Hi no Tori

This anime focuses on the events that happen when people try to catpure and kill the Pheonix that flies around this one nation's volcano. There are many arcs, separate stories about contact with the pheonix. The first set of episodes are in medival-ish times.It focuses mainly on the life of Niga, a boy in the village who was taken by the people who destoyed his village. He was adopted by a soldier and trained by him to be strong and avenge his family.

The first episode occurs before the village is destroyed. Niga's sister is horribly sick. A man washes to shore that night, and he's a doctor. He heals her in exchange for his own life. He stays with them and acts as their doctor. He eventually becomes part of the village and marries the girl he saves. That night, the village is attacked. It turns out the doctor was a traitor, but not in the way it happened. Soldiers came from another village and killed the entire village when they were just supposed to kill the pheonix. It's blood brings eternal life. And the story continues, following Niga.

The art is weird in this anime. It's fairly new anime, but the art style is reminicent of the 1980's. The plot is pretty good, but I never managed to get past the art style. I watched a few episodes until I got bored. I didn't have the patience for it. But overall, it's not entirely horrible.