Hashire Melos (1981)

Action / Adventure

Melos is a good boy from Messina and has come to Syracuse, the magnificent city of temples, to buy a ritual sword for his sister's marriage ceremony. He meets a very talented sculptor and they become friends. Later, the King's guards arrest Melos while he was having a walk in the castle's gardens and Syracuse's King, obsessed by the idea of assassins out to kill him, sentences him to death. Melos is desperate, but most of all he wants to be present at his sister's marriage, so he asks the King for three days to go to Messina for the celebration and then return to Syracuse where he will accept the death penalty. The King does not trust Melos, but, trying to demonstrate that nobody could trust him, asks him to find a volunteer substitute in case he breaks his promise. The sculptor accepts to be Melos' substitute in this case... (Source: Anime News Network)

Drama / Psychological

Anthology series adapting six modern classics of Japanese literature: No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) by Dazai Osamu — A high school student becomes lost and alienated. Despondent and aimless, he falls into a cycle of self abuse, depression and drugs that taints his life for years. Told in three chapters, each chapter deals with a different point in his life and the final chapter leaves him standing alone — an empty and hollow caricature of his former self. In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita) by Sakaguchi Ango — A love story between a 12th-century woman and a mountain bandit who abducts her. Run, Melos! (Hashire, Melos!) by Dazai Osamu — An updated retelling of a classic Greek tale of the story of Damon and Pythias. Unwavering friendship is the most prominent theme of this retelling. Despite facing hardships, the protagonist Melos does his best to save his friend's life, and in the end his efforts are rewarded. Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke — A famous artist is commissioned by a great lord to create a series of paintings depicting scenes of the Buddhist Hell. The artist is unable to paint scenes that he has not seen himself, prompting him to torture and torment the Lord's staff to create his imagined images of hell. His creative efforts taint the household, as the story descends into madness and destruction. Kokoro by Natsume Souseki — A 1914 tale of a young man's life journey during the Meiji era. The work deals with the transition from the Japanese Meiji society to the modern era, by exploring the friendship between a young man and an older man he calls Sensei. It continues the theme of isolation developed in Souseki's previous works, here in the context of interwoven strands of egoism and guilt, as opposed to shame. The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito) by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke — The Buddha Shakyamuni chances to notice a cold-hearted criminal suffering in Hell. But this criminal did perform one single act of kindness in not stepping on a spider in a forest. Moved by this selfless act, Shakyamuni takes the silvery thread of a spider in Paradise and lowers it down into Hell, but it falls upon the criminal to seize the opportunity and pull himself out — if he can. (Source: AniDB)

Adventure / Drama

Melos runs desperately to rescue his best friend, who has been imprisoned in his place. The story depicts the deep friendship and mutual devotion between the two. (Source: Gakken, translated, edited)

Drama / Psychological

Anthology series adapting six modern classics of Japanese literature: No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) by Dazai Osamu — A high school student becomes lost and alienated. Despondent and aimless, he falls into a cycle of self abuse, depression and drugs that taints his life for years. Told in three chapters, each chapter deals with a different point in his life and the final chapter leaves him standing alone — an empty and hollow caricature of his former self. In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom (Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita) by Sakaguchi Ango — A love story between a 12th-century woman and a mountain bandit who abducts her. Run, Melos! (Hashire, Melos!) by Dazai Osamu — An updated retelling of a classic Greek tale of the story of Damon and Pythias. Unwavering friendship is the most prominent theme of this retelling. Despite facing hardships, the protagonist Melos does his best to save his friend's life, and in the end his efforts are rewarded. Hell Screen (Jigoku Hen) by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke — A famous artist is commissioned by a great lord to create a series of paintings depicting scenes of the Buddhist Hell. The artist is unable to paint scenes that he has not seen himself, prompting him to torture and torment the Lord's staff to create his imagined images of hell. His creative efforts taint the household, as the story descends into madness and destruction. Kokoro by Natsume Souseki — A 1914 tale of a young man's life journey during the Meiji era. The work deals with the transition from the Japanese Meiji society to the modern era, by exploring the friendship between a young man and an older man he calls Sensei. It continues the theme of isolation developed in Souseki's previous works, here in the context of interwoven strands of egoism and guilt, as opposed to shame. The Spider's Thread (Kumo no Ito) by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke — The Buddha Shakyamuni chances to notice a cold-hearted criminal suffering in Hell. But this criminal did perform one single act of kindness in not stepping on a spider in a forest. Moved by this selfless act, Shakyamuni takes the silvery thread of a spider in Paradise and lowers it down into Hell, but it falls upon the criminal to seize the opportunity and pull himself out — if he can. (Source: AniDB)