This is an shortened version of this 2007 post.
It’s a 12 episode series, spinning off from the Bakeneko arc of 2006’s Ayakashi. A viewing of the Bakeneko arc isn’t essential, while there’s a literal callback in one arc and a thematic callback in another, you can follow it without viewing the previous series.
The series deals with five different supernatural creatures encountered by the mysterious Medicine Seller. They are unnatural spirits that have merged with strong emotions, to form a dangerous creature, a mononoke. The Medicine Seller travels the world hunting down and killing these creatures with his sword. However he cannot use his sword until he learns the Form, Truth and Regret of the individual mononoke. This places it in the realm of the occult detective genre, rather than a simple ghost story or folklore tale.
Director Kenji Nakamura brings a unique look to the animation. Colours are vibrant, but gloriously flat. Scenery is highly detailed, but facial designs are simple and expressive. Everything has had a texture applied giving the show the look of rough paper/parchment. There’s an obvious callback to Edo period woodcuts in it’s look (indeed 3/4 of the series is set in that period), but also to art movements inspired by those woodcuts. My art history is extremely ropey, so I’m sure this is something someone else could write far more about. Also there’s little anachronisms in there that are fascinating, the whole thing glorifies in it’s artifice, partly because there’s the sense of what we are seeing as the viewer is also an illusion in the eyes of the characters.
This is a brilliant show, and deserves your attention. 2007 was a very strong year of Japanese animation, and for my money Mononoke is the cream of the crop. In terms of TV animation, it may be the best of the last 10 years. Certainly as a complete product, there’s little to fault it on an episode by episode basis.
The last arc Bakeneko is full of cracks and holes…. But otherwise I would call it one of the best anime ever…