DO NOT discuss the source material beyond this episode. If you want to discuss future events or theories, please use separate threads.
DO NOT ask where to watch/download this episode or give links to copyrighted, non-fair use material.
DO NOT troll/bait/harass/abuse other users for liking or disliking the series/characters.
DO read the Anime Discussion Rules and Site & Forum Guidelines.
DO NOT ask where to watch/download this episode or give links to copyrighted, non-fair use material.
DO NOT troll/bait/harass/abuse other users for liking or disliking the series/characters.
DO read the Anime Discussion Rules and Site & Forum Guidelines.
| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- Sharing these quotes because I like them. :) Medicine Seller said: Hateful feelings. Hurful feelings. Unforgivable feelings. To face one's own feelings is akin to throwing oneself into a bottomless pit, or setting sail on an endless sea. You must not look there. You must not think about it. Though you search your soul on the dark, heaving waves, you must never look in that place. Medicine Seller said: Fear gave rise to fear, and soon they became a shadow, dark beyond human understanding. Random Reactions:
|
| Yes... best episode yet. I have a feeling, ashura, we may see more of that samurai in future episodes... |
| I agree, Chelle, the samurai might make a comeback in the next episodes. I even though he was the main link to the Mononoke... I find him really creepy. =_= I like this arc better than the first one, Mononoke keeps getting better. :) |
| Awesome episode and good ending to the arc. The last bit with the samurai peaked my interest though. Who exactly was he thanking? The way he held his eye makes me wonder if he has some similar skeletons in his closet like the monk. |
 ...even a saint needs a soldier to do the dirty work. |
| Woo, super special awesome golden medicine seller transformation was rather cool :D. *off to next episode |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| Very nice conclusion to the arc, very pleased with how it turned out. The directing during the sequence when The Medicine Seller released was gorgeous. |
| This arc was awesome. I loved the Kayo and Kusuriuri moments throughout. And I really like the whole "fear" part too. What was up with the end, of the samurai being all "I will never forget you" ? hmmm..... |
| If you liked the golden version of the medicine seller you should definitely watch the prequel (the last 3 chapters of Ayakashi - Japanese classic horror). He shows his full transformation there, it's amazing! It's much more beautiful than the one in this episode. there is where he met Kayo, too. The cat mononoke episode. It is really good, and you understand everything much more after seeing it. I'm really curious about that samurai also, I think he must have had some skeletons in his closet like the monk's. I don't understand, though, why someone said that he was the main connection with this episode's mononoke...?... or did I get it wrong?? |
w3452432 said: tainteddonut said: Awesome episode and good ending to the arc. The last bit with the samurai peaked my interest though. Who exactly was he thanking? The way he held his eye makes me wonder if he has some similar skeletons in his closet like the monk. Yup this can't be the last time we see him. Agreed. Excellent episode. The medicine sellers "gold form" was truly awesome! I'll watch the prequel after I finish this series for-sure. I'm really starting to enjoy this animation. |
  |
| I don't think we'll see the samurai again. It rather seemed like a continuation of Umi Bozu since the samurai is now taking the place of the monk. |
| Such a sad story =( I feel bad for Oyou |
| "The weak get washed away by the tides of fate...The strong drink it up."-Godot |
danz said: I don't think we'll see the samurai again. It rather seemed like a continuation of Umi Bozu since the samurai is now taking the place of the monk. I don't know about the samurai returning for appearance later but I agree he's next. He mentioned something about his master last episode, so there's another story behind it. |
| You see there's no need to wonder where your god is, Coz he's right here! ...and he's fresh out of mercy. |
| Loved this ep. The scenes near the end were breathtaking. |
| This was a fantastic episode and I'm almost 100 percent sure I've missed something, but whatever I guarantee I'll watch this series again in the future. |
| "Yes, I have been deprived of emotion. But not completely. Whoever did it, botched the job." - Geralt of Rivia |
| Probably the best episode so far. Golden Shikigami Medicine Seller looks so badass despite his calm-looking. And I thought the painting showing a human embracing a mermaid merely is just a background, I was completely wrong. It was to symbolize a love that could never be. The ending part with the samurai is just so mysterious and I think he has something to do with the same Mononoke.  Notice the Medicine Seller and his (samurai's) another image behind him. =,= |
| Great arc! Really interesting. ^_^ katsup said: This arc was awesome. I loved the Kayo and Kusuriuri moments throughout. And I really like the whole "fear" part too. This. |
 "Only the dead have seen the end of war". ~Plato~ |
StormViruz said: Notice the Medicine Seller and his (samurai's) another image behind him. =,= Good analysis! |
TekkamanBuredoSep 8, 2011 10:37 AM
| So...much...symbolism... This arc was incredible, there's just so many details that I probably missed, argh this freaken series. |
 |
| Fantastic arc, so much better than the first. This anime reminds me of Mushishi in so many ways. |
| loved the fishes that were swimming among them i'm guessing the samurai's epilogue was to do with all the people he had killed, the fear he didn't admit last episode (he feared meeting their souls again iirc, yet was in denial, keen to kill yet more). Now they had all seen their true fears and what can happen if they don't come to terms with them. "I'll never forget you" might be directed at the medicine seller (and fellow travellers), or his victims; his sword smashing may actually have indicated he'd accepted his responsibility, in the nick of time... (and alas the suggestion of the monk finding love with his protege remains just a tease) |
BlackoutingMay 14, 2012 10:44 PM
| That was a very good arc. The story was brought to a satisfying conclusion which is impressive in and of itself because there was quite a bit of complexity to this particular tale. Also, there were so many great visual moments in this episode but the Sword of Exorcism being released had to be my favorite - I hope we see that transformation sequence return in the near future. |
| Goed arc! The ksuriuri gold form was awesome and i was surprised that part of the monk was a mononoke and he didnt die in the end :O |
 |
Shinryuken said: and i was surprised that part of the monk was a mononoke and he didnt die in the end :O he didn't die and even turned younger ._. like if the mononoke he generated was making him older like an illness |
 Fixes to make the Profile more bearable after "the Modern★Profile★Update★★Rip★Profile★" |
| Ah, this show is starting to grow on me. :) |
| And I was about to say why such a pretty girl would ever fall for an ungly, bad, unworthy person. But at least he turned out to be handsome. Beautiful episode. I like Mononoke more in the daylight :) |
| A tragic back story but a very nice action filled ending! Really nice ending for this chapter! Lets see what's up next. |
 |
| Some crazy stuff at the end of the episode :o Wondering if we'll see a return of the samurai. |
 |
| The samurai's sword, as far as I am concerned, still represents his fear of the people that he has killed, so I guess when it broke, it had something to do with that. Defenseless? Maybe. Unburdened? Maybe. |
| Dam this anime is getting fucking good i see why it has such a high rating O_O great arc !!!! |
 |
| After watching two arc (including the one in Ayakashi JCH), the person - the root of the problem - always lies even during life and death situations so I'm not surprised Genkei wasn't really telling the whole truth. Poor Oyou :( |
"May those who accept their fate be granted happiness." "May those who defy their fate be granted glory." |
| This arc was awesome. I loved Kusuriuri's golden Shikigami/transformation. He's Badass as fuck |
| Well, Genkei was covering the same eye that the Samurai covered in the end of the episode. Maybe it's a coincidence, but idk. FrostbyteDOT said: The samurai's sword, as far as I am concerned, still represents his fear of the people that he has killed, so I guess when it broke, it had something to do with that. This. |
| this arc was fantastic really reminiscent of mushishi. |
| I am rewatching this and the last time i watched this was years ago. It is still as good as the first time. I really liked how this episode ended. The monk first appeared as a not good looking character because he had an ugly soul. At the end, after everything, his ugly soul was gone and he appeared normal. Also, beautiful soundtrack. |
| Poor oyou, she deserved a much better brother than that monk. Kusuriuri's transformation + exorcising the mononoke is always easily the best part of the episode. still, I like this arc more than the first. the samurai seems glad to turn into a mononoke? |
 |
| 2.5/5 for this arc. It was really boring. |
| I may be getting it wrong here but why did Genkei screwed up the ship's direction with the compass? That's what happened, right? Anyway, interesting arc. I The previous ep with the guitar fish mononoke was my favorite so far. |
 |
| Wow the visuals are just amazing and this episode is my favourite so far. |
 |
Windaa said: I may be getting it wrong here but why did Genkei screwed up the ship's direction with the compass? That's what happened, right? he wanted to go to dragon triangle (the ayakashi location as well as the place that utsurobune sailed to). Reason is related to his sister and his feeling, regret and such. |
| Really awesome arc. This is my second time watching the series, now with a friend, and I really appreciate the quirky, fun storytelling of Mononoke. I wanted to say a few points to note for anyone curious. If the monk's story is a little hard to follow, the way I looked at it was that he never really romantically looked at his sister until she confessed her feelings for him and offered to give herself up into the treeboat (yeah, I'm not going to pretend to know the Japanese phrasing). If the above is true, then why did the monk offer himself up for the treeboat? I think rather than offering himself up, he was instead probably selected by tradition and forced into being the sacrifice, so he was lucky his sister offered a way out of the situation. This also explains why he doesn't offer to die with her in the tree boat, since he never really wanted to be with her or die for the people in the first place. Did he ever have feelings for her originally? In my view, it's possible to a familial extent but maybe not so much romantically. I believe him when he says they were quite close because they were of similar age, but one reason to point out why he may not be so attracted to her were some hints dropped in the show that he was gay. I mean, with him and his little fuccboi apprentice having a fun party one of the nights, I'd say there's maybe something going on there. It was only after his sister's confession did he start trying to force himself into believing that he loved her originally, and that he carried on with that wrong thought so long up to the present. He grew fatter and uglier as the mononoke grew inside him over the years. It's hard to say if I think he truly regretted his behavior over the years, but because of the way the mononoke slaying sword seems to work, I'd have to assume so. The form is the eye and his monster half; the truth was realizing that he was lying to himself about his feelings; and the regret I suppose was deciding to correct his feelings. Maybe his decision to correct his feelings/thoughts was enough to count as regret, I'm not sure. Maybe he's actually developed feelings for his sister after thinking about her for so many years. That's enough about the monk. I think what's also fascinating is the rest of the cast. Really, I think as a whole, outside of (possibly) medicine seller, all the other characters were in some ways caricature representations of the monk. Not sure if caricature is the right word, but I saw them as representing different aspects of the monk. The best scene to really show this was the fish banjo scene, where it/the thing exposed each person's greatest fears. Indeed, the end result that the fish would do to each character didn't really matter. The more important part of this exchange was highlighting the different sins of the monk. Greed, as the merchant ship owner. The belief that he would be not be caught, as with the samurai. Gluttony, as with the minstrel. The fear of never finding love, as with Kayo. Maybe even the Medicine Seller could be shoe-horned in as well, perhaps fear that the end is naught, or some deep end shit like that; I didn't really understand the seller's vision. I originally thought the early sections were slow and somewhat boring, but with an ending like this to show and tie things together, I've 180'd and now have a huge appreciation for this arc and of course the series in general. The brothel birthing pregnancy stuff was damn great just before. Oh, and of last note, some of you guys mentioned the last scene with the samurai crying and getting triggered over losing his sword. I think this was just a fun, small snippet added in to parody the monk's dilemma. The samurai probably had the lowest impact and screen time out of all the characters due to his persona and the fact that his forte, sword fighting, did nothing against the other-worldly. It was nice to see him have this small end clip, albeit in my view a parody section, in some way or fashion. I think that's about it. Hopefully this raised some good points with my interpretation. |
WAXCHUGAug 11, 2016 1:34 AM
| Wow. That was amazing. Now that i've gotten used to the art and the story, I'm enjoying it much more than I did in the first arc! And wow the medicine seller's other form (??) damn he's hot XD  Though I wonder if it'll be explained later on just what is he exactly... The art in this episode is especially breathtaking! (below:a few images) The ending, that samurai was holding his right eye, did his eye replace that of the monk's? Meaning some mononoke will still roam the dragon's triangle? O____O |
blue-yAug 16, 2016 12:37 PM
 |
| @Osuuki: The monk's story and the final revelation left me confused indeed, so thanks for putting your thoughts across. This is the first anime (or show, for that matter) in a long while that's making me want to rewatch it immediately and repeatedly, because there's so much going on and so much to figure out. No spoon-feeding at all. Given the hints dropped, it's fair to assume Ginkei was gay: - sounds quite unlike chanting coming out when the apprentice was describing what had happened that night in episode 4 - more like grunting and whimpering; - during the night scene in episode 3, the door in front of which their shoes were kept was shaped like a heart: - the way Ginkei was speaking to the disciple right then sounded downright sleazy; - the disciple was shown to be crying right after, humiliated - maybe because he was forced to bow to the will of his master, or maybe because he thought he was unworthy because he'd been told to leave. - given that he feared his master the most, it's even possible that he was being raped. Also, look at the shoes in the screenshot again. This clears much of the confusion, and this is how I perceive the story: Ginkei was an ambitious monk, who never loved his sister, and certainly did not want her carnally. When he was going to be sacrificed, he gleefully let his sister take his place. However, his sister's confession of love - which really could be something pure (it's not unnatural for a young sister to feel extremely attached to her beautiful and successful elder brother and want to marry him - it's more like a childish impulse rather than a truly incestuous one. But I digress.) - slowly drives him into feeling guilty. He's guilty that he never returned her love, *couldn't* ever return her love, and that he let her sacrifice herself instead of at least joining her in the utsuro-bune. He feels guilty for his greed, cowardice and selfishness. What happens over the next fifty years as this guilt festers is strange; in order to fight his guilt, he slowly manages to convince himself that he actually *did* love his sister all along, that he even wanted her. The guilt that he feels about being selfish morphs into something he believes to be a corruption in his soul, that manifests itself as incest. I am sure this feeling of corruption is also related to the fact that he sexually abuses his disciples and his own feelings toward his homesexuality, but he doesn't link those two explicitly. It's something he doesn't believe he's directly responsible for - rather, he's just a hapless victim of spiritual or karmic circumstance. And this corruption of his mind, if you will, is what fuels the Mononoke in the Dragon Sea. When his true feelings are exorcised from behind the elaborately constructed facade, so is the monster Umibozu. Phew! @blue-y: Thanks for posting those pictures. Goes to show just how beautifully drawn this show is when almost every frame is worthy of being a wallpaper. :) I don't think the samurai clapping his right eye is a coincidence, it could very well be the birth of another Mononoke that we're witnessing. |
ArachnophobicAug 23, 2016 11:52 AM
| The abortion talk maxed out to a 100 might have been a bit much for me in the second episode of the series, but this arc has been much better. The supporting characters brought a bit more personality to it. It wasn't as limited by the horror genre as the first. The music was noticeably great in this episode as well. |
Jet-Oct 23, 2016 6:50 PM
| Nice arc, this. We finally get to see the sword unleashed! |
| I'm Bruneian and I like anime. And Manchester United. And fat cats. |
More topics from this board
Poll: » Mononoke Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 )zanmato666 - Jul 30, 2007 |
105 |
by iWonderman
»»
Apr 22, 2:13 AM |
|
Poll: » Mononoke Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 )zanmato666 - Aug 4, 2007 |
98 |
by uzis_imperius
»»
Feb 17, 4:19 AM |
|
Poll: » Mononoke Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 )Brand - Sep 5, 2007 |
82 |
by PaninaManina
»»
Feb 2, 6:41 PM |
|
Poll: » Mononoke Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 )zanmato666 - Oct 11, 2007 |
134 |
by kirA_-_
»»
Jan 12, 6:56 PM |
|
Poll: » Mononoke Episode 11 Discussiongothicpsyche - Oct 29, 2007 |
35 |
by kirA_-_
»»
Jan 12, 8:48 AM |