Episode 1: Unearthly Kyoto
Released: 1988 July 21
Duration: 30 minutes
While a vampire-like serial murderer that killed five women in Kyoto
is making a news headline, Himiko Se, medium, visits the old capital of
Japan. She received a request from a parents of a girl, Aiko Nezawa, who
has been asleep for sixty days. She notices a garlic hanging on the gate
of Nezawa's house. When Himiko sees the Aiko, she does sense that something
is possessing the girl, but she can't help the girl. While chatting with
her parents afterwards, Himiko finds out that Aiko's mother saw some white
robed thing prowling around the house. She senses some connection between
the sleeping girl, and the white robed thing. When she leaves Nezawa's,
she meets Miyahito, whose girlfriend, Ryoko, was the first victim of the
vampire serial murder. He saw the white robed thing enter Nezawa's house,
and is determined to kill the thing to stop its rampage. Himiko doubts
if he can stop the thing. That night, Himiko visits the shrine that Ryoko
was attacked. Suddenly the lights go off and fog sets in. The white robed
thing suddenly appears and tries to attack Himiko, when a black robed figure
with a mask emerges out of darkness and chases away the white thing. It's
Larva. There's a girl, wearing a shortenened kimono, sitting on top of
torii. She musingly says that what appears to be vampire is too faithful
to myth. She warns Himiko not to get involved in this incident any further,
and disappears. Next day, out of desperation, Himiko buys a cross, and
goes to the shrine again. There she witnesses the girl in kimono biting
the neck of Miyahito. The girl is a vampire. Himiko throws the cross, but
the girl catches it and turns it into dust. Then, Himiko realizes that
the girl is under intense ray of sunlight, and is still alive, something
fatal for a vampire, according to common belief. The girl closes the space
surrounding Himiko and her. She explains that she is not the vampire Himiko
is looking for. She is after the monster also. She adds that the monster
is Shinma, a being that is both demon and god. While the girl can give
eternal life to those who wishes in return for blood, the monster just
kills the victims. She gives a mysterious advice to Himiko and disappears.
"The truth is always within people..." When the space opens up
again, Himiko finds herself in a playground with Miyahito, who became like
a sleepwalker. Later she visits the hospital where Nezawa's family doctor
works. The doctor tell her that the family had a traffic accident. While
Aiko's parents were hopeless, the girl needed a blood transfusion. The
only problem is that the supply of type AB was short. Her parents knew
their fate, so they donated their blood for their daughter's operation.
Before the operation was over, they expired. In the orphanage, the little
girl claimed that she is a vampire, since though doctors never told her,
she knew that she survived by getting her parents' blood. Hearing this,
Himiko gets confused, and visits Nezawa's place. Aiko's parents, who are
supposed to be dead, are still there, sitting besides sleeping Aiko. "Ghosts?...
Damn it.." Meanwhile, outside, the vampire girl and her servant are
chasing the white robed thing. Suddenly the "ghost parents" disappear,
and Aiko wakes up. The vampire girl bursts into the room, and tries to
bite Aiko's neck, but Himiko stops her. "Are you trying to prey on
Aiko-chan as well?!!" The girl doesn't answer, instead, the black
robed masked figure chases out the white robed thing out of Aiko's body.
The vampire girl explains that the thing, a member of Shinma, has been
using Aiko. In return for giving her a dream of her dead parents, it ate
her soul. Shinma struggles , but is trapped by the walls of tatami that
the black figure has put up. The girl orders, "Larva (the black figure),
return Shinma by its proper name." Larva engraves the monster's name
on tatami. "Raen" Himiko realizes that any Shinma with its name
revealed, would loose its power. Raen is returned to the darkness. Everything
is over, and Nezawa's house returns to its real worn down shape.
Himiko: What about Aiko-chan?
Girl: She is dead. Anybody who is possessed by Shinma would
loose the soul, so...
Himiko: Wasn't there any way to save her?
Girl: There was, but you stopped me, remember? She could've
received my blood and became a vampire like me....
The girl leaves, after questioning weather it was better for Aiko to die, or to live with a guilt of murdering her parents. Next day, Himiko leaves Kyoto. As she walks by the playground of that day, she sees some jr.high girls are chatting, looking at Miyahito who is sitting on a swing, doing nothing. One of the girl claims that he is submerged in a world of dream. Others laugh at the idea. "But don't you think it would be wonderful if you can be in eternal happiness.?" As they start running past Himiko, to school, Himiko notices that one of them look like the vampire girl, who left without telling her name. Himiko is determined to find the girl again. As she leaves the giggling of the girl echos.
"Her golden eyes, they are strange, and
yet beautiful...
They'll close the gateway to your te...ars...
Stopping the flow of the hourglass of time...
Severing the string... known as misery,
the sound... and the rhythm... disappear..."