I watched this anime recently and was pleasantly surprised. First thing noticed was the animation quality itself, which was a LOT better than in some of the animes I've seen (10/10). The music was also really nice (especially the opening theme, "Scarlet")-- well, maybe except "Cross My Heart" (8/10).The characters were mostly well developed - from lonely Toya to ruthless Kagami to compassionate Yuhi. The only slightly annoying thing was Aya's tendency to go over-emotional... Overall I'd give character design a 9/10. But the best thing was, of course, the storyline itself, which was impressively well developed. Although tragic and cruel, it shows how important it is to love and be loved, to feel compassion and to have a family. Perhaps the only drawback to it was that in the first few series, Toya and Aya's relationship got sort of rushed. Although after watching the anime "X", which pretty much had no storyline at all to it, I feel obliged to rate the story of "Ayashi no Ceres" as 10/10. Beware! "Ayashi no Ceres" contains many very cruel and nasty scenes which are NOT suitable for children.

I originally started this series by reading the manga (japanese graphic novels), which were written by he very talented Yuu Watase. Now, as I said before, this story might not appeal to everyone, but I throughly enjoyed it. When I first watched it, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at how they seemed to skip around in the story. Most of the beginning is the same, but it order to shorten it, they combined a few scenes. Even so, most of the details are covered.As a music fan, I must comment on the soundtrack, which is fantastic, to say the least. Each song is different, and none are better than the rest. The music is also something that really brings the story to life.I can't speak on the voices, since I haven't watched the dubbed version.Animation: I have seen much better animation than this, but I have also seen worse. There are times when characters will become deformed, which I feel that they do not only to lighten the mood but also to make drawing it easier, but I was upset at the lack of super-deformed chibis, which were abundent in the comics.Even so, I have to give this series a 4.5 out of 5 rating. Because it was a good anime all things considered.

I admit the plot caught my attention, and it started off well, but as the story goes on the series seems to drag at an incredibly slow speed. The images are very graphic and gory. Knowing it is an occult series, I'm still surprised at the vulgarity displayed.

One day after I finished watching this anime, I really think it's worth being praised. The story is about a girl who is the descendant of a Tennyo (a heavenly creature) and turns 16 years old. From that age on, the Tennyo (Ceres) can fully take control of her body. In that way, she can accomplish her task, which is to retrieve her hogoromo, the only way to get back to heaven. The sad thing is that the one who stole the hogoromo is her twin brother who is the vessel of the man who stole it in the first place. Therefore, he is in grave danger and their family tries to eliminate the girl (Aya) to save the boy (Aki) as they always did throughout the centuries to save the male vessels and the family as a whole. Many people get involved into this, all having different motives, like Touya, a mysterious man with no memory and Yuuhi a boy who wants to protect Aya.The series are really violent, the animation is very good, the music is superb! (I didn't like the second ending theme, though) And the characters are really well developed. Yes, I truly liked this one. I explain why in the text that follows...(SPOILERS FOLLOW) (SPOILERS FOLLOW) (SPOILERS FOLLOW)The series managed to keep my full attention, throughout all of the 24 episodes. There was some good ideas in them, like the love triangle between Aya, Touya and Yuuhi. The effort to create a new, better race of humans (like in Neon genesis Evangelion) and themes about human relations. Even though most of the people thought that the themes were too much, I must disagree. Well, ok. Maybe they were too many. But even so, I don't think that they over-did it and the result was not just a confusing series. The human relationships theme was really accurate, and I really think that this is a triumph of the author of the series (Yuu Watase). I think that she (She is a woman, I think) captivated all the anxiety, fears and thoughts that the characters experience very efficiently, and sincere. Which brings us to the romance of the series...I think that the love triangle, was rather successful. This was definitely helped by the fact that the author is a woman, and the romance of the series depicts that. Aya's thoughts were very well portrayed. The pain she was feeling, the confusion in having to choose one of the two rivals, the weakness when it comes to matters of the heart... I didn't like the way the love triangle ended. I didn't also like like the way that Yuuhi faded from the plot after episode 14. This is probably because I had probably a hard time in relating to the deadly-mysterious-Touya in opposition to the always-good-Yuuhi, but actually this is life! And I think that because all of the characters had something to be ashamed of (Ceres, Aya, Touya etc.) this is why the only one you can really be fond to is Yuuhi. And the fact that you cannot attach to the characters is, in my opinion, the greatest weakness of the series, even though I approve the way it was finally delivered. As for the ending... Well I think that it was really realistic, the way it was done.To sum up, this is one of the best, and most complete anime I have ever seen... A true gem.