Mononoke ended...

[taotrooper]

Sigh. I'm gonna miss this series. The aesthetics were artsy yet bizarre, balancing shiny and pretty with gross and creepy quite well. The plots were complicated, somehow disturbing, and the end of each arc were so open they would leave you with more questions than answers. There are so many ways to interpret it, because the mystery never truly goes away. The main character never seems to change or to develop; hell, we don't get to know who he is or what are his motivations! And all of this, I think, was actually refreshing.

But seriously, it was major delight for me. Because I like horror, I like Japanese legends, I like puzzles, I like mysterious men, I like series about exorcisms, I like seeing the consequences of human behavior in its worst, I like being shocked and WTFing, I like carefully planned canons, I like strange-looking animation, I like transformation scenes, I like exotic backgrounds.

And Mononoke was that, precisely. And with its defects, I take it as it is and adore it.

So this was the series that left me the strongest impression. Guys, sorry, Gurren Lagann was fun to watch and all, but this was my pet series this summer. That's how I am, and that's the kind of fandom I find fascinating. I couldn't get that attached to any other character in any other series I watched this season (and I checked a lot of anime, trust me), and I'm missing the medicine seller's voice already even if I hardly know the guy and perhaps never will. I'm just that weird.

I feel torn about not knowing his backstory, by the way. On one hand, the way the canon is structed, it makes sense it won't tell us. If they were going to explain or even hint WTF is the guy about, what kind of being he is, what's with the alterego and whether it's the same person or not, what's with the sword, and why he has that mission... maybe the charm would be gone. I think I'd end up loving him more, no matter if it's too bizarre or cliché or deprssing. When my mystery-ambiguous guys gain depth, I'm in trouble and end up crushing hard. But then again, that's just me, and those are Eriol, Ushiwaka, Kujaku, Ginko... the list goes on other cases that might be different to Kusuriuri-san's.

On the other hand, do you know the potential this leaves to make his past up from scratch in fanfiction? ...Of course, it'll be hard to have people writing gen for such an obscure fandom, or get me to come up with something that makes sense when the Okami plotbunnies won't shut up!. Bummer, I'm always craving precanon fic in the wrong fandoms!

I'm hoping they'll take the Kino no Tabi route and we'll get movies or OVAs, if there are definitely no more episodes/seasons for TV. Mononoke is ideal for hour-and-a-half one-shot movies, I think ^^ And an OVA about his backstory would be sweet, and that way you can decide whether to take it as your canon or not.

Also, this person at mononoke_anime was linking to threads at 4chan at the comments of a post, and I checked the fanarts out. I'm amazed I saw several fanarts crossovering with Okami XD What, no images of MS petting Kabegami?! :O All and all, I think this is the best Okami/Mononoke crossover EVER MADE. He looks hot even in Okami art! ♥ (ETA: Moar LOL XD)

Now I feel like writing about a bakeneko in Sei-an City. Fuck it.

I'm still waiting for crossover fanarts with Zelda, Japanese fandom! Alterego/Fierce Deity's mask crack OTP! XD