I finally finished watching "Mononoke"... and I actually want more!
Last time, I talked about an anime which was a collection of Japanese horror stories. The final chapter of that anime (Ayakashi) was about a medicine seller and he's just so cool and mysterious. Luckily, the sequel of that anime was also released and it focused mainly on that character. It's called MONONOKE.
First things first, let's define some words that may appear on this post for easier understanding.
Yokai - is the collective term for ghosts, demons, monsters and other supernatural beings.
Ayakashi - is the collective name for yokai that appear above the surface of a body of water
Mononoke - are vengeful spirits in Japanese classical literature and folk religion that were said to do things like possess individuals to make them suffer and even cause death.
Basically, Mononoke are Ayakashi that turned evil since they're bound by negative emotions.
In the anime, the Medicine Seller (Kusuriuri) traveled around feudal Japan to search for malevolent spirits called mononoke to slay using his powerful exorcism sword.
However, he cannot just simply cut them as the sword cannot be unsheathed unless Kusuriuri learns the mononoke's form, truth and reason. Once all these three are known to Kusuriuri, he's able to finally try to defeat and get rid of the heinous mononoke.
And just like its prequel, this anime is a collection of five different stories. Let me tell you a bit about each story.
It's about a pregnant woman named Shino who is desperately looking for a place to sleep... and to protect herself and her child-to-be from the assassin who's following them.
It's about a merchant's luxurious ship which drifted into the Dragon's Triangle -- a mysterious part of the sea full of ayakashi.
It's about a beautiful woman named Ochou who's wishing for freedom but is stuck in oppression. She confessed to killing her husband and his entire family.
It's about three men who are seeking to marry the heir to the Fuenokouji school of incense, Lady Ruri. They have to participate in a competition of incense to fulfill their dream of marrying her.
Unlike the other stories, this happened around Meiji or Taisho era (maybe). It's about a female ghost which trapped six passengers inside the first car of a train.
All the stories were interesting, but I personally like the last two stories the best.
Both Nue and Noppera-bo have interesting plot twists... however, the characters in Nue are more amusing. Bakeneko was also the title of the final chapter in Ayakashi featuring Kusuriui, but the settings are different.
When I watched Mononoke's "Bakeneko", I thought it was situated during the Showa era in Japan because of the fashion style, but after searching online, it was said to be around Meiji or Taisho era (1900-1920- ish). It's quite refreshing because all the other stories were from Edo era, so it's nice to see something different.
I love the series, but I'm dying to know more about Kusuriuri. He's so mysterious that even his name was never revealed. His appearance was the same no matter the era, so I really want to know more about him.
In addition, as I've mentioned in my post in Ayakashi, the art style used is ukiyo-e style... they still used the sliding door transition in most cases. It's really unique!
It's colorful... but there are scenes in both Noppera-bo and Nue where they used black and white and just emphasized a character's color in certain situations. It's such a wise and artistic style of animation!
I must say, Mononoke is among the best and has the most artistic style horror anime I've watched. This made me even more interested in Japanese yokai and folktales.
Lastly, the ending song was soooo good! Let me leave it below.
VIDEO SOURCE
Thanks for reading and I hope you give this anime a shot! <3 See you around!
