The Hakkenden is an anime adaptation of a Japanese 
medieval classic that runs some 108 volumes (I 
think -- in any case it's insanely huge).  It's 
the story of a troubled pair of warring clans.  
The main characters are these men who are related 
(on a spiritual level) to one of the families -- 
they're cursed.   And boy do they live awful 
lives.  The series art wanders from absolutely 
stunning (as shown ^-^) to "who does Butthead play 
this week on the Hakkenden" poor.  (I'm not 
kidding, at one point I could only recognize the 
characters by the clothing.)  I liked the series 
as a whole (the truly ugly episode aside) and the 
music was lovely.  They just released it on DVD 
and I'll probably buy it.  Anybody with any 
Genpachi cels, I'd be very interested in them!