(L) Mononoke (Noitamina in July 2007) (Bakeneko sequel)

[NoSanninWa]

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a picture which will tell any fan of the Noitamina programming block, just what Mononoke is about:



Genre: Historical, Horror, Mystery

Synopsis: (Nothing official, but I can say a few things...) This is a series based on the final story arc of "Ayakashi ~ Japanese Classic Horror" which previously aired in the Noitamina time slot. As revealed in the story "Bakeneko" the main character is a medicine seller who hunts monoke (demons) and kills them. To kill a demon first he needs to learn of the human tragedies and evils that gave birth to it.

Expected Release Date: July 2007.

Production Company: Toei Animation

Episodes: 12

Website: http://www.mononoke-anime.com/

Director: Kenji Nakamura
Character Design / Main Animation Director: Takashi Hashimoto
Script: Michiko Yokote, Chiaki Konaka, Ikuko Takahashi, Manabu Ishikawa
Art director: Takashi Kurahashi, Yumi Hosaka

[Asai]

Being a fan of these kinds of shows (all three of the listed genres, actually) I'll be keeping an eye out for this. ^^

[NoSanninWa]

And who knows... The Medicine Seller might actually get a name now. Though privately I hope he stays a nameless medicine seller.

[wao]

Allow me to be the first one to ridiculously dance in an unbridled manner such that everybody wants to immediately forget they ever knew me.

Honestly, who'da thunk? I wonder how long they've been doing this for? I was wondering whether the original Ayakashi was intended as a test to see which one Toei Animation should further develop into a full 12-episode series, but then again for the other two they were based on existing stories so it's not like they could have really done any more than they did...

EDIT: Also, I wonder if this will be entirely episodic or structured in three-episode arcs.
Anyway, I'm really interested to see what might come out of the combination of Nakamura and Chiaki Konaka. I loved his (?) Princess Tutu episodes very much, and wasn't he also Lain's scriptwriter?

EDIT2: Another thing - sorry if I sound annoying, but perhaps some reference to Bakeneko in the thread title would be in order? Thanks!

[Nightengale]

Originally Posted by wao

Director: Kenji Nakamura
Character Design / Main Animation Director: Takashi Hashimoto
Script: Michiko Yokote, Chiaki Konaka (!), Ikuko Takahashi, Manabu Ishikawa
Art director: Takashi Kurahashi, Yumi Hosaka (?)

What's with the (?) on Yumi Hosaka. If I recall, she was also involved in the art direction ( one of Bakeneko's awesome points ) of Bakeneko. Of course, unless the (?) refers to the uncertainty of Mononoke's involvement, then I was being an idiot.

Michiko's back, and Ayakashi "something's" (( the only one I remember it's name is Bakeneko :P )) Konaka is in the Monokoke bandwagon too, so that's a good thing as well. Yes, Konoka's the one involved in Lain with the whole dark atmosphere in it. I've heard of Manabu somewhere, but Ikuko Takahashi? Doesn't ring any bell. Who's that?

Originally Posted by NoSanninWa

And who knows... The Medicine Seller might actually get a name now. Though privately I hope he stays a nameless medicine seller.

Medicine Man's above names, just like Onizuka's above getting deflowered.

[wao]

I put a (?) because I was reading it off the top of my head and I don't know if her name is really read as "Hosaka".

I haven't heard of the other two scriptwriters, especially the Takahashi person. Maybe I'll go look it up one of these days.

Meanwhile, this is a good occasion to start pimping Bakeneko to my school's Japanese club!

EDIT: Okay, I came across this site: http://eg.nttpub.co.jp/news/20070323_04.html Nice promo pic there!

The key thing I found out from there:

-オムニバス全5作(12話)
What does this mean? They say that the 12 episodes will be an omnibus of 5 works. 5 over 12...Three will have two episodes and two will have three? Hm.

-5作とも哀しく儚いもののけたちの物語だ。「座敷童子」「海坊主」「のっぺらぼう」「鵺(ぬえ)」「化猫」 の5エピソードで構成される。
The 5 parts will be stories about the sorrowful and transient beings (kemono). It'll be structured into 5 parts named
"Zashikiwarashi"
"Umibouzu"
"Nopperabou"
"Nue"
"Bakeneko" - Will this be the same three episodes as the original? If it did, that'd be sort of disappointing (because it means we're only really getting 9 episodes), but at the same time it makes sense.

(Thanks to Snoop and Ama no Kagaseo for the links! Sorry, I evidently need to read up more on my Japanese folk legends.)

-薬売りが救うのは──　人か　それとも　もののけか　果たして……。
I found this line interesting. It basically says something like "Who is the medicine seller saving in the end - humans, or mononoke" again implying that the connection between the two is probably important (what was the situation which caused the human to be a mononoke?)

Then, there's a little bit more on the story there:

Spoiler:

町で起こる奇妙な事件。怯え慌てる人々の前に、“もののけ”を鎮める剣とやらを携えた謎の薬売 りが現れた。
　しかし、剣を鞘から外すには、「真(まこと)」「理(ことわり)」「形(かたち)」が揃わなければならな いと言う。
　真とは事の有様、理とは心の有様。そして、物の怪の形を為すのは、人の因果と縁(えにし)。
　剣が抜き放たれ、あまたの妖異と対峙するとき、浮かぶこの世のあはれとは……?

But it says the same stuff we already know (about the requirements to unsheath the sword, namely makoto, kotowari, katachi.)

OK, so now we know the general structure. I have a sinking feeling the last 3 episodes will actually be the original 3 episodes...

EDIT2: Toei's homepage has the same promo pic up too. I shall be a horrible person and reupload the picture.

[Ama no Kagaseo]

-Stares at the thread.-

...

.........

................................


Oh lord. e.e Excuse me while I go get a tissue.

I was absolutely in love with Ayakashi ~Japanese Classic Horror~ when I first saw it, and there was one of the arcs that really captivated me. Especially the final sequence at the end when our beloved medicine seller slayed the bakeneko. It was simply just so gorgeous, as well as the art style, and animation. I found myself staying up until the sun came up just replaying that part again and again.

For the first time in my life I can say.. Well, outside of Pillow's Sawao, that I would be gay for that man. xD

When I saw the series coming out this year, I myself was kind of disappointed. I'm not into mecha, and I'm not into loli series either. So it felt as though it was going to be a very slow year for me. Especially when it appeared no one wanted to pick up Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro.

But. Well. This alone has made me a VERY happy man.

And in response to Wao's earlier post, I took notice that you were having problems identifying a few of the names. Namely, Noppera-bo. Enjoy the link.

I also have Nue, Bakeneko, and Umibouzu. Well, not I, really. The owner of that site I'm linking to is a very awesome person. Props to Tengu [As this is the only name I know her by.] and the work she put into such a list of Japanese mythological creatures.

[solomon]

like, OHHHHHHH MAIIII GAAAAAAAWWDDDDD

[Snoop']

I was just passing by, and WOW.
At last, a decent anime for 2007 !!

BTW, wao, 座敷童子 reads "zashikiwarashi" ; it is a traditional youkai who is like a facetious kid. See Wikipedia for detailed info.

And another thing : sure, the picture is beautiful in Bakeneko, but on the other hand, I'm sure it costs much cheaper than conventional anime because you don't have to draw the shadows...

[andromeda0201]

Any confirmation that Takahiro Sakurai will return as our beloved medicine seller?

oh sheesh...just saw it, lol...honestly it would just sound wrong if it wasn't him

[Nightengale]

Originally Posted by Inujun

Any confirmation that Takahiro Sakurai will return as our beloved medicine seller?

Yes, Sakurai's on the Mononoke bandwagon. It's hard to imagine the Medicine Man without Sakurai anyway.

Which is a good thing, since Sakurai had gotten himself into a plaigarism scandal not too long ago which barred him from some work temporarily. So it probably means either of these has come to pass.

1. His disciplinary period's over.
2. His disciplinary period is still on, but it doesn't cover anime roles.
3. He's already signed on to the Mononoke contract as the Medicine Man even before the scandal.

Well, nice to see Sakurai's alive in some form.

[wao]

Or perhaps they had to have him because one of the initial fangirl draws for Bakeneko was the fact that Sakurai was doing the role.

But really, I'd also like to think that they know he did do a fantastic job as the medicine seller and it just won't be the same if you had someone else going "Abunai. Desu. Yo." at you. Heh.

Thanks for the links, Snoop and Ama no Kagaseo - they were really helpful, I obviously don't know my Japanese culture very much (well, I guess I can learn more from this show).

Also, regarding the lack of shadows, it's true they don't use much shadows in this anime but to make up for it the designs are very detailed and I imagine it's a real pain to design the colours and colour in the drawings because there's so many different parts. So I don't think it's really all that much cheaper, heck I wouldn't be surprised if it was more expensive.

Here's hoping they can do the best they can with the budget spread over 12 episodes . And I hope we find out whether the "Bakeneko" in this anime is the same as the original, a remake, or just something related.


EDIT: TAF trailer - only one minute long though. And darn, it's just stuff from the first series -_-

[gianna]

I SAW ABOUT THIS A FEW DAYS AGO WHEN SOMEONE SCANNED THE FLYER AND AM SO EXCITED TOO
*flails as much as possible with injured rib*

Thanks for the info and starting the thread (I was thinking of doing it myself two nights ago)
Since I saw I was looking around trying to find a trailer - or just anything more than the few official images

I didn't even know Ayakashi was licensed - great news

[Snoop']

Speaking of, I hope they will keep something along the line of the psychedelic OP of Ayakashi, with the awesome rap of Rhymster...

[Ama no Kagaseo]

Hey, it's no problem. I'm a freak when it comes to this subject. Perhaps not as much as others, but I would like to think I'm pretty well read. ^^;

[White Manju Bun]

O_O zomg are you serious!!! So happy right now!!

I wasnt a huge fan of Ayakashi until the very lasy arc and now we have a sequel!!! Man Im so glad I chk the Ayatsuri Sakon thread here and saw this

Gah I have to wait til July.... T_T

[Scribble]

I'd use loads of capital letters, smilies, bolded words and exclamation marks to express my joy at this, but that wouldn't even begin to convey my happiness.

Apart from anticipating the general awesomeness of this series (outstanding art, animation, voice acting, etc.), I'm glad that Mononoke will be a collection of stories (as opposed to it being ongoing - I don't think it would work that way). I'm just looking forward to seeing how makoto, kotowari and katachi is applied to other situations. Small things like the

Spoiler:

Paper seals and those butterfly like scales which showed the demon's movement

really made Bakeneko for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing other concepts similar to those.


This is really brilliant.

[monir]

May I be the first one to inject some skepticism by pointing my finger at TOEI !! I'm a bitter shounen-fan after all.

[Nightengale]

Originally Posted by monir

May I be the first one to inject some skepticism by pointing my finger at TOEI !! I'm a bitter shounen-fan after all.

Err...

Why would you be? The original Bakeneko and all of Ayakashi was also by Toei, by the same staff members. Well, the same primary staff members anyway.

Toei's not a bad studio either. Sure, they have their fair shares of particular lacklustre shows and adaptions, but this isn't the general Toei fare either.

Naturally, there's nothing wrong being skeptical, (( I'm not having too high of hopes for the new content to be better than Bakeneko anyway )) but being a bitter shounen fan seems like a bad excuse.

[monir]

While Toei isn't bad, it isn't good either. Ayakashi would have been another mediocre show by all means if not for the last arc. Besides, I'm sure if it is searched hard enough it will be found that another synonym for shounen is Toei. I mean, just look at their resume! Being a bitter shounen-fan is a very good excuse.