Lament of the Lamb

Lament of the Lamb
Cover from volume 1 of the English release of Lament of the Lamb
羊のうた (Hitsuji no Uta)
Manga
Written by	Kei Toume
Published by	Gentosha
English publisher	NA: Tokyopop
Magazine	Comic Birz
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	November 25, 1995 – September 30, 2002
Volumes	7
Original video animation
Directed by	Gisaburō Sugii
Written by	Gisaburō Sugii
Music by	Ken Miyazawa
Studio	Madhouse
Released	May 25, 2003 – February 25, 2004
Runtime	30 minutes per episode
Episodes	4

Lament of the Lamb (Japanese: 羊の歌、ひつじのうた, Hepburn: Hitsuji no Uta, lit. "Song of the Sheep"), alternatively titled The Lament of a Lamb or Sheep's Song, is a Japanese horror manga series written and illustrated by Kei Toume. It follows Kazuna, a boy with a mysterious illness which turns out to be vampirism. It was adapted into a live action film in 2002 directed by Junji Hanado, a three-part Drama CD in 2002–03, and an anime OVA series in 2003–04.

The manga was licensed in North America by Tokyopop, and in Russia by Comics Factory.

Story

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 story.

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.

Main characters

• Kazuna Takashiro

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki

Played by: Shun Oguri

Younger brother to Chizuna by two years and has recently been afflicted with the Takashiro family blood disease, a vampiric and fatal condition. Kazuna had been abandoned by his father Shizuna just after the death of his mother Momoko to live with his father's friends, the Edas. His foster father, Shin, purposely withheld any updates about his father and sister because it was Shizuna's request to have Kazuna be brought up as normal as possible since, at the time, he had no visible symptoms of the vampiric condition, compared to his sister. At the start of the series, Kazuna is visibly in love with classmate and Art Club member Yaegashi, whom he would often pose for. However, since his condition became stronger, he is forced to abandon her to keep her safe from his strong thirst for blood. Since discovering his sister Chizuna, Kazuna decides to abandon school and leave his entire life behind to cope with the disease and support Chizuna, as she is the only other people who knows about their condition. Their stay together enforces their love for each other, perhaps beyond that of a normal relationship between siblings, while he learns about the family disease, how his father become entangled with it, and the future he will have with this blood disease. Towards the end of the series, Kazuna attempts to commit suicide with a lethal pill (given to him by Chizuna), but it fails and he suffers amnesia from it.

• Chizuna Takashiro

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara

Played by: Natsuki Kato

Kazuna's elder sister by two years. Chizuna has been afflicted with the family blood disease from a young age and was forced to separate from Kazuna when they were young. After abandoning Kazuna, she and her father move to Yokohama where he opened a clinic, specifically to care for her and research the Takashiro family disease. She formed a relationship with her father's protege, Minase, but the bond with her father was always stronger. Her relationship with her father is implied to be more than father and daughter, because she believes he is replacing her with his late wife. When Kazuna finds her by chance, Chizuna finds this opportunity to manipulate and alienate her brother from his entire life thus far as a way to replace her father, who had been her sole caretaker since the abandonment of her brother. Chizuna is traumatized by the death of her mother's so-called suicide and finds that it is the trigger for her bloodlust, but realizes that her father has kept the details of her mother's death and burial location from her. Towards the end of her life, she understands that Kazuna can still live a normal life and releases him back to Yaegashi. In the live-action movie, she disappears with Doctor Minase to let her brother live a normal life.

• You Yaegashi

Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino

Played by: Minami Hinase

A member of the Art Club at Kazuna's school and Kazuna's love interest. Yaegashi is often seen as reserved and likes to paint alone in the club, using Kazuna as her focus. Just before developing feelings for Kazuna, she is left in the dark about his sudden illness and did not cope well when he decides to abandon school and his life altogether. When she coincidentally meets him in public, he is forced to reveal his blood disease to her and is later told off by Chizuna to leave him alone. Yaegashi always longed for Kazuna and finds she cannot easily let him go. On multiple occasions, she would declare her resolve to be by his side or support him through his condition, but has been rejected each time. Her perseverance allows Kazuna to see that she is loving, endearing, and loyal and, since she is his trigger, he drinks from her once. Kazuna's suicide attempt to be with his sister in the afterlife gives Yaegashi another chance to properly develop their relationship with his amnesia.

• Shin and Natsuko Eda

Kazuna's foster parents and good friends of his father Shizuna. Shin and Natsuko are deeply loving foster parents to Kazuna and they have expressed a strong desire to adopt him in the hopes that he would stop longing for his father and sister. Though they are regularly updated about Shizuna's living situation with Chizuna, they are forbidden to reveal these facts to Kazuna so that he could continue to live a normal life. In turn, Kazuna keeps hidden about the facts of his recent condition and having met his sister to cope with the disease. Natsuko, the more prominent parent, often attempts to get in touch with their foster son as soon as he moved out to live with his sister for the summer duration with no hopes of his return. Despite this, she and Shin go to lengths to protect the Takashiro children, offering to adopt them both so that they can have a legal guardian and financial means.

Main characters

• Kazuna Takashiro

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki

Played by: Shun Oguri

Younger brother to Chizuna by two years and has recently been afflicted with the Takashiro family blood disease, a vampiric and fatal condition. Kazuna had been abandoned by his father Shizuna just after the death of his mother Momoko to live with his father's friends, the Edas. His foster father, Shin, purposely withheld any updates about his father and sister because it was Shizuna's request to have Kazuna be brought up as normal as possible since, at the time, he had no visible symptoms of the vampiric condition, compared to his sister. At the start of the series, Kazuna is visibly in love with classmate and Art Club member Yaegashi, whom he would often pose for. However, since his condition became stronger, he is forced to abandon her to keep her safe from his strong thirst for blood. Since discovering his sister Chizuna, Kazuna decides to abandon school and leave his entire life behind to cope with the disease and support Chizuna, as she is the only other people who knows about their condition. Their stay together enforces their love for each other, perhaps beyond that of a normal relationship between siblings, while he learns about the family disease, how his father become entangled with it, and the future he will have with this blood disease. Towards the end of the series, Kazuna attempts to commit suicide with a lethal pill (given to him by Chizuna), but it fails and he suffers amnesia from it.

• Chizuna Takashiro

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara

Played by: Natsuki Kato

Kazuna's elder sister by two years. Chizuna has been afflicted with the family blood disease from a young age and was forced to separate from Kazuna when they were young. After abandoning Kazuna, she and her father move to Yokohama where he opened a clinic, specifically to care for her and research the Takashiro family disease. She formed a relationship with her father's protege, Minase, but the bond with her father was always stronger. Her relationship with her father is implied to be more than father and daughter, because she believes he is replacing her with his late wife. When Kazuna finds her by chance, Chizuna finds this opportunity to manipulate and alienate her brother from his entire life thus far as a way to replace her father, who had been her sole caretaker since the abandonment of her brother. Chizuna is traumatized by the death of her mother's so-called suicide and finds that it is the trigger for her bloodlust, but realizes that her father has kept the details of her mother's death and burial location from her. Towards the end of her life, she understands that Kazuna can still live a normal life and releases him back to Yaegashi. Chizuna had always hoped that the Takashiro blood disease would die with her. In the live-action movie, she disappears with Doctor Minase to let her brother live a normal life.

• You Yaegashi

Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino

Played by: Minami Hinase

A member of the Art Club at Kazuna's school and Kazuna's love interest. Yaegashi is often seen as reserved and likes to paint alone in the club, using Kazuna as her focus. Just before developing feelings for Kazuna, she is left in the dark about his sudden illness and did not cope well when he decides to abandon school and his life altogether. When she coincidentally meets him in public, he is forced to reveal his blood disease to her and is later told off by Chizuna to leave him alone. Yaegashi always longed for Kazuna and finds she cannot easily let him go. On multiple occasions, she would declare her resolve to be by his side or support him through his condition, but has been rejected each time. Her perseverance allows Kazuna to see that she is loving, endearing, and loyal and, since she is his trigger, he drinks from her once. Kazuna's failed suicide attempt to be with his sister in the afterlife gives Yaegashi another chance to properly develop their relationship with his amnesia.

• Shin and Natsuko Eda

Kazuna's foster parents and good friends of his father Shizuna. Shin and Natsuko are deeply loving foster parents to Kazuna and they have expressed a strong desire to adopt him in the hopes that he would stop longing for his father and sister. Though they are regularly updated about Shizuna's living situation with Chizuna, they are forbidden to reveal these facts to Kazuna so that he could continue to live a normal life. In turn, Kazuna keeps hidden about the facts of his recent condition and having met his sister to cope with the disease. Natsuko, the more prominent parent, often attempts to get in touch with their foster son as soon as he moved out to live with his sister for the summer duration with no hopes of his return. Despite this, she and Shin go to lengths to protect the Takashiro children, offering to adopt them both so that they can have a legal guardian and financial means.

• Doctor Minase

Chizuna's doctor and Shizuna's protege. Minase is dedicated to Shizuna's work in treating Chizuna regarding her vampiric disease because, from when she was 7, he had fallen for her charisma and charm. Time and time again, he has made it clear to her that he is romantically interested in her but eventually must face the fact that she will not reciprocate his feelings since she has Kazuna in her life. With Kazuna in their lives, Minase expends his expertise to accommodate him as well, but always makes her a priority as he strongly feels her death is near. Minase has her regularly visit the hospital he works at, a condition that her late father did not approve for fear that she will be a test subject. He also gives her an illegally obtained medication that he concocted to help ease her urges, for which she had given to Kazuna as well, but this medication is slowly killing her. Minase often acts as the voice of reason to the Takashiro siblings and even to Yaegashi, who refuses to let Kazuna go. Though devastated when Chizuna dies, he has long since expected this.

• 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. Shizuna willingly married his wife Momoko, quite aware of her condition despite the strong disapproval of her his mother and being disowned by his father. Only with the pleading of his mother was he forced to leave him to his friends, the Edas. Upon the death of his wife, he takes Chizuna to live a life in Yokohama where he continues to provide for her and find a cure, even opening a small clinic for the purpose of caring for her. It is speculated among family and friends that his relationship with his daughter is quite abnormal because, according to Chizuna and Minase, he was using his daughter as a crutch to live on without his wife. There is much secrecy to his life and decisions that even Chizuna and Minase did not know about because he had taken them with him when he committed suicide. It is only towards the end of Chizuna's life did his secrets are revealed.

• Mrs. Ishikura

Chizuna and Kazuna's paternal grandmother and Shizuna's mother. Shown mostly in flashbacks, she successfully pleads with Shizuna to give up his son in order to allow him to have a normal life even though she is enraged that he married Momoko. When Shizuna committed suicide (via lethal dose), she did not allow him to be buried with the Takashiro burial site and she is last known to have visited her son's grave daily.

• Shinobu Kazami

A manga-only character. The last nurse employed by Dr. Takashiro at his clinic. She was let go when Shizuna shuts down his clinic a week before he committed suicide. A year later when she is to return home, she learned that he had committed suicide. Deeply troubled by his suicide, she investigates into his suicide and his connection with the Takashiro, intruding upon family and friends who have had connections with the Takashiro siblings. This led to a confrontation with Chizuna who insists that she end her investigation.

External links

• Tokyopop's page for the manga
• Lament of the Lamb (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia