Asura

is a 2012 Japanese anime film directed by Keiichi Sato and based on a manga of the same name by George Akiyama. The dark drama of Asura follows the struggles of a child who resorts to cannibalism and murders to survive during a terrible famine that ravaged medieval Japan who is abandoned by his starving and impoverished mother. Asura tied for the Audience Award for Best Animated Feature at the 16th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. Plot In mid 15th-century Japan, flood, drought and famine transformed the landscape of Kyoto into a barren wasteland. More than 80,000 people perished between 1459 and 1461. This desolate state serves as the backdrop to the beginning of the country's greatest civil war. In this era, a boy is born to a starving and impoverished woman who abandons him. Eight years later, the boy has practically become a cannibalistic beast and wanders the countryside surviving in the wild with an axe which he uses to butcher his human preys with. He attacks a Buddhist monk, but the monk easily defends himself. The monk provides temporary food and shelter, and names the boy Asura. He teaches Asura a Buddhist chant hoping one day he would understand it. After a while, he leaves the boy on the side of the road and continues his travels. Meanwhile, a man named Shichiro with four boys carry a huge log to their village. Asura attacks the group but is repelled by Shichiro. He follows them as they attempt to pass through a village where they are stopped by a group of boys demanding payment. The village boys throw rocks at them and when Asura is also hit, he angrily attacks and kills the leader. Later, the dead boy's father, Jito, chases Asura who falls off a cliff onto a pile of corpses. Asura is taken in by Wakasa, a girl from the village who gives him shelter and food in an abandoned hut. She returns regularly to bring him food and teach him how to speak. He becomes extremely attached to her, often secretly following her into the village. One rainy night, as Asura waits for Wakasa outside, he sees her meet Shichiro and together they discuss leaving the village. In a fit of rage born of jealousy, Asura attacks Shichiro with his axe. Horrified by Asura's actions, Wakasa demands that he leave. Once again the boy is forced to wander alone. Shortly after his departure, the village is destroyed by a huge mudslide. The monk witnesses the death and destruction in the village and again stumbles upon Asura.