# Mononoke movies
#film #anime #watched-2026

!! Spoilers.

## I: Phantom in the Rain
Super good and unexpectedly yuri! but I'm sad they didn't get to be together at the end. Maybe they will in the future? I wasn't sure how to interpret the ending. Did she just like... decide to accept her leaving? (Because being scribe was more meaningful?) Or was it the opposite, that she didn't start to dry out because she held onto her feelings? Both are kind of tragic!

I didn't remember the Medicine Seller sounding so... shonen? He sounds super intense and macho. I was thinking he was more of a creepy whispery type. Whatever, he is a lot of fun.

Gorgeous, of course. I love the motif where scent is shown as sort of... floral reverse snowflakes.

I'm not sure if it dawned on me until this movie that _Mononoke_ is essentially a whodunnit. The Medicine Seller even makes sure to get everyone assembled in one room to sort everything out.


## II: The Ashes of Rage
The scribe lady from the first movie was in it for like five seconds. No sign of her wayward crush. :(

This is shorter than the first one; it feels more like a TV episode than a movie. Very straightforward story, too. It's about coerced abortion, which is hard to do without anti-abortion overtones, but here it really is about reproductive autonomy. The concubines are trapped in a system where their value is defined by their ability to bear children (or, perhaps it's more accurate to say they've fought their way to the very top of this system). Pregnancy is their ticket to power but also makes them a lightning rod for court plots.

I have no idea how accurately this series conveys the vibe of the historical equivalent. It's pretty fucking creepy. It isn't enough for them to be sex slaves, they have to worship the guy in a weird cult too, and they're all really stoked about it.

Does the water still taste like shit, or did killing the last spirit take care of that?


## III: The Curse of the Serpent
This was fantastic. It totally took down the entire edifice of the court. Even the king (or whatever) felt he existed only to breed. The climax of the movie is everyone realizing the patriarchy is bullshit and their whole lives were a lie. Amazing.

The anime version of the Medicine Seller showed up!

The best part: at the end, the crush from the first movie reappeared! She and the scribe were writing to each other the whole time! Woohoo! Frustratingly, the contents of the letters were not translated despite being visible on screen. I will choose to believe they were passionate love letters and they're in a happy LDR.

I guess killing this one fixed the water, so it must have still tasted bad in the last movie.