Mokke for me, took many of these principles to heart, but perhaps sliced off a little to much life and didn't leave enough room in its tummy for a developed plot or story, but more on that particular cake later…
The series tells the story of two young girls who both have the ability to interact with ghosts, Shizuru, a high school student is even able to see them, while her younger sister, Mizuki can't, but is easily possessed by them. In order to find some peace they both move to the country to live with their grandparents, who have had some experience dealing with these spirits. Together they must both learn that they cannot simply avoid or destroy their ghostly apparitions all their lives, but instead must lean to coexist, and maybe even learn something about themselves and life along the way.
In terms of actual plot theres not much beyond the original premise, and thats to be somewhat expected, even preferred in this genre. The story mostly involves episodic plots about one of the girls (rarely both unfortunately) interacting with these ghosts. With Shizuru usually dealing with the creatures affecting those close to her, having to deal with her helplessness and loneliness not being able to talk to or help her close friends. And Mizuki having to deal with the fact thats ghost see her body as a thief sees a stately home with its front door left open. All the while trying to hide her abilities from her close friends and enjoy her childhood as best she can. An upward struggle for both girls, but one that is characteristically rewarding...
Rather than having a continuing story, each episode rather contains a theme, and is very like a parable, with some problem emerging that has to be overcome by our heroines and by the end they are stronger and wiser for the experience. Its makes for pleasant viewing, with some of the lessons being quite interesting and can strike very close to home at times, but it does get a little repetitive, as one sometimes resorts to playing guess the message of the week, as it where. Also one needs a high whimsy tolerance to be able stomach some of these episodes, fans of the gritty, brutal ghost story will find no macabre comfort here, best search elsewhere.
This episodic nature may a defining feature of the slice of life genre, but perhaps Mokke took it a little to far, with the only plot point that has even the slightest effect on the story as a whole is when Mizuki joins a club, (in fact the biggest plot point of all happens in the last few minutes of the final episode!). Its true that the best slice of life series' usually are episodic, for example Natsume Yujincho, (which is probably the closest thing to this series) but Natsume excels where this series stumbles as it managed to include small story arcs and introduce characters that later go on to be an intricate part of the story. Mokke's biggest problem is that there is none of this, characters or plot points introduced in one episode cease to exist in later episodes, even if their problems or stories have not fully been fully resolved. Some may argue that this is how real life works, with not every problem wrapped up into a neat little bow by the end of day, and while this is true i would endeavour to remind them that this is a slice of life series, not a full course meal of life series. It simply make for generally better viewing when things that are set up come to interesting conclusion, my opinion but one i feel is very close to the truth.
With all that said, the real pillars of the series are the characters, with each one of the three mains distinct and interesting. Mizuki the younger sister is energetic and playful, a product of her youth, this can give the impression that she if full of confidence and strong, but closer inspection reveals that quite the opposite is true. Constantly be possessed by spirits has led her to believe that she is weak and tends to laugh away her problems rather that face them, however as the series progresses she does try to rectify this problem, (not always with the intended consequences) and with the help of her sister, learn to find the balance between fighting and coexisting with these spirits. She is very much the heart of the series, providing much of the light hearted comedy and charm that characterises the series.
Shizuru the elder sister, is really quite beautiful, not in some stupid moe sense, but rather she has a very subtle charm to her, the simple art hides the depth-fulness of her character, intelligent, caring, kind, but lonely from never being able to talk to her friends about her abilities. I would insert a vain attempt to compare her to some flower always out of reach, but truthfully, I would rather take a stroll in front of a firing squad… Anyway, while not an amazing character, she does stand out as interesting in a medium, that all to often likes to portray women as being about as intelligent and interesting, as a pile of bricks.
However the star of the show for me at least was the grandfather, who acts as both their guardian and laissez-faire teacher. Rather than rushing in to save the girls anytime they get involved in the other world he prefers to stay back and let the girls fight their own battles. This may make him sound like a cold man but nothing could be further from the truth, as with many things in this series his actions are both subtle and meaningful. He knows all to well that he will not be around forever, and most importantly, he has learnt that one cannot live ones life in perpetual war with nature, but must rather find a way to coexist with what one can, avoid what one cannot and fight only those that seek to destroy us. Saying very little and always keeping his thoughts and emotions to himself, he seems to know exactly how things will play out, but at the end of the day its clear that he cares very deeply for his family, and would never let any harm come to them, nor would he unnecessarily hurt the ghosts and spirits that he has come to understand and respect.
However the side characters are a little different, this ties in with what I was saying earlier about the little to episodic nature of the series, character such as Shizuru and Mizuki's friends, while somewhat prominent, as not given a great amount of that far to overused term "character development". This term has become the go to weapon of wanna-be critics, and i myself have been guilty of this in the past, but i digress. The point is that some of these side characters have interesting features and stories surrounding them, and while some are given quite a good bit of character and even arcs, there are others who are simply forgotten or just outright ignored. Such as the grandmother, who despite being in an incredibly interesting position, married to a man who exercises spirits for a living, and having two granddaughters who can interact with them, very little is ever revealed about her, or if she also has these abilities. All in all these are small complaints but still substantial enough to distract from the story, which is a real pity.
Music wise everything was quite fitting, the opening i found to be quite enjoyable, if a tad dramatic for such a slow paced series. Everything else, like much of Mokke is subdued and pleasant, matching the pacing and the quiet country setting. I am unfortunately not a man of music and so can not speak knowledgeably on the subject, but i do know slice of lifes's and their music quite well, and can say that this is defiantly a very nice addition, while no-where near as memorable as something like Aria, it was instead, (like the whole series) "Quite pleasant".
Overall, Mokke was a fun series that always made for a relaxing and enjoyable watch, containing both interesting and charming main characters. Alas however it lacks enough of a plot to get you really invested, since you are aware that everything will be back to normal by the next episode, and the side characters are very much simply glossed over. Which is a real shame because i thoroughly enjoyed watching this series and would like to have seen more from it, but oh well, C'est la vie. Also a high level of whimsical tolerance is a must if one intends to watch it, however if one is a fan of such classic's as Natsume Yujincho or Aria and wishes to watch something with a similar "vibe" then Mokke may be the perfect dish, just don't expect to be full when its over and you move on to coffee and cigars…
