Mononoke

[Drunk Monk]

Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom in the Rain

 

This is a series and a trilogy of movies now. I started part 3 and got horribly confused until I realized it was part 3, then went back to start at the beginning (of the movies).

Part 1 - Phantom in the Rain is allegedly a feature length movie that emerged from the TV series. It’s about two young gals joining an ooku (the courtesan harem for the emperor) where there’s intrigue and politics. They are indoctrinated with rituals to pledge their loyalty and servitude and must drink sacred water with the other 2000 women there. There’s a medicine seller who is more like a demon hunter, and he’s sensing the presence of a Mononoke - a vengeful demon - haunting the ooku.

Where this anime shines is its style. It’s complex backgrounds and hyper glaring color schemes and visually overwhelming. It’s too much to take in whilst trying to read subtitles. So much to see. It’s like ukiyo on acid. There’s stylish touches like how scents are represented by floating Mon-like circles, the scenes being parsed by sliding doors with illustrations of umbrella yokai. All the walls are covered with murals which move like paintings in Harry Potter. And the Mononoke is a psychedelic multicolored blob that seeps across walls and floors malevolently. It’s the kind of over the top visuals that would shine on a warehouse wall at an underground rave.

Netflix labels this as horror but it’s not that horrifying. It’s more surreal. 

I enjoyed it enough to add part 2 to my queue. Not sure that I’ll give it a D00M rec tho. It’s a bit like hardcore anime and y’all ain’t into that genre so it’d be better for you to start with toned-down stuff - anime-lite. KB might enjoy the visual composition. 

More to come..