Ayashi no Ceres

Ceres was a tennyo (Celestial maiden) who came down from the heavens to bathe in a stream. She hung her hagoromo (robe) on a tree nearby, which was her key to returning to the heavens. But the robe was stolen and the man who had stolen it forced her to become his wife, thus producing a family full of human and tennyo blood mixed.

Now, in modern day time, Aya Mikage is a descendent of Ceres, and has quite an amount of tennyo blood. On her 16th birthday, she and her twin brother, Aki, are thrown a party. At the "party," Aya's grandpa plans to kill her, for she has tennyo powers unlike the rest of the family, and can actually become Ceres herself and destroy the Mikage family. Aya, however, can switch back, so this transformation happens quite frequently.

With protector Yuuhi by her side, it is up to Aya to control Ceres and keep her from coming back, but her relationship with an ex-worker for her evil grandpa may be a distraction.

Tooya Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Ceres Main

Iwao, Junko Japanese

Mikage, Aya Main

Kakazu, Yumi Japanese

Aogiri, Yuuhi Main

Itou, Kentarou Japanese

Mikage, Aki Main

Chiba, Susumu Japanese

Tsukasa, Shuro Supporting

Kusaka, Chihiro Japanese

Kuruma, Chidori Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Howell, Alexander O. Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Oda, Kyuu Supporting

Kujira Japanese

Aogiri, Suzumi Supporting

Asano, Mayumi Japanese

Kamegaki, Hajime Director

Takahashi, Hideo Sound Director

Kosaka, Harume Episode Director, Storyboard

Nishizawa, Susumu Episode Director, Storyboard, Layout, Key Animation

Reviews

Oct 29, 2024

LuxuriousHeart

Recommended

For the spooky season of Halloween, I've been watching some old Shoujo horror series, and this came highly recommended. The show was enjoyable! It was a hot mess, but it was fun. And honestly, you need good ole entertaining and trashy series to help you get through the day. The series had it all! The funny thing is, it's as if someone purposely added rage bait in a series. There's incest, adults creeping on minors, Loli bait, a gay joke, attempted SA, etc. My brother even jokingly said that this isn't an anime that could be made today. ... Tbh, I disagree. Plenty of newer anime series have these things. Though I did have to laugh that this felt like rage bait.

Though it's fun! It's a series I recommend for the spooky season. Just quality trash, in the best way possible. It has interesting characters, even if they can be a bit tropey. It's good fun though. It has romance, comedy, action, tragedy, horror, etc.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 29, 2022

Poppy_h1

Mixed Feelings

This is a solid six. At first, I was going to rate it a 5 because the art was good but the storyline was definitely a 3. Plus, the audio definitely was not the greatest. The first few episodes was definitely naff. I continued watching because I am a curious person and wanted to see what would happen in the end.

The more I watched, the more I got invested into the drama. There was one shocking death where a girl jumps off a building. And by the last two episodes I was so invested in the soap opera story line, I cried. I am ... a sucker for a good love story and the renaissance premise that there is no greater love than this, than to lay down your life for a friend. Cute.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 19, 2026

WoodenBullet343

Not Recommended

This may be the clearest example of a great concept being ruined by horrible execution. The skeleton of a great story is there. However, the body of this show largely consists of chewed gum and duct tape. How is anyone supposed to move with muscles and ligaments like that? Personally, I was never moved by any of these characters or plot beats. When the ending came, all I could feel was frustration that an idea for a meaningful story was clearly there, yet it was never fleshed out.
The story begins with a very intriguing premise, all things considered. A familial curse ... seems to affect two twins, Aya and Aki Mikage, in very different ways. According to their massive extended family, Aya is confirmed to have a curse that will bring doom upon the Mikage, while apparently Aki is in need of protection from her. We the audience get to see the sister's curse in action, as she often turns into the powerful angel Ceres when in times of crisis. The other two characters that will be central to this cast are Toya, a fairly cryptic young gentleman whose motives stand unclear for a while, and Yuhi, a much more exuberant guy that is expressly told to protect Aya. Every dynamic between these characters help form the basis of a potentially great story. For every thing that is made clear, the audience can form 10 other questions to stay invested in the story. For example, we know that Aya is directly affected by the curse, but are not yet sure if Aki is too. The characters also take up fairly familiar archetypes for the audience to understand.
What really kills the story is how much it meanders and strays away from its own setup. This is identifiable in the characters' changing roles throughout the story. The aforementioned Toya is so cryptic to the audience, but Aya becomes romantically invested in him very easily. It's confusing when a character, who the audience is supposed to connect with, is treating another character with a very different understanding of their personality. It's hard to enjoy the mystery behind his motivations when the main character is already deciding that he is a love interest. Other members of the main cast lose their intrigue at various points of character assassination. For example, Yuhi goes from being a friend who is conflicted about his role in protecting someone he barely knows, to becoming an obsessive and controlling presence in the story. Without spoiling aspects of the curse, it suffices to say that Aki's character assassination has something of a magical element to it. That said, his personality changes are difficult to read, and thus it feels like his role as a loving twin is recklessly cast aside. Sure enough, a key aspect of the story is the sense of danger and isolation that Aya experiences, and Aki losing his role as a brother contributes to that. This doesn't excuse how abruptly and perplexingly his transformation is written.
The actual plot events are just as erroneous as the character writing. The aforementioned Ceres is a celestial being who has little love for humanity. In order to fulfill her character arc into becoming one who is willing to work her earthly companions, she has to experience a variety of instances where people act generous towards each other. There are episodes that feature side characters acting quite selflessly to protect each other from danger. Most of the dangers featured in this series are clearly man-made. There are instances of characters violently attacking defenseless people and recklessly putting others in harm's way. This is worth exploring in the story! Sure, humans are willing to protect each other from violent aggressors, but as far as Ceres is concerned, this potential for violent aggression is the problem. You cannot have a complete character arc without addressing the character's views. Going back to previous points about the character writing, plenty of Aya's companions and relatives are people who grow to betray her. At the very least, they include people who lose compassion for her and become more hostile towards her. Why doesn't Ceres recognize this? As far as this story is written, I expect this celestial being to become more misanthropic if anything.
My personal recommendation is to avoid watching this story with any expectation to be satisfied. The romance between Aya and Toya is built on shaky foundations. The side characters have few moments of charm to keep you amused. The episode length of the series could be cut in half given how many episodes are spent on keeping the audience confused. This may have been the most disappointing series I have ever seen.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Ayashi no Ceres Episode 17 Discussion ShanaFlame - Dec 18, 2009	8 replies	by VicEdw8GeoJac »» Jul 1, 5:33 PM
	Poll: Ayashi no Ceres Episode 11 Discussion ShanaFlame - Dec 16, 2009	8 replies	by VicEdw8GeoJac »» Jun 26, 5:16 PM
	Poll: Ayashi no Ceres Episode 10 Discussion ShanaFlame - Dec 16, 2009	8 replies	by VicEdw8GeoJac »» Jun 26, 4:11 PM
	Poll: Ayashi no Ceres Episode 8 Discussion ShanaFlame - Dec 16, 2009	14 replies	by VicEdw8GeoJac »» Jun 26, 7:30 AM
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