Kurozuka (novel)

Kurozuka
Cover of the novel
黒塚
Genre	Romance, Action, Supernatural, Sci-fi
Novel
Written by	Baku Yumemakura
Published by	Shueisha
Published	August 25, 2000
Manga
Written by	Baku Yumemakura
Illustrated by	Takashi Noguchi
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Oh Super Jump
Original run	2002 – 2006
Volumes	10
Anime television series
Directed by	Tetsuro Araki
Written by	Tetsuro Araki
Music by	Kiyoshi Yoshida
Studio	Madhouse
Original network	Animax, BS11
Original run	October 7, 2008 – December 23, 2008
Episodes	12

Kurozuka (黒塚^?, lit. "Black Tomb") is a Japanese novel written by Baku Yumemakura. A manga adaptation was illustrated by and it was serialized in the seinen manga magazine Oh Super Jump starting in 2003 by Shueisha and ended in December 2006. An anime adaptation by Madhouse was announced by Japanese anime television network Animax in May 2008 and ran between October and December 2008, spanning a total of 12 episodes.

The series begins in 12th century Japan and centers on Kuro, a character based loosely on the legendary Japanese swordsman Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Kuro and his servant, Benkei, meet a beautiful and mysterious woman named Kuromitsu while on the run from Kuro's elder brother, who seeks his life. Kuromitsu and Kuro fall in love, but he soon discovers that she harbors a terrible secret: she is a vampiric immortal. Following an attack by his pursuers, Kuro is badly injured and must imbibe Kuromitsu's blood to save his own life. Kuro is then betrayed and attacked by Benkei, who has been subverted by a shadowy organization called the Red Army, and Kuro's head is severed, which interferes with his transformation into a fully immortal being.

Kuro loses consciousness and wakes up centuries later in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian Japan with his memories of the past century missing. The surviving citizens have fallen under constant oppression by the Red Army, and Kuro is quickly found and recruited by an underground revolutionary movement called Haniwa. The remaining episodes follow Kuro's fight with the Red Army and its host of elite warriors, who have been hunting Kuromitsu for her blood, believing it contains the secret to eternal life; focusing on Kuro's quest to find his inexplicably lost love.