Mononoke follows a wandering, nameless character known only as the "Medicine Seller" (Kusuriuri). The series is made up of individual chapters in which the medicine seller encounters, combats and subsequently destroys various mononoke. The "mononoke" are a type of ayakashi, unnatural spirits that linger in the human world.
The Medicine Seller always proceeds in the same manner, using his knowledge of the supernatural to fend off the mononoke until he can learn the spirit's shape (Katachi), truth (Makoto) and reasoning (Kotowari). Only then can he unsheathe his sword and exorcise the demon.
The "Bake Neko" part dedicated to the infamous Medicine Seller in the anime Ayakashi-Japanese Horror Stories was such a hit that the animators decided to produce a series solely focusing on the mysterious wanderer Medicine Seller. And they did well, even perfect.
The art style of the anime is captivating. The backgrounds, the Japanese motives/patterns that are used, the textured feel of the scenes are unique. I've only seen something like this in the anime Gankutsuou in a more contemporary sense. But unlike Gankutsuou, the texture and patterns used here do not tire your eyes. Every caption you might make of the anime looks like a digital painting. And this works so well with the authentic stories that the plot employs.
Medicine Seller is voiced by Sakurai Takahiro, and his voice makes the character look even more mysterious, powerful and somehow gentle at the same time.
Every story takes you in with a nice blend of horror, originality and leaves you awed. The Medicine Seller is both an observer of the human fallacy and is the one who never comments on them. He shows the results of what kind of atrocies humans can cause, his motivation is never to save the humans, never to judge them either. He simply destroys what should not be in the world as we see, meaning ayakashi. And I think his neutrality on the subject helps the message go across better and more brutally.
Music is nice, nothing exceptional. Dialogue is easy to follow since the subbers of this show really did a fine job in relaying the cultural tidbits about the stories to the viewer.
This show is one of its kind and has earned many praises. You must watch it. And I recommend downloading the last 3 episodes of Ayakashi Japanese Horror Stories, too, since it's Medicine Seller's debut and that Bake Neko Arc is a hair rising and tragic tale worth watching.
