Lament of the Lamb

Infobox animanga/Header
name = Lament of the Lamb


caption =
ja_name = 羊のうた
ja_name_trans = Hitsuji no Uta
genre = HorrorInfobox animanga/Manga
title =
author = Kei Toume
publisher = flagicon|Japan Gentosha Comics, Inc.
flagicon|Japan Scholar
flagicon|Japan Sony magazines Inc.
publisher_other = flagicon|United States Tokyopop
flagicon|Germany Tokyopop
demographic = Seinen
magazine = flagicon|Japan Comic Birz
first = January 1997
last = 2003
volumes = 7Infobox animanga/OVA
title =
director = Gisaburō Sugii
studio = Madhouse Studios
episodes = 4
released = May 25 2003

nihongo|"Lament of the Lamb"|羊の歌、ひつじのうた|Hitsuji no Uta is a horror manga and OVA series about Kazuna, a boy who suffers from an illness that turns out to be vampirism. "Hitsuji no Uta" literally means "Song of the Sheep".

tory

The story centers on Kazuna, an "average high school student" who starts to lose control at the sight of blood, or even just a blood red colour (as seen in volume one when Yaegashi shows him a bottle of red paint). This problem is traced down to him being a vampire, like his lost sister, Chizuna, who he now turns to for help.

Kazuna lives with his "aunt" and "uncle" (both of whom are actually old friends of his father), after his mother died, and his father took Chizuna and left. Kazuna is friends with an aspiring artist named Yaegashi, who later learns about his condition. They both have feelings for each other at the beginning of the manga.

Kazuna and Chizuna's father had committed suicide six months before the start of the (manga) story and trying to understand his suicide is one of the central plot points of the story.

Anime and manga

Both the anime and the manga have strong incestuous undertones, and (in the manga) Kazuna admits to seeing Chizuna as more than a sister. In volume 4, Chizuna warns Yaegashi that she doesn't want Yaegashi to see Kazuna ever again. She tells Yaegashi that Takashiros, because of their disease, must withdraw and hide from the rest of humanity. Yaegashi wants to see Kazuna regardless of his condition, but later backs off after coming to terms with Kazuna's avoidance of her.

The anime ends with Chizuna dying (due to her weak condition), and Kazuna committing suicide after admitting that he doesn't want to live a life without Chizuna. However in the manga, he was saved but all of his memories of the past year (the entire series) are erased from his mind.

Main characters

Kazuna Takashiro - Chizuna's younger brother. Recently afflicted by a "vampiric" condition that is passed down through the Takashiro family. He has his mother's last name. At the first of the manga series, he admits to himself he's in love with Yaegashi, but later pushes her away after he has a dream in which he killed her for her blood. As Kazuna showly cuts ties with Yaegashi, he begins to fall in love with his sister. The two even kiss (once in the anime, twice in the manga). For his disease Chizuna gives him two bottles, one of a serum that gives her some relief, and one for suicide, if it becomes too much. At the end, with Chizuna near death, he declares that he will take the suicide medicine, because he can't think of living on after she dies. Later both are shown unconscious on the floor of Chizuna's bedroom. In the anime he dies. In the manga, in the next chapter he is shown in the hospital, with no memory of what has happened in the past year. According to Chizuna, he looks like their father.

Chizuna Takashiro - Kazuna's elder sister by two years. She has had the blood-craving disease since early childhood. She also has heart problems. She has two moles below her left eye. "A child with a mole in the path of their tears is destined to have a sorrowful life full of them." - Japanese proverb printed in vol 3. Besides the Takashiro disease she also has heart problems, and the serum she takes to control the Takashiro disease seems to damage her heart and general health. Chizuna admits to having had a strange relationship with her father after her mother's death. By the way she speaks about their relationship, many have come to believe their relationship went beyond that of merely father/daughter. She seems to be using her brother as a replacement for his father, much like father had done with her, as a replacement for his wife. In a dream, Chizuna remembers her mother tried to kill her because she wanted to help Chizuna avoid a life filled with pain and suffering, but was killed by Chizuna. Shizuna constantly told Chizuna lies about her mother's death, to the point that she remembered nothing of it until her dream. Chizuna looks like her mother and dies at the end of both the manga and anime.

You Yaegashi - A member of the art club at Kazuna's school and has a crush on Kazuna. She cuts her own hair, and her best friend's name is Emi. She also rarely smiles, making Kazuna happy when she gives him a genuine one during the first volume. She's willing to put herself in danger to be by his side, and even though Kazuna tells her he doesn't like her (in order to protect her) she sees right through his lie. She even offers him her own blood on one occasion, but he turns her away, fearing he'd kill her. She's a very good artist, and in the first manga volume starts a large sketch of Kazuna, who was modeling for her.

Shin and Natsuko Eda - Kazuna's foster parents. They care deeply for Kazuna and have offered to adopt him. During the course of the story they try to understand and cope, and to help Kazuna cope, with the events that happen. Aunt Natsuko is featured more prominently in the story than Shin, and makes it very clear she wants Kazuna to think of her as his mother. When Kazuna asks Shin about his father, Shizuna, Shin lies about his death. Although Natsuko tries, she doesn't seem to be a very good cook, even still, Kazuna eats all the food she prepares for him. She'll often leave his school lunch prepared for him on the table with a short note when she has to go to work early in the morning.

Doctor Minase - Chizuna's doctor. A close friend of the Takashiro family since she was a small child. He has a scar that extends from his left eye orbit downward, caused by a bloody wound inflicted by Chizuna years ago. He has been in love and devoted to her for a long time but his affections have not been reciprocated. He's looking for a cure to the Takashiro"curse". He believes Chizuna was nothing but her mother's replacement in her father's eyes, and seems to be a bit jealous of Kazuna's new found relationship with the woman he loves, though he states in the second volume he's happy Kazuna is around, for it gives Chizuna a reason to keep living.

Doctor Shizuna Takashiro - Chizuna and Kazuna's father. His original family name was "Ishikura", hence he is a Takashiro by marriage rather than blood and did not inherit the disease. He spent years trying to find a way to cure the Takashiro disease (which affected and killed his wife), and committed suicide the year before Chizuna reunited with Kazuna. His relationship with his daughter is questionable. He often cut himself so Chizuna could drink his blood. As a result of this action, his arms quickly became littered in scars. Chizuna believe that her strong resemblance to her mother kept her father from going insane after his wife died.

Mrs. Ishikura - Chizuna and Kazuna's paternal grandmother. She appears during a flashback of Chizuna's in the second manga volume. She begs her son Shizuna to take Kazuna somewhere safe because he seems to have not contracted the disease from his mother like Chizuna. The flashback takes place soon after her daughter-in-law's death. The last we see of her is when Shizuna asks his mother not to visit him or his children again.

References

*cite web
url = http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3115
title = Lament of the Lamb (manga)
publisher = Anime News Network
language = English
accessdate = 2006-06-07
*cite web
url = http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=3066
title = Hitsuji no Uta (OAV)
publisher = Anime News Network
language = English
accessdate = 2006-06-07

External links

* [http://www.tokyopop.com/S-1258/ Tokyopop's page for the manga]