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A historical novel series by Hiroshi Aramata, Teito Monogatari has inspired several live-action movies (the original one, its sequel, and threee spin-off ones) and an OAV. Its anime adaptation is known as Doomed Megalopolis in the US.
It gives a supernatural twist to the history of Edo, beginning with its founding in the tenth century. Upon his death, the samurai Taira no Masakado cursed the new city and its inhabitants. Over the course of the next thousand years, numerous generations of characters from the Tsuchimikado family come face to face with Yasunori Kato, an immortal villain out to harness Masakado's spirit to destroy the city. The better known parts of the story happen in the Tokyo of the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras, following the stories of three women who are targeted by Kato for their mystical powers and for being Masakado's descendants: a young woman named Yukari Tatsumiya, her daughter Yukiko, and the priestess/Yukari's-sister-in-law Keiko Mekata.
Tropes used in Teito Monogatari include:
- Abusive Parents - Archnemesis Dad: Yasunori Kato forcibly impregnated Yukari Tatsumiya with magic, so he's this to his Child by Rape Yukiko in all versions. Subverted - her actual father is Yoichirou, but back then Katou did think Yukiko was his child.
- Badass: Yasunori Kato
- Barrier Maiden: Yukari Tatsumiya, a girl who's a descendant of Taira no Masakado and possesses quite the Psychic Powers. Later, her daughter Yukiko
- Big Bad: Yasunori Kato
- Break the Cutie: Yukari. Holy shit, YUKARI. The whole first OAV and the first part of the second one are one long, horrifying BtC process for her, and she spends the rest as a mix of The Ophelia and Empty Shell.
- Poor Yukiko also goes through quite the trauma. Not only she's harassed, kidnapped and near sacrificed by Kato, but she did realize that she's the "product" of Yoichirou's rape of Yukari and it weighs heavily on her. And while she seems to have a somewhat happy ending in the OAV, the novels annd live-action movie have more cutie breaking in store for her.
- Brother-Sister Incest: Yukari and Yoichirou. It was more or less consensual in the novels, but NOT in the anime
- Child by Rape: Yukari's daughter, Yukiko, was born from the sort-of "mystical pregnancy" that Yasunori Kato forced on her then-teenaged mother when he raped her with a spell. Not really. Her birth father is her uncle Yoichirou; in the OAV raped poor Yukari few after the incident. (Their relationship was consensual in the original novels) It even gets lampshaded during a talk between Yoichirou and Narutaki (who, ironically, doesn't the truth yet), and later when Yoichirou tries to strangle poor Yukiko, who eventually realised the truth, and she directly asks him why he tries to kill her and her mother, leading to an horrified Narutaki angrily attacking Youichirou.
- Comic Book Fantasy Casting: One perk of the books is that many JPN historical characters plays an important role in the story.
- Colony Drop: Kato tries to do this in the last episode of the OVA with the moon.
- Creepy Child: Several of these show up in the second OAV, often trying to harass and attract Yukiko.
- Yukiko herself shows signs of this, but mostly when she's mind-controlled by Kato.
- Epic Movie: At the time, the first film was the most expensive Japanese film ever made, surpassing Ran.
- Fan Disservice: Yukari Tatsumiya is a beautiful girl who spends a good part of her OAV screentime in simple yukata robes that do nothing to conceal her rather curvy body. How she's subjected to possession, different degrees of Body Horror, rape, etc., while in said yukata (and she's clearly naked underneath) makes it less appealing than it would seem. Especially in the second OAV - it features an infamous scene where Kato suspends her mid-air, pushes her long legs open and rapes her via shoving up a spell inside her (there was no actual close up, but still), and later her large breasts are clearly seen when her own brother Yoichiro violates her when she's still reeling from Kato's assault.
- In the third OAV, Yukari's cute daughter Yukiko is seen fully nude. But not only she's no older than 13 or 14, she loses her clothes when she's about to become a Human Sacrifice and ends up temporarily subjected to quite a bit of Body Horror. And the guy putting her through that is her Archnemesis Dad Yasunori Kato. Or better said, the guy believed to be her dad.
- Fountain of Expies: Kato received many, up to and including M. Bison. A more blatant expy can be found in Raidou Kuzunoha.
- Historical Fiction: Imagines the history of Tokyo as influenced by the Supernatural. Also works in numerous historical persons into the plot.
- Hot Mom: Yukari, rather tragically.
- Humanoid Abomination: Yasunori Kato again!
- Imperial Japan: The action takes place in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa Eras. In fact, the Great Kanto Earthquake was caused by Yasunori Kato
- Parents as People: Especially in the OAV's: Yukari tries to take care of Yukiko as much she can and Yukiko loves her back, but her mental and emotional unstability hinders her capacity to properly raise her child; in fact, in the third OAV poor Yukari is at times so despondent, Yukiko ends up taking care of her. The fact that Kato once causes Yukari to try strangling Yukiko while possessed doesn't help.
- Psychic Powers: Yasunori Kato again!
- Mind Over Matter: More seen in the second move Teito Taisen
- Flight: Damn! He's a master of this!
- Mind Control: Some were controlled by him
- In a non-Kato example, Yukari can see the future in her sleep and channelize the spirits of the death. Yukiko inherits her powers and, in the live-action, also seems to be telekinetic.
- Mama Bear: Yukari only gets to really be this to Yukiko in the live-action. Her sister-in-law Keiko manages to play it straight to her and Yukiko in the OAV, however.
- Market-Based Title: While its OAV adaptation is known as Doomed Megalopolis in the US, its first live-action adaptation is called Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis.
- Miko: Keiko Mekata, later Tatsumiya. She explicitly married Yoichirou to get ready to fight Yasunori Kato, defeat him, and keep Yukari and Yukiko away from him.
- No Export for You: Despite both the OAV and first movie getting US releases, the books have not.
- Onmyodo: The whole first portion of the novel is the battle between two rival factions of Onmyoji. Only the Tsuchimikado family, the faction that serves the Emperor of Japan, is considered to be the official Onmyoji. In fact, the novels' success is widely considered the beginning of a resurgence of popular interest in onmyoji in Japanese media.
- The Ophelia: In Doom Megalopolis, Yukari has several traces of this and Cute Psycho. Yukiko mostly averts this, unless possessed by Kato.
- The Power of Love: How Keiko defeats Kato at the end of the OVA. Averted in the books and the first movie.
- Rape as Drama: Happens to the local Barrier Maiden, Yukari Tatsumiya. First, Yasunori Kato spreads her legs with telekinesis and then shoves a spell up inside her. Few later, she's raped again by her own brother Yoichirou.
- Really 700 Years Old: Yasunori Kato
- Sailor Fuku: In the third OAV, the middle school-aged Yukiko is seen wearing a blue one.
- Stalker with a Test Tube: Yasunori Kato, to the teenage Yukari.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Yukiko is a younger Yukari with short hair.
- Squick: The OVA is full of this: A big slug-like creature getting thrown up by Yukari, a nurse turning into a hideous bug monster, and rape being used as a plot point...
- Time Skip: The second OAV features one, which begins with the introduction of Yukari's daughter Yukiko.
- Troubled Production: Numerous accidents plagued the set of the first film.
- Unwilling Suspension: Happens to Yukari early in the anime, and later to Keiko.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Keiko, holy crap.