Seriously, Mononoke is pure awesomeness. It’s such a huge shame that there are so few people who gave this series a chance. Heck, the only blog-entry I saw on Animeblogger and Animenano came from a guy who didn’t like the style. Still, that doesn’t mean that I don’t love this series, and it’s going to be fun to blog. I’ve considered following this series subbed, but thankfully the dialogue turned out to be quite easy, with my biggest obstacle being some words I don’t know, instead of the usual incredibly long sentences. It’ll also probably take ages for this thing to get fully subbed, and I’m too impatient to wait for them.
Well then, for those of you who haven’t seen Bake Neko: basically all you have to know is that the medicine seller needs three things before he’s able to slay a demon: the Katachi, Makoto and Kotowari, or the name of the demon, what really is going on and the events that made the demon act the way it did. He usually has no trouble finding the Katachi due to his knowledge (in this case it’s Zasshiki Warashi), but in order to get the Makoto and Kotowari, he needs the involved persons to open up.
The central person for this story is a pregnant woman, who hired a room in an inn, owned by an old woman and her servant. The previous episode showed us strange cradles, a strange kid-like creature, the sound of playing children and the death of a guy who was supposed to be after her.
So, the current episode basically explained the Makoto as follows: at one point, the inn used to be a brothel. And whenever a woman turned pregnant, the owner would kill her, since there wasn’t any chance for her anymore after that. I’m not sure whether the woman mentioned above worked at the same brothel, since the timelines don’t seem to match if she did, but the fact remains that she once was a prostitute as well, who fell in love with an important person. He offered to marry her, until he found out that she already was pregnant of him. She then managed to escape, but her former near-husband sent the guy after her that we saw getting killed at the previous episode. Please correct me if I’m wrong about this one. The Japanese may be easier than usual, it’s still vital to understand as much as possible.
According to this, the Kotowari should be the following: the real form of Zasshiki Warashi is these rather strange children. They are, in fact, the unborn children who were killed by the owner of the brothel, and I believe that they were just searching for another mother. They’ve waited a long time until another pregnant woman showed up, which turned out to be our blonde woman. It now makes sense why they killed the guy in the previous episode: he was threatening their “mother”.
Overall, this arc gave an awesome start to Bake Neko, but I still have to say that Bake Neko was better. But then again, Bake Neko had three episodes, compared to the two episodes of this episode. I’ve read somewhere that this series will feature 13 episodes, divided into five arcs. If this is true, and I had to guess, then the next arc will be another two-episoded one, after which the final three arcs will consist of three episodes. Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror already showed that the creators like to save the best for last, so I’m really excited to see the rest of this series.]]>
Mononoke – 02
I’m waiting for the subs to watch this, it is a shame that so few people are working on this. Only 13 episodes… Short and sweet.
Why hasn’t anybody subbed this yet, God Damn It?! I really want to see this without having to resort to the raws. Oh, I got to remember to pick up the 3rd Vol. DVD of Ayakashi – Samurai Horror Tales (Bakeneko).
Mononoke isn’t an anime. It’s film art. That’s why it’s not popular among the general anime community. Anyway, my understanding about the plot is different from yours. From what I understand, the inn is a former brothel and the room is the place where abortions are done. That’s how the zashiki warashi are formed because they are essentially the aggrieved spirits of unborn kids. I don’t think the prostitutes are killed during the process though.
And I think you confused the owner with Shino. Shino was a servant, 使用人 and not a prostitute. She had a relationship with her young master and got pregnent. Although she said that it was the young master’s parents who sent the killer, the young master could also be the one who ordered the hit based on that flashback.
The old owner and servant were probably responsible for the abortions as well since they were killed by the demon and there was a scene of the servant attempting to do an abortion.
Well, that’s my understanding of the plot. Next arc: Umibouzu!
Um, no. It’s still anime. *Anime* art. :/
Sorry, I have to bring up this semantics issue because it really bugs me. If you insist on dropping the “anime” (for whatever silly reason), at the very least it should be called *animated* art. Film and animation are not the same thing; they have a few things in common (distribution method and the audience’s observable viewpoint being the main ones) but not nearly enough to be considered interchangeable. It’s no wonder people have such low views of animated works; when something comes along that challenges what people think animation can be, they say, “Oh look! This isn’t *just* a cartoon, it’s actually kinda like an arty film, you know?” Then after the novelty of the idea wears off, they add, “Of course, there are much better art films…” and trudge off to the next Aronofsky flick, completely missing the point.
As for the show itself, it looked interesting from the raw of episode 1, but I’ll wait until fansubs pop up to follow it. Of course, since I’m also watching Naruto and One Piece, I’m probably violating some time-space über-law that demands the appreciation of artistic relevance and youthful entertainment remain separated. Oh well.
Thanks for explaining. Abortions indeed make more sense instead of killing the entire prostitute, and they also explain the red ribbons now, as a symbol of the cord between the mosther and the baby.
THis looks incredibly interesting. From the pictures you’ve posted the art looks amazing, I would love to see this! Can you tell me where you found this? I’ve been looking it up but all I find is Princess Mononoke (which is really annoying) Man, this anime sounds so cool! Finally an anime that sounds original and from the looks of it, the style is off-beat too (which is a great thing!)
Well, here is the AniDB link of the series: http://anidb.info/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=5113
I didn’t this arc was as good as it could have been. However it doesn’t mean it was entirely a bad arc.
I agree it is a shame that not many people are blogging this. It’s such a intriguing series.
I’mn specifically interested in the Nobberapou arc. Considering that the Nobberapou is a faceless ghost.
I absolutely love Mononoke. I like how it differs from most anime, looking more like an ukiyo-e come to life. The episodes about the Zashikiwarashi was just beautiful. Shino, the pregnant woman, wasn’t a prostitute, she had a forbidden relationship with her master’s son. However, since Shino’s child could create complications as inheritance is concerned, an assassin was sent to kill Shino and the child.
I am so loving this show. Ayakashi was one of my favorites and when I heard of a sequel (if you can call it that) I was floored with joy.
This time I believe all of the arcs focus on the Medicine Seller. It was the only story of the original three that could translate into a series, but I wouldn’t have minded a few other ghost stories either. So it’s win/win either way.
I am puzzled as to why so few people blog this show as well. Much like Kekkaishi, it just doesn’t get it’s due.