Sadly the pdf that was supposed to accompany the episodes wasn't on the website I was using so I had to rely on my own limited knowledge of Japanese culture and of course strategic google searches.
I honestly went into it with an open mind, pretty excited too since an anthology of traditional horror stories is music to my inner sophisticated wannabe goblin's ears. It is definitely a mixed bag. While the last story is the best one, the first two aren't bad per se but they are definitely lacking, especially compared to the Bake Neko.
The best way to review them is by talking about them individually so that we shall do. I'll try to avoid spoilers but a few might come up here and there so I'm giving a warning in advance :
"Yotsuya Kaidan" (episode 1-4)
A retelling of the famous story, written by the 18th century kabuki playwright Nanboku Tsuruya IV. In the anime, Nanboku himself becomes the narrator. He at first laments on why he is retelling the story he wrote and every episode of this arc opens like that. At the final episode we learn why that's happening and while it's very interesting from a storytelling point, it is a little clumsily executed. Just like the rest of this story.
While it IS a horror story, a lot of the "horror" elements aren't executed very well. Which is a pity since the story and the way they chose to tell it is very interesting (the cynic in me says it's just toei being toei but alas). The animation is lackluster, to say the least. There are no interesting shots, it doesn't flow smoothly and the color palette is just drab and boring, with no distinct feeling to it. But the character design is very unique and reminiscent of Ukiyo-e style art that at least gives it a bit of personality.
Nitpicks include: How Iemon "killed" Oiwa. He did conspire against her and while her death was caused by grief and betrayal and all those fun emotions, it was accidental. Maybe I'm just an idiot and don't get it which is very possible mind you, but he didn't ACTUALLY kill her. Was he the absolute worst husband and actually DID conspire to kill her? Yes. Is it just a phrasing/translation thing? Yeah, probably and I do hate that of everything THIS was my hyper fixation.
Also, the way she dies makes no sense to me. Like the sword was stuck on the wall, the sharp side towards it and all... how did she slice her neck on the dull side? And how did she cut it so deeply that she just dropped dead immediately?
The sound design is also something that confused me, to say the least. While the music and voice actors were decent and the swords when drawn made this very neat sound, when someone was stabbed it sounded like the most cartoony blunt shot was fired instead of someone actually being penetrated by a katana. And while my inner goblin would indeed prefer something gorier, it plain out sounded odd and anything else more subdued would be better. It definitely made intense scenes less tense and along with the animation, it's one of the top two mood breakers.
In conclusion, an interesting retelling of an old classic with a mostly boring and sometimes poorly executed presentation. Sucks because I feel like with a bigger budget this would have been really good.
Tenshu Monogatari (episodes 5-8)
Horror? Lmao, where is it, girl? I wanna know!
While the opening does try to set a "horror" type of mood and while the Forgotten Gods DO eat humans and they... exist and all, there really aren't many horror elements to talk about. It's a romance story.
It's honestly the worst of the three and while I was engaged for a bit after I finished it... I felt like I wasted my time. The story isn't told interestingly, the animation is still lackluster and the character design was a bit boring, it didn't feel unique enough.
The sound was a bit better but nothing noteworthy. The music was still alright, the voice actors said their lines convincingly and the battle sound effects were okay enough or I might have just expected mediocre quality and didn't think about them too much.
I would have liked to see more horror elements since there definitely was a chance for them to exist but I do realize that they only had 4 episodes, not a whole season to flesh this out and the main focus was the romance between the two leads.
In conclusion, a not-so-horror romance story with a low-budget presentation. The worst of the lot, easily forgettable.
Bake Neko (episodes 9-11)
Good God, I love it here! I understand why people wanted to see more of this, I wanna start Mononoke right now!
A massive up in quality. The story is amazing, both in the way it's being told and the contents of it. It has you hooked from the first few minutes.
That is partly because of the stunning art this arc has. The character design is great too and the CG really isn't that bad at all. While the animation may be a bit stilted at times, it definitely makes up for it with more fluid animations during the battle and it is actually not that noticeable. If anything it uses it to its advantage at times. There are a ton of interesting camera angles too and while I'm not too wild on the repetition of the dutch angle, I'll allow it this once. Not all of them were bad anyway but it did feel a bit overused in the first episode despite feeding into the unsettling atmosphere that was starting to take over. Maybe it's because we're overexposed to them in western media that I am so aware of them.
I could wax poetry about the art all day but a million people that are way better with words than I am have already analyzed it further and know more than me so if this is something that interests you, I highly suggest you look more into it.
The sound design is so good in this one. The sounds, the music, the voice actors, it all works perfectly together, it's so good that I genuinely can't think of anything to say. The voice actor for the lead, Takahiro Sakurai, is so good at capturing the snarkiness and energy of Kusuriuri, he has this mystical vibe to his voice that is very easy to get ~charmed~ by.
Overall an amazing time and the arc most deserving of your time. Hopefully, Mononoke is as good as this.
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I would like to finally touch on the intros and outros. While I have seen positive reviews about the intro song... I just can't get behind it, the beat is nice and it mixes traditional Japanese music with modern elements quite well but the song... and the vocalist... if the website I was watching it on didn't give me a pop-up ad every time I so much as blinked at the screen I would have honestly skipped it and I NEVER do that with intros (completionist). Honestly, my expectations for this series dropped when I heard the first bar. But since I didn't skip it, I actually got to see all the different intros for the different stories. You won't be surprised to know that the last one is the best, I wasn't too big on the other ones but it was a nice touch.
The outro song is alright but I found myself watching this series during mornings where I was particularly sleepy so, in fear of falling asleep during it or the uninspired mute edited recap of the episode we just watched, I found myself skipping it. A shock I know. It wasn't bad at all though, I thought her voice and the music was very pleasant and calming. Just a bit too calming for my sleep-deprived mind to handle.
Overall, as I stated in the beginning, it's a mixed bag. A mixed low-budget bag. While the last three episodes are definitely worth a watch, I'm not too sure about the first two stories. They are interesting in their own way and they are traditional Japanese stories so if you're interested go for it! Just don't have too many expectations.
