Mononoke Fandom Blog!

Writing/Ask/Shitpost blog for the Medicine Seller, Hyper and Kayo from Ayakashi and Mononoke | Inbox is always open! | Follow @kusuri-no-uchi for Mononoke aesthetic/ @kusuri-bako for the Mononoke Encyclopedia

[mononokehunters]

So, no HC or question for the characters. I'm a bit confused, is there something else to watch aside from Mononoke? I read it was a sequel, but couldn't find much more on it and I need more??

It's ok, I don't mind any questions related to Mononoke in general! That's why the inbox is always open!

Mononoke is a spinoff of the last three episodes (9-11) of Ayakashi Samurai Horror tales, which was a set of three separately produced traditional style ghost stories. The whole thing is pretty good imo, the first is an adaptation of Yotsuya Kaidan with character designs by Yoshitaka Amano, the second is an odd little supernatural tragic romance and then the last is the original Bakeneko arc that was popular enough to spawn Mononoke!

Thematically there's not a whole lot of other shows that are quite like Mononoke, which is a crying shame tbh, it draws from a wonderfully huge base of traditional ghost stories. The closest would def be Mushishi although that's a lot less dark and confrontational than Mononoke. It is definitely one of the few shows that I'd say is equally beautiful tho, and it has two seasons plus two TV specials!

Other similar shows would be Hell Girl, Yamishibai, Pet Shop of Horrors, Vampire Princess Miyu, a couple of the shorts in Short Peace, possibly also Ghost Hunt and Dennou Coil. I'm not sure I'd classify it as horror but Death Parade is very similar thematically. There's a range of quality here and not all of these will deliver the same punch as Mononoke but I think that would be one hell of an achievement XD

And totally outside of anime but still very fitting I think is Samurai Jack. Another great nameless warrior fighting against the forces of darkness!

I know this is a bit of a ramble but I hope you find something you enjoy our of it!

[mononokehunters]

I finally got around to seeing Phantom in the Rain after a fair bit of trepidation about it. I'll have to watch it again to give a proper review but I can definitely say right now that it's A Lot

[wixch-or-wizard-deactivated2024]

[mononokehunters]

Videodrome is about a mononoke just putting that out there

[crows-ramble]

I cant tell if Kusuriuri would live as a human in our time if he would have amazing style or atrocious style. I can see both I wanna say it would be great but i might just be bias since I love him. Maybe it depend on which one.

[the-mononoke-facade]

He would have the kind of style that SHOULD be atrocious but he somehow manages to pull anyway, I think

A touch of camp helps bring the outfit together, surely

[mononokehunters]

He'd be at home on one of @tokyo-fashion 's posts

[mononokehunters]

If the Cosmic Warriors formed teams to play a game, do you think they'd split it Kusuriuris vs Swords or Yins vs Yangs?

[mononokehunters]

My academic research brain is out to lunch but my aesthetic critic brain could go on for days about the incredibly beautiful anime/animation that's out there

[mononokehunters]

As much as I love Yotsuya Kaidan as a story and a production, that arc of Ayakashi did Yoshitaka Amano SO fucking dirty

[best-thriller-animanga-tourney]

Best Anime Animation, Round Four

Mononoke

Angel’s Egg

Voting ended onJul 14, 2024

Propaganda:

Mononoke:

Angel’s Egg:

[mononokehunters]

It blows my mind how much extra media we keep getting for the movie. Deep lore. Character sheets. Design details. Creator interviews. What is this? After nearly two decades of NOTHING I hardly know what to with it all.

[gebo4482]

Mononoke: Karakasa

神儀 / Shingi (Kusuriui Hyper)

神儀 / Shingi (Divine ritual) Also read as Jingi. souls of the dead. In many cases, it refers to the 神位(Shin-i/Divine rank) or 大覚位(Daikakui/Great awakening rank) written below the 法名(Homyo/Buddhist name) on a 位牌(Ihai/Buddhist mortuary tablet）or gravestone.

[mononokehunters]

Dear everyone who has put delightful things in my askbox, I will hopefully get to all of those this weekend, it's been an incredibly long month for me 🥲

[mononokehunters]

Every day I'm possessed by the thought of grunge cyberpunk Mononoke rendered by Studio 4°C

[mononokehunters]

It just feels, hm, not sure how to describe it, to get actual real honest to God genuine world lore after seventeen years of radio silence. I recognize we're not owed anything and that Nakamura-san probably felt it was important to clarify wtf was going on with a totally different character when everyone was expecting something else. Idk, it's very shocking and not exactly in a good way.

[mononokehunters]

For real, I am going to withhold true judgement until the movie actually comes our and we get to chew on it for a bit until I decide how I feel about the lore. Of course I'm suspicious of it but I try to wait until I know things properly before calling one way or another.

I'm still a little mad about it after all this time tho

[sparrowlucero]

down with worldbuilding and lore. the point of fiction is to show you something fucked up and scary, not to explain it

[mononokehunters]

The Sailor Moon rant mention got 10 notes so here we go.

Firstly, I respect it as an extremely important piece of feminist media and the influence it's had on thousands (possibly millions by now) of women and girls since it was published. I will say I missed it when I was young so I never really got into it but I know a lot of people that it's very special to. Also Uranus is Hella cool.

THAT SAID it has a problem, like a lot of shoujo manga, with highkey sameface syndrome and the Sailor Senshi uniforms having only minute differences between them does not help. It really comes down to height, hairstyle and color palette. Takeuchi Naoko does counter this by making posing do a lot of work where it emphasizes the different character attitudes so it's not a Complete make-or-break thing. Frankly tho, I think artists/shows depend on superficial differentiating details WAY more often than they should. On the other hand cute anime girls in skirts sell, so what do I know.

Bringing this back to Mononoke, if we're going to be having the Super Kusu Senshi running around, I can't say I'm thrilled about the implications current designs have for a potential full lineup. Kusu's garish unique design was always what made him stand out and I have my doubts about how a whole battalion of fashion disaster twinks (as lovely as the notion is) will read visually.

Time will tell how it all goes of course (and I'd still pay someone to animate Kusu into a Sailor Senshi type transformation sequence).