Category: Throwback Thursday

Welcome one and all to the finale of Mononoke, and the close of another season of Throwback Thursday. This week Mononoke pulls a strong finish, I ask you some questions, and we start a poll for the next run. Let’s get into it!

First up, the poll I mentioned for the next Throwback Thursday will be at the bottom of the post. Please check it out! If you want to suggest a series to go on the poll, just leave a comment and it will get added next time. Now, onto the episode. For me this really worked as a finale. Both narratively and visually. Narratively, Mononoke left a lot of the ending open ended. Normally this would be a sequel signal, but we all know Mononoke isn’t getting that. Here though it implies that there is more story, both before and after, the series. Which ties in well to its episodic nature. Visually as well, this week was just less cluttered than the last. The whole thing was more grounded in the murder mystery, and it paid off I think.

Continue reading “Mononoke – 12 [Goblin Cat, Finale] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome one and all to the penultimate week of Mononoke! Apologies for the lateness of this, life is busy busy right now, much like Mononoke itself. As this week we dive into the mystery at hand, our suspects start to talk and the series gets… weird. Let’s dive in!

Starting off, what do I mean by weird? Well personally, I wasn’t a fan of the direction and such this week, a first for the series. It actually went so hard on some scenes, that it started to feel obnoxious. What with both the audio and the visuals just hammering away at the senses, some scenes were unpleasant to watch. Don’t get me wrong, some were fantastic. Mononoke tried really hard to sell the horror aspect of the series. And it succeeded a number of times, more so than many other arcs. However in its effort to really finish, it comes off to strong. My big example of this for me were the “Don’t see, don’t hear, don’t speak” murals near the end, which while interesting just kinda slammed into you. Harsh cuts and sounds accompanying them and everything. I just think Mononoke needed to tone this down a bit.

Continue reading “Mononoke – 11 [Goblin Cat, Part 2] – Throwback Thursday” →

Hello all, apologies for the delay, and welcome to the final arc of Mononoke! This is perhaps the most unique one yet. As we skip forward to a modern era, set the entire thing in a single location, and have ourselves a murder mystery. So, lets dive in!

Right off the bat, as always, I loved Mononoke’s strong sense of direction. Yeah the episode was kind of slow, which considering its the start of a 3 episode arc makes sense. However in spite of the pacing, or perhaps because of, we got a lot of really interesting scenes and decisions out of it. For instance, I found the usage of mannequins for the crowds fantastic. As this is the greatest amount of people in any scene Mononoke has had to deal with. So the decision both makes it easy to put them on screen, justifies their lack of animation, and denotes how unimportant they are. It also lead to some, not quite funny but memorable, scenes involving the train. Such as when it grinds to a halt, all of the mannequins are thrown to the ground, etc etc. It was all really quite clever I think.

Continue reading “Mononoke – 10 [Goblin Cat, Part 1] – Throwback Thursday” →

And so ends another arc of Mononoke, in a way I never would have expected. As this week we solve a murder mystery, once again question our perceptions of the world, and get another new “favorite arc”. Apologies for the wait, sickness waits for no man, but let’s dive in.

Starting off, as always, the production of the episode. Mononoke has always had a strong visual direction, but this week was a treat. Both in terms of, mostly limited, animation and in direction. What with the usage of the bell to cut between scenes, or cutting angles in a scene to change the characters in it. There was a lot of very gripping imagery used throughout the episode that I thought connected well both in tone in content. My favorite part of the aesthetic though was the emphasis on color, and what it represented. Seemingly with each of the characters only gaining color as they felt strong emotions. Whether that be because of the scenes, or the events taking place. Based on how the episode finished up, I would suppose we could surmise that the color was linked to how “alive” or “real” they felt. Regardless though, it looked good.

Continue reading “Mononoke – 9 [Japanese Chimera, Part 2] – Throwback Thursday” →

As one arc ends, another begins with Mononoke. As this week we pick up on what may be the best start to an arc yet.  A perfect mix of sudden horror, mystery and art. As our Medicine Seller this week takes part on an odd incense game, uncovers a murder and hunts down a spirit. Lets dive in!

Starting off as always, this week Mononoke did some interesting things with its visuals. From the opening shot, there is a strong emphasis on color, or a lack thereof. With everything being bleached, diluted until it’s almost grayscaled. The only exception to this seeming to be when someone is feeling a strong emotion. We saw this from the opening scene, as the backgrounds are dark, but the blood is a bright orange. Tangent for a moment, that opening transition with the blood was fantastic by the way. Setting up what the shapes mean by having the man slam against the walls. Then progressively swapping between them faster and faster, then fading out the background. Leaving just a man’s silhouette running in place. This is possibly the strongest Mononoke has been yet, visually. Running right out the gate with this style.

Continue reading “Mononoke – 8 [Japanese Chimera Part 1] – Throwback Thursday” →

And so ends another arc of Mononoke. This was an interesting one as I was simultaneously proven right, yet also wrong, based on last weeks predictions. So without further ado, lets dive right into the finale of our latest horrifying arc.

Starting off, Mononoke this week sort of pulled a fast one on me. It took one of my usual pet peeves with anime, that being reused sets/episode long scenes, and turned it on their head. By incorporating the nature of that scene into the story itself. Suffice to say I thought it rather clever. Parts of it were constrained by Mononoke’s almost slideshow nature of course. The distinct lack of animation throughout the series could be off putting for some. I find the odd flash-fade/zoom in during some scenes this week to be rather dull myself. Most of the time though, the individual scenes have enough to at least keep you looking around until the scene is over. The bright colors and often complex designs sort of act as a bandaid for this I feel. Not perfect by any means, but it serves Mononoke’s story well I feel.

Continue reading “Mononoke – 7 [Faceless Monster, Part 2] – Throwback Thursday” →