Anime: Hashire Melos (1992) w3o2p

A really good story about "trust" as main theme. Description-wise it should have also been about friendship but I couldn't see much of a development which could have turned into friendship - especially that quickly.

Other than the few holes in the story it was told really good. The animation was good and the design of the landscape and the characters was great. I liked that the characters almost looked like real people - not so super-slim and perfect as you expect them from most anime.

Also it has some characters from history/legends such as the tyrant Dionysios II and there is even talk of Damokles e.g. All in all it was so interesting that I had to refresh my knowledge of them and am even considering to read Schiller's ballad or Dazai's story.

P.S. Now I've done it and read the short story by Dazai. And the story of the anime is really very different to the short story itself. Some parts are about the same but most of them differ. Still it's a good retelling of the story.