Today I am going to talk about an anime that many of you may have heard of. After all, this anime has been released for many years with a high-rated score. Many people who first are interested in watching the anime may be shocked by its graphic style and thus no longer watch it further. The anime is Mononoke.
The first time when I watch the anime, I didn't like the Ukiyo-e Style graphic. But later when I watch the anime for the second time, I felt the beauty of the style.
There are not so many Ukiyo-e Style anime. In addition to Mononoke, there are Kurozuka, Gankutsuou are in a style similar to Ukiyo-e are also considered classic.
Different from the traditional graphic style, Mononoke's graphic style is some kind of abstract art, and the patchwork style really impressive. This special graphic style in Mononoke makes audiences feel a sense of exaggeration and weirdness.
Up until now, the anime in MyAnimeList has a high rating score of 8.43. It is no doubt that most people who watched the anime admire the plot and exaggerated style.
Mononoke is made up of individual chapters, so I am not able to introduce the main plot here. But I will talk about what the plot is centered around.
Beforehand, many episodes are full of weirdness, and even some episodes are a bit scary. It is not recommended to watch anime when you are in a bad mood. The anime is talking about the depths of human nature, so you may don't feel well after watching.
The first story of Mononoke is about Zashiki-warashi (parlor child). The main protagonist is Kusuriuri (the medicine seller). He carries around an enchanted sword that is used to slay the mononoke when traveling around. By carrying the enchanted sword, he walked around without any problems.
To use the sword, the Medicine Seller has to learn the spirit's "Katachi" (shape), "Makoto" (truth), and "Kotowari" (reasoning) of the mononoke he wishes to exorcise.
The shape refers to the form of the mononoke; the truth means the facts of the matter; and the reasoning refers to the reason behind the facts.
In the episode of Zashiki-warashi, a pregnant woman who was being chased seeks shelter at a traditional inn. But when she arrived, she was told that the inn was full. The innkeeper wanted to kick her out but finally allows her to stay in the inn.
However, the inn seems to have some hidden story. The inn is weird. A kid may suddenly appear and disappear, and sealing papers are stuck everywhere. Moreover, the appearance of the Medicine Seller is the great proof of the inn's weirdness. It is the same as where there is a case, there is Conan.
In fact, the inn used to be a brothel. Prostitutes were forced to abort their children by the innkeeper. Those children strongly desired to be birthed thus resent everything in the inn and became demons.
The child who suddenly appeared and disappeared is the shape of the mononoke, and the truth and reasoning of the matters are just mentioned above.
The Medicine Seller may have understood everything from the very beginning, but he just seemed to stand aside coldly. He has long experienced too many things in the world and experienced the inconstancy of human relationships.
Although the Medicine Seller in the anime is a person to exorcise the demon, I think he is more like an arrangement of the author helping us to see through the darkness in the depths of human nature.
Demons always can be exorcised, though the ugliness of human nature is more terrible. Those kinds of people are evil living the world and even can't be exorcised completely. Perhaps, only when the people in the world are filled with more love, there are fewer such demons in the world.
I have watched Mononoke many times, I still feel that I have not seen through all the plot. Almost every year I will watch it again, and I feel I understand a lot more of the plot every time I watched it. I enjoy it.
If you have not seen the anime and you do not mind the Ukiyo-e Style graphic, I highly recommend you to watch the anime.
Alright, go catch up on the episodes now!