Mononoke (anime)
| Mononoke | |
|---|---|
| Original title | モ ノ ノ 怪 |
| genre | Horror, mystery |
| Anime television series | |
| Country of production |
 Japan
|
| original language | Japanese |
| year | 2007 |
| Studio | Toei animation |
| length | 23 minutes |
| Episodes | 12 |
| Director | Kenji Nakamura |
| music | Yasuharu Takanashi |
| First broadcast | July 12th - September 27th 2007 on Fuji TV ( noitamina ) |
| Manga | |
| country |
Japan
|
| author | Ninagawa Yaeko |
| publishing company | Square Enix |
| magazine | Young Gangan |
| First publication | August 2007 - August 2008 |
| expenditure | 2 |
Mononoke ( Jap. モノノ怪 ) is an anime - television series by Toei Animation was produced. It is a spin-off of the 2006 horror series Ayakashi and is about a wandering medicine seller who repeatedly encounters supernatural phenomena on his travels.
In 2007 and 2008, a manga adaptation of the Bakeneko story was also published as Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales by Ninagawa Yaeko in Young Gangan Comics magazine.
action
Mononoke follows a wandering, nameless character known only as the "medicine seller". The series consists of individual chapters in which the medicine salesman meets Mononoke , fights and then destroys. Mononoke here are unnatural spirits that have remained behind in the human world.
The medicine seller always proceeds in the same way. He puts his knowledge of the supernatural in order to ward off Mononoke until the form (形, Katachi ), truth (真, Makoto ) and basic (理, Kotowari ) can bring the Mononoke in experience. Only then can he drive out the mononoke with the help of his sword.
Zashiki-warashi
- Episodes: 1-2
While spending the night in a traditional inn, the medicine salesman comes across a strange phenomenon. A pregnant woman desperate for protection at the inn is housed in a secluded room on the top floor. There she is attacked by an assassin who is then killed in a mysterious and cruel way. The room where the pregnant Shino sleeps is haunted by a group of Zashiki Warashi . When the Zashiki Warashi move the assassin out of the way while trying to kill Shino in order to protect her and her unborn child, the medicine salesman begins researching the origin of the mononoke.
The landlady reveals that the inn used to be a brothel. The landlady forced the prostitutes to abort their children in order to continue working. Finally she left Shino's room empty as a sacrifice to the unborn children. The medicine seller realizes that the Shino mononokes are drawn to Shino by their strong desire to be born. The Zashiki Warashi want Shino to bring them into the world. Shino gives her consent, to the dismay of the medicine vendor, and removes the talisman holding the mononoke from her stomach. However, the Zashiki Warashi, who recognize Shino's love for their unborn child, that she is only physically able to bring their own child into the world, and disappear.
At the end of the episode, the medicine salesman seems to have saved Shino and her child, as she is shown with a fat belly lying on the floor unconscious. However, there is speculation that the final post-credits scene suggests that the child she will bear is actually the Mononoke who have taken the place of their own child.
Umibōzu
- Episodes: 3–5
The medicine seller and other passengers of a luxury merchant ship drift into the Dragon Triangle, a mysterious sea area full of Ayakashi. Among the passengers is also Kayo, the maid from the Sakai house, (Bakeneko story) and Genyōsai, a monk. Upon the appearance of Umizatō, an ayakashi who asks the passengers to reveal their greatest fears, the group discovers that it was Genkei who threw the ship off course. Genkei explains that the ayakashi were attracted by the hatred of his late sister Oyō and thus the dragon triangle was formed. Oyō had taken Genkei's place in a Utsuro-bune , a ship made from a hollow trunk that was given to the ayakashi in the sea as a sacrifice. But the medicine seller realizes that Genkei is more responsible for the ayakashi than the center of attraction. With his inability to accept that he was more pleased than guilty when his sister took his place, Genkei had allowed his dark feelings to separate from him and form a mononoke. At Genkei's request, the medicine seller destroys the mononoke and restores calm in the dragon triangle.
Noppera-bō
- Episodes: 6-7
A desperate woman named Ochō, who longs for freedom but cannot free herself from oppression, confesses to the murder of her husband's entire family. The medicine seller doubts her story and visits Ochō in her prison cell to ask her the truth. However, he meets a mononoke in a Nō mask, who attacks him and helps Ochō to escape. The man in the Nō mask convinces Ochō that he helped her to freedom by killing her family. But the medicine seller pursues the two and explains to Ochō that she did not kill her husband's family, but herself.
At the request of her mother, Ochō married into a wealthy family. However, to please her mother, she endured the abuse of her new family to the point where she could no longer find joy in her life. When Ochō realizes this, the man in the Nō mask disappears and she finds herself in her kitchen. It is implied that the man in the Nō mask was an illusion created by the medicine seller to free Ochō. At the end of the episode, Ochō ignores her husband's orders, leaves the family, and thus receives the freedom she has longed for.
Nue
- Episodes: 8–9
Three men want to ask for the hand of Ruri Hime, the only heiress of the Kōdō school, in which the incense ceremony is learned. They gather for a competition at Ruri Hime's estate, but discover that a fourth suitor has been announced missing. This will be replaced by the medicine seller. Ruri Hime is killed during the competition. The medicine seller investigates why the three men are so desperate to inherit the school even after Ruri Hime's death. They explain that the competition is not actually about the Kōdō school, but rather the Tōdaiji, a piece of wood that should give its owner great power.
Although the medicine seller continues the competition in Ruri Hime's place, none of the admirers wins the Tōdaiji because they are all killed. The medicine seller then asks the Tōdaiji, a mononoke, to show itself. The Tōdaiji has developed a strong self-confidence as it is revered by many, but is actually nothing more than a decaying piece of wood. It kills those who want to get it, including the admirers of Ruri Hime. The medicine seller destroys the Tōdaiji, thereby appeasing the souls of his victims.
Bakeneko
- Episodes: 10-12
At a time decidedly later than the previous stories - it is implied that it is the 1920s - the medicine seller boarded a train with other passengers. Unfortunately, the train catches a ghost girl on the rails, causing six passengers and the medicine vendor to be trapped in the first car. By asking the passengers questions, the medicine seller reveals the dark connection that exists between them and sheds light on the murder of a young reporter.
Production and publication
Mononoke comprises 12 episodes and was broadcast from July 12, 2007 to September 27, 2007 on the Japanese television channel Fuji TV in the program block noitaminA . The anime was produced by Toei Animation . The director was Kenji Nakamura, who was responsible for directing the Bakeneko story in Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales , in which the medicine seller appears for the first time. The character design for Mononoke was created by Takashi Hashimoto, the artistic directors were Takashi Kurahashi and Yumi Hosaka.
synchronization
| role | chapter | Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine seller | Takahiro Sakurai | |
| Shino | Zashiki-warashi | Rie Tanaka |
| Kayo | Umibōzu | Yukana |
| Genkei | Umibōzu | Ryūsei Nakao |
| Genyōsai Yanagi | Umibōzu | Tomokazu Seki |
| Sōgen | Umibōzu | Daisuke Namikawa |
| Hyoe Sasaki | Umibōzu | Daisuke Sakaguchi |
| Umizatō | Umibōzu | Norio Wakamoto |
| Ochō | Noppera-bō | Hoko Kuwashima |
| Man in Nō mask | Noppera-bō | Hikaru Midorikawa |
| Tomoyoshi Muromachi | Nue | Eiji Takemoto |
| Kiyoshi Moriya | Bakeneko | Eiji Takemoto |
| Chiyo Nomoto | Bakeneko | Yukana |
| Setsuko Ichikawa | Bakeneko | Fumiko Orikasa |
music
The music for the series was composed by Yasuharu Takanashi. The opening credits are Kagen no Tsuki by Ryōta Komatsu and Charlie Kosei, the credits song Natsu no Hana is sung by JUJU.
Web links
- Official website for the series (Japanese)
- Toei on the series (Japanese)
- Fuji TV on the series (Japanese)
- Anime News Network about the anime (English)