Mononoke – 03

The name “Umibouzu” was rather confusing, especially with my lack of Japanese. After all, the “umi”-part could mean either sea or giving birth, and I could have sworn that “bouzu” meant little kid. Still, I was wrong. After looking up the kanji, it seems that we’re dealing with a seamonk here. Naturally, the episode again was pure awesomeness, and it has a very good chance of beating the first arc. At sea, we find ourselves a boat, carrying a strange companionship: The girl from Bake Neko, the owner of the ship, a bard, a monk, a priest, a swordsman and a medicine-seller. It’s there where Umibouzu releases its wrath on the poor ship. Here is what I believe what happened. It first makes the ship stray away from its course by placing a magnet near its compass. Then it calls its comrades, or a collection of fish ghosts to attack the ship. (I know they’re comrades, because otherwise the medicine seller would have figured out the Katachi by now).The medicine seller manages to repel them, but the fact remains that someone on the ship is hiding something. I’m putting my money on the monk. I wonder, though, do the goldfish on board have anything to do with the story? And what are the roles of the other characters? I’m looking forward to next week to find out. :)]]>