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TODAY AT WORK, I am letting Mononoke play in the background as I do things! Which means that it's not really so much a rewatching as a--look up and sometimes watch snatches in between everything else, but the dialogue is still there. I am halfway through Nopperabou, which may be my new favorite. I have also found that, in general, the voices and dialogue in Mononoke are very--soothing, somehow? Or they're very interesting to listen to, but not just the Medicine Seller (who already has his very unique way of speaking). I really really like the female voices in the show, actually; Shino and Oyou are very pleasant to listen to while working. :|a
Zashiki-Warashi
- I still think it's interesting that a creature that is generally seen as good luck to have in the house (people try to encourage a zashiki-warashi to stay, if they have one) is the focus mononoke, and I think it's actually very interesting to juxtapose how very inhuman the Medicine Seller can be, how pretty flat-out cold he is--he doesn't see the mononoke as the aborted babies; he just sees it as a thing to kill again.
- Is Shino actually supposed to be foreign? I don't know my Japanese history very well, but the fansubber's notes say that the series takes place around the Tokugawa era, and I can't remember if they had much experience or influence with the European west at this point--she has a Japanese name, but she's very obviously blonde and blue-eyed, when in the majority of the series (as much as the art exaggerates eyes/faces), the only "foreign" looking character is the Medicine Seller himself. Is it just supposed to be how she clashes with the expectations of her position, or is part of the disapproval because the young master slept with the foreign girl?
Umibouzu
- STILL PRETTY AWESOME. Though honestly, I'm still a little vague on the ending--what exactly happened to Genkei? He's still breathing at the end, but the Medicine Seller explicitly tells him that destroying the mononoke will destroy his soul. But is it really that, or is it just--destroying the layers and layers of lies and protection he built up over the years? And why would that restore him to youth? IS HE--STILL HIMSELF, or will he wake up a husk that's alive, but not alive? I am torn. :|a
- I think this may be the most gorgeous of all the arcs--the entire series is absolutely beautiful, and it's still a benchmark for sheer wonderful animation throughout, but I think the Umibouzu arc allows for a lot more color and creativity, with the fish and the ocean and the screen doors.
Nopperabou
- So knowing how erotic the Japanese find the nape of the neck, holy wow do they really emphasize this with Ochou a lot. The first time I watched the series, I was more interested in the whole "but what IS the mononoke?!" question; on this rewatch, it's interesting how often Ochou's nape is focused on, both when she's weighed down her her husband and his family and their expectations--but also when she's talking to "her" mononoke (especially when they're in the field of cherry trees who're shedding their petals).
- It's also, imo, the most abstractly peculiar--it's far less straightforward than any other arc, even with the ambiguity of the last part of Umibouzu.
- I still think that the one masquerading as the mononoke for Ochou's fantasies is the Medicine Seller's Other. He has the right skin tone and hair color, the pointed ears--plus ... okay, I have always thought that Midorikawa and Sakurai (when they're both in their deeper monotone range) sound really similar! In fact, the first time I ever heard a Sakurai role, I thought it was Midorikawa (Kagami from GetBackers). And I think it's a significant thing that the "mononoke" is voiced by Midorikawa, off the Medicine Seller's Sakurai--they sound the same, but not exactly.
- This of course also leads me to wonder how independantly the Other thinks from the Medicine Seller. There's really no indication, which--I like that there's no explanation, but I still wonder. XD Are they really the same creature, with two different sides? Is it just that the Medicine Seller was once upon a time a human, possessed by a mononoke in a sort of--like the one demon who decides to wipe out all others, in the hopes of achieving paradise? OR WHAT.
- Having finished the arc, I am convinced: the Medicine Seller has the same pipe as the nopperabou. There's also the conversation he has with Ochou, when she asks why the nopperabou saved her; it's very different from how he deals with the other mononoke, even the one with a human aspect (Genkei from the previous arc). IT MAKES SENSE TO ME.
-->WITH THAT IN MIND, man, why is it always Medicine Seller/Kayo, why isn't there more Medicine Seller/Ochou.
... mostly, man, this show is so pretty. Excessively. I'm glad it didn't overdo itself and stuck to high-quality with the animation and story and acting, but sometimes I wish there was more. :'(
Zashiki-Warashi
- I still think it's interesting that a creature that is generally seen as good luck to have in the house (people try to encourage a zashiki-warashi to stay, if they have one) is the focus mononoke, and I think it's actually very interesting to juxtapose how very inhuman the Medicine Seller can be, how pretty flat-out cold he is--he doesn't see the mononoke as the aborted babies; he just sees it as a thing to kill again.
- Is Shino actually supposed to be foreign? I don't know my Japanese history very well, but the fansubber's notes say that the series takes place around the Tokugawa era, and I can't remember if they had much experience or influence with the European west at this point--she has a Japanese name, but she's very obviously blonde and blue-eyed, when in the majority of the series (as much as the art exaggerates eyes/faces), the only "foreign" looking character is the Medicine Seller himself. Is it just supposed to be how she clashes with the expectations of her position, or is part of the disapproval because the young master slept with the foreign girl?
Umibouzu
- STILL PRETTY AWESOME. Though honestly, I'm still a little vague on the ending--what exactly happened to Genkei? He's still breathing at the end, but the Medicine Seller explicitly tells him that destroying the mononoke will destroy his soul. But is it really that, or is it just--destroying the layers and layers of lies and protection he built up over the years? And why would that restore him to youth? IS HE--STILL HIMSELF, or will he wake up a husk that's alive, but not alive? I am torn. :|a
- I think this may be the most gorgeous of all the arcs--the entire series is absolutely beautiful, and it's still a benchmark for sheer wonderful animation throughout, but I think the Umibouzu arc allows for a lot more color and creativity, with the fish and the ocean and the screen doors.
Nopperabou
- So knowing how erotic the Japanese find the nape of the neck, holy wow do they really emphasize this with Ochou a lot. The first time I watched the series, I was more interested in the whole "but what IS the mononoke?!" question; on this rewatch, it's interesting how often Ochou's nape is focused on, both when she's weighed down her her husband and his family and their expectations--but also when she's talking to "her" mononoke (especially when they're in the field of cherry trees who're shedding their petals).
- It's also, imo, the most abstractly peculiar--it's far less straightforward than any other arc, even with the ambiguity of the last part of Umibouzu.
- I still think that the one masquerading as the mononoke for Ochou's fantasies is the Medicine Seller's Other. He has the right skin tone and hair color, the pointed ears--plus ... okay, I have always thought that Midorikawa and Sakurai (when they're both in their deeper monotone range) sound really similar! In fact, the first time I ever heard a Sakurai role, I thought it was Midorikawa (Kagami from GetBackers). And I think it's a significant thing that the "mononoke" is voiced by Midorikawa, off the Medicine Seller's Sakurai--they sound the same, but not exactly.
- This of course also leads me to wonder how independantly the Other thinks from the Medicine Seller. There's really no indication, which--I like that there's no explanation, but I still wonder. XD Are they really the same creature, with two different sides? Is it just that the Medicine Seller was once upon a time a human, possessed by a mononoke in a sort of--like the one demon who decides to wipe out all others, in the hopes of achieving paradise? OR WHAT.
- Having finished the arc, I am convinced: the Medicine Seller has the same pipe as the nopperabou. There's also the conversation he has with Ochou, when she asks why the nopperabou saved her; it's very different from how he deals with the other mononoke, even the one with a human aspect (Genkei from the previous arc). IT MAKES SENSE TO ME.
-->WITH THAT IN MIND, man, why is it always Medicine Seller/Kayo, why isn't there more Medicine Seller/Ochou.
... mostly, man, this show is so pretty. Excessively. I'm glad it didn't overdo itself and stuck to high-quality with the animation and story and acting, but sometimes I wish there was more. :'(
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But I don't think it's unreasonable to think that there's significance in the voice direction. :x