Sarai-ya Goyou/ House of Five Leaves/ さらい屋 五葉

Year:2010
Episodes: 12 episodes
Plot: The story starts with moments from the past , a Japanese noble house without children adopts a little boy after they get their own child the family wants to get rid of their foster child . The scene changes to latter events a ronin Akitsu Masanosuke looses his job as a bodyguard , he is a very skilled samurai but he is to kind and shy , he doesn’t look very scary or confident so he can’t find a decent job. One day Akitsu  meets a strange man Yaichi , he is very impressed by the confident and careless look of this man . Yaichi asks Akitsu to join his group “ Five Leaves house “ as a bodyguard . Yaichi is a cleaver man and see that behind this shy man apparence hides a very skilled swordsman . At start Akitsu doesn’t want to enter in this dubious gang and work in different dubious affairs , mostly kidnapping ans asking ransome from rich and corrupted politicians , but in time he agrees and even befriends with Yaichi .

 This anime has a less cheerful drawing style , it is more simple and original in a way , it has a strange warm atmosphere , relaxing ,  like a never ending  golden autumn.

Main Characters : 

Akitsu Mananosuke – a melancholic samurai without a job that get’s involved in a thief gang called “ Five Leaves “ . Because of his nature he can’t find a job or make friends , he is lonely and poor , his looks don’t correspond with his job description and people can’t see at first sight how truly he is . Akitsu enters in the Five leaves gand mostly because he admires the leader Yaichi and his free and strong personality , but also he wants to gain a friend in this mysterious man , he is looking in Yaichi for something that he is missing in his own personality.

Yaichi / House of Five Leaves

Yaichi  - mysterious leader of “ Five leaves” , he hides his past , even so from the flashbacks we can figure out that in the past he was the adopted child in a rich family , he been disposed when he became useless . Yaichi seems carefee  and always confident but there is a feeling that he sees himself in Akitsu , the child that believed in his teacher and failed . Sometimes he can be even cruel and merciless but even so he has a soft spot that he tries to hide as he hides his past . He is very loved by women and he is very generous with them.

Matsukichi – a rober that works for Five leaves , he once been saved by Yaichi and feels very grateful for this . Matsukichi works as a pipe an hair pin maker as his undercover , he spy in different rich spoiled house for their future missions , he is clever and sneaky .

Otake  - is a beautiful women with a dark past  , she is a geisha that once been bought out by Yaichi , now she works for “Five leaves” . She usually walks around collecting leaves for their ransome letters .

Umezou – he is the owner of a tavern and another member of the Five leaves , he has a lovely daughter and is in love with Otake . He has a very brute character but a big heart . He doesn’t trust much Yaichi and thinks Akitsu is to soft hearted and naïve .