Mononoke

   Mononoke is a Japanese Occult Detective animated television series that ran for 12 episodes during 2007, it was a spin-off of the 2006's horror anthology series Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales. The series follows a nameless medicine seller as he continues to face myriad supernatural perils. Mononoke takes place during the Edo Period Japan (With the exception of the last three episodes) with the four class system, Samurai being the highest class and merchants (such as the medicine seller himself) being in the lowest class. Only Samurai were permitted to carry swords, which is why it comes as a shock to many of the characters that the medicine seller would be carrying a sword.

   It has been quite some time since I had actually watched this series (3-4 years, perhaps?), but I certainly remembered being completely drawn in by each supernatural tale (Or case) and enjoyed each one immensely. It is not often I found myself immediately wanting to watch the next episode, and while this had been a considerably short series, I just could not stop watching until the very end. While the art direction (Which we will further discuss after this) contributes heavily to the series's storytelling, and is perhaps what makes this series so incredibly memorable to many fans, this does not mean that the writing itself is something to be overlooked. Mysteries are definitely one of the more difficult genres to write, let along supernatural mysteries, and this was honestly well executed in terms of each story's pacing, intensity, symbolism... and so much more. 

   I was provided with an incredibly detailed document discussing each episode when I had first watched this series, and let's just say that you will probably need to watch each episode more than once after reading those documents (Especially when so many viewers are probably unaware of much of the Japanese mythology genres to write, let along supernatural mysteries, and this was honestly well executed in terms of each story's pacing, intensity, symbolism... and so much more. I was provided with an incredibly detailed document discussing each episode when I had first watched this series, and let's just say that you will probably need to watch each episode more than once after reading those documents (Especially when so many viewers are probably unaware of much of the Japanese mythology that is so cleverly featured within each episode).

   Moving on, the one thing that certainly stands out about this series is its art direction, regarding its genre, it is clear that there is a need for abstract visuals to tell, but if there is one way to describe this show's art style, it is nothing short of striking, bold and shocking. But, oh, Rebecca, what's the big deal? This is after all suppose to be a horror mystery, so if it isn't bold and shocking, then that just means that it's not a very g-- WRONG! Mononoke still differentiates from many horror and mystery animations (And perhaps even other medias of the genre) with its immense experimentation in visuals and symbolism (The image to the right and the previous one above is only but a small taste of what you will see in the series itself).

   While I have read and heard from some that the series' art directors might have actually gone a little overboard in making this series too... shocking, it was really something I enjoyed immensely about the show. Yes, the visuals were practically in your face, but that never truly took away any of the mystery. Every scene presented and executed in a suitable manner considering the unique art style used throughout, be it a quiet scene or something much more loud and intense. When considering slightly more subtle details to Mononoke's art style, there are certainly many scenes where everything appears more... 'flat'.

   And, I know that is not the most appealing way to describe this show's visuals, especially after all I had said beforehand (Because, wow, how do such 'flat' looking visuals still come off as bold and shocking to you?), it actually works really well with the rest of the really abstract visuals added in there. very much like a scene out of a ukiyo-e picture come to life. Some characters and props probably wound up blending in a little too much into the background, but other than that, everything just looks so unbelievably gorgeous and striking... there is a really beautiful usage of color palettes as seen in all the gifs presented so far, scenes are never ever short of vibrancy, and are always given the right amount of boldness and psychedelia (Without ever being too nauseating, well at least, in my case).

   I actually felt that they did a really good job on using shocking visuals without ever truly going for 'full-out gore', especially when there are so many moments when that could actually happen (Not going to spoil too much for you guys on this), especially when it came to its characters' deaths. In fact, its just so amazing how there are so many unnerving moments thanks to the usage of more abstract and experimental visual techniques.  For more traditional aspects, I cannot give enough credit to how wonderfully done the characters' expressions are (Even the main character himself, who is pretty chill for most of the show). Much like Junji Ito's works, I actually feel that these incredibly well-drawn expressions are what makes a scene truly horrifying (The last episode will forever be burned into my memory). So while there is a strange sense of beauty, it never takes away from the true strengths behind this show's art.