first movie, his Karas form found his human form in a deep coma in a hosptial located somewhere in Shinjuku. Upon seeing his true form, the warrior disintigrated, leaving only a sword behind while the evil Kamaitachi advanced on his body and the small demon who is Nue's ally. When Kamaitachi is about to strike, Otoha rises out of nowhere with Karas's sword and proceeds to decapitate him.
- Hoshunin Ekou Chosen as Karas in the Edo period. Ekou realized how to seize power in this world by upsetting the balance between the spirits and humans and subsequently turned his back on humanity. Since his fall from grace, Ekou has killed every Karas after him.
Mikura The term for those demons or spirits (youkai) who have fallen under the corrupt influence of Ekou and become mechanized. They feed on the blood of humans, requiring it to survive. They are also able to assume a human-appearing form but can resume their true mechanized forms. Each Mikura embodies aspects of the type of youkai they once were, before joining the side of Ekou. Mikura can be distinguished by a black ring with a white symbol on it being worn on any finger.
- Nue A rogue Mikura who has come to Shinjuku, Japan to defeat Ekou. He has turned his back on Ekou and renounced his evil ways. He carries two gold pistols and a rifle to handle the Mikura so he does not have to take on his true form, but his need to feed on the blood of humans threatens to overcome him. When his full of rage and anger, or is tempted by other Mikura demons, he will reveal his true form, which appears to be a giant blade wielding cybernetic wolf.
- Suiko A Mikura demon disguised as a professional masked wrestler. During the first movie, Nue attempts to shoot and kill him with a rifle at his wrestling arena, but is interrupted when Karas and Yurine show up. Karas engages Suiko after he revelas his true form; a massive mechanized water demon. It appears once the two engage in battle, time has stopped around them, as with most demons. It is also of note, that once the two warriors exit the arena via the ceiling, the announcer is left dismembered in the ring, drained of blood by Suiko as he transformed. Once in the sewers, Suiko begins summoning evil water spirits and unleashing massive blasts of energy. Eventually, Karas gains the upper hand and slices Suiko's left arm off. After going into "rage mode", and unleashes a large bird like entity, he transforms his katana into a huge glowing blade and easily slays Suiko.
- Wanyudo
- Tsuchigumo: Ekou's right hand woman.
- Kamaitachi: A deranged robotic figure whose very body is covered in blades.

Yurine She is an entity who takes the shape of a young woman with very light yellow, blue, or pink hair who holds the power to designate a Karas, and also controls the power of the Karas. There are multiple Yurine aspects, each with varying designs on her goggles, which are worn in her hair. These symbols designate the various roles each Yurine aspect is to play in the struggle between the worlds.

Kure Narumi He is a young police detective recently assigned to the Tokyo Police Observation Department. He is rational and secular. He strongly denies the existence of demons and supernatural powers. He was in the same train station toilet where a water demon, turned Mikura, attacked a TV crew, but he was not a direct witness of what happened.

Hinaru She is the only survivor of the Kappa attack on the TV crew in the Shinjuku public men's restroom. She seems destined to play some sort of role, but her real importance has yet to be determined.

Sagisaka Minoru The head detective in the case of the supernatural, inexplicable events occurring around the city. His daughter, sole survivor of a brutal demon attack at her school, is one of the few who lived to tell about the demons. But she is in a hospital for mental/emotional problems caused by the attack by the demons, and her father is still waiting to get her testimony of the events. Sagisaka is an older man, and he believes that demons definitely are the ones committing all these gruesome murders around town. He and his ally, Kure, are also hunting Nue, because they believe he may have something to do with the incident in the restrooms of the subway.