Reviews

Dec 30, 2015
Mononoke is a great choice for you if you enjoy bizarre stories or you're interested in seeing some classic japanese horror stories told with their own creative spin.

The art of the show is simply amazing, it's unique, and it does its purpose of setting the story in a bizarre scenery with really unique imagery. The art bears similarity to classic japanese art, so it is possible you might not enjoy it if you don't enjoy that style, but I'd say it's done in a dynamic way, so I suggest at least try finishing the first story of Mononoke before deciding on how you view the art.

The show keeps its bizarre nature through its art and sound which it uses in an unique manner to present a really great atmosphere. It greatly fits the theme and tone the stories should be delivered in and I found them that many times more enjoyable due to the atmosphere. Everything in the series seems really well designed and I enjoyed the design of everything done there in general.

The anime presents 5 short stories mostly comprised of 2 to 3 episodes, in which a "simple medicine seller" who hunts Mononoke, which are vengeful spirits that have gotten a form due to the intense emotions they have felt before their demise. Each story deals with one such spirit in them and the medicine seller slays them by using an enchanted sword known to be able to kill such creates in one blow, but what's not as known is the fact it that requires the knowledge of the Form, the Truth & the Regret of the spirit to be drawn. Through this requirement for the sword to be drawn, the story of the spirit envelopes, as its intense emotions are revealed to us. The sword is a smart plot device to unravel the events under the spirit came to be what it has become and how the characters are related to the spirit itself, since due to it the writer is forced to bring as many details as it would make sense for the sword to be able to take effect, thus not having any details left out. Each story is bizarre and interesting and have some conclusions you could draw from them. I'd say the stories are even memorable through the nature they were presented and their content even, since while I'd say the strongest point of the show was the way it presented everything, the content of the stories themselves was really intriguing as well.

The show explores the motives of all the characters it comes across, while the medicine seller as he is used as a tool to tell this story throughout, so he is kept as mostly mysterious and there's not a whole lot of depth to him. However every other character's nature and actions are gonna be explored throughout their stories, fully coming to understand how they came to be what they are and why they did what they ended up doing.

I'd say anyone who enjoys stories that are bizarre by nature should be able to find enjoyment out of this The only thing I can think of that could be a roadblock for you is the art, if you possibly if you dislike the artstyle since it is sorta experimentalor obviously if you don't like anything that is bizarre. I won't detail how the stories are bizarre since it's best to experience that rather than read about it, so you should give this a try, since it is indeed a really unique experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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