Eko Eko Azarak

A horror series whose main character is Kuroi Misa, a teenage girl with supernatural powers, who fights the type of enemies that leave lots of corpses in their wake. The series began as a manga created by Koga Shinichi in the late 1970's, running in Shonen Champion. It led to several live action films and TV series in Japan starting in the 1990's. The only animated adaptation was the 2007 OAV.

The title of the series itself is a reference to a Wiccan chant; Misa uses one of the versions of the chant when spellcasting.

The various adaptations include the following. Only the first three films and the 2011 version were released in the USA:

• Eko Eko Ezarak 1 (Wizard of Darkness) (1996): Uses the Ten Little Murder Victims plot with Misa trapped in a school.
• Eko Eko Ezarak 2 (Birth of the Wizard) (1997): Origin story.
• Eko Eko Ezarak (TV series, two 13 episode runs in 1997 and 1997-1998). Slowly being fansubbed.
• Eko Eko Ezarak 3 (Misa the Dark Angel) (1998): Actually the first one to get a release in the USA. Spun off the TV series.
• Eko Eko Azarak (2001 direct to video): A reboot which departed from the original premise of the series and served as another origin story, sort of a combination of Eko Eko Ezarak and Carrie. Bootlegged but with no official English release.
• Eko Eko Ezarak ~eye~ (TV series, 13 episodes, 2004)
• Eko Eko Azarak R-Page and B-Page (2006)
• Eko Eko Azarak OAV (2007)
• Eko Eko Azarak: The First Episode of Misa Kuroi (2011 direct to video), directed by the manga creator

Tropes used in Eko Eko Azarak include:

• Action Girl
• Become a Real Girl: The motive of the homunculus in movie 3.
• Bullying a Dragon: Misa is bullied in movie 4 because of the belief that she is responsible for having caused six bloody murders in the forest.
• Came Back Wrong: Damaged Soul version, for Kirie in movie 2.
• Coitus Ensues: The gratuitous lesbian scene in the first movie.
• Dark Is Not Evil
• Executive Meddling: To add the lesbian sex scene.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Misa has a tendency to be blamed for whatever supernatural occurrence she is there to stop.
• Lighter and Softer: Misa is more of a normal person in the films/show. The manga depicts her as a force of vengeance.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Varies; can be seen in the first and fourth movies especially.
• Meaningful Name: Kuroi Misa's name is a variation on the Japanese for "Black Mass". This is lampshaded once in the series itself.
• Technology Marches On: Real-life version. Misa the Dark Angel was released letterboxed in a 4:3 screen with the picture moved up to make room for the subtitles. This was fine... until widescreen TVs became common.
• Ten Little Murder Victims
• Too Dumb to Live: Students in the first movie who tend to go off on their own so they can get killed.
• Witch Species: The variation where only some people have lots of potential, but study helps as well.