History Anime / Mononoke

A manga adaptation of the series started around the same time in 2008, covering the "Bakeneko" arc. A separate manga covered the rest of the anime's arcs, ending in 2019. The series received a movie project with a new story initially set to release in 2023, but was later postponed to Summer 2024.

[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relations to]] ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', the Creator/HayaoMiyazaki film.

* InconsistentSpelling: Officially, it's ''Mo No No Ke''.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Officially, it's ''Mo No No Ke''.

* AgentPeacock: The eponymous Medicine Seller himself. He crossdresses in an obi, paints his nails, and (sometimes) speaks with a traditionally feminine politeness. That doesn't stop him from absolutely [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu demolishing]] [[HorrifyingTheHorror mononoke]].

* AgentPeacock: The eponymous Medicine Seller himself. He crossdresses in an obi, paints his nails, and speaks with a traditionally feminine politeness. That doesn't stop him from absolutely [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu demolishing]] [[HorrifyingTheHorror mononoke]].

* OffscreenTeleportation: The Medicine Seller on occasion. In fact, the very first time he appears in the original bake neko arc - InMediaRes prologue before the chronological beginning - he immediately pulls this in front of half a dozen people. His sword also likes to appear in places it definitely wasn't in during the previous shot.

The animation style is done in UnmovingPlaid similar to ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'' (although to a lesser extent--there are actually some solid colors here and there, for example), and though it may take some getting used to, the way the series utilizes it is both beautiful and chilling.

* TheGadfly: The Medicine Seller seems to enjoy messing with people. Especially obvious in the manga adaptation.

** The Umi-Bozu arc [[spoiler:has Genkei accepting his darker feelings, such as his incestuous feelings towards his sister and the fact that he was happy she sacrificed herself in his place. Though his sister is long-dead, he has achieved inner peace as a reward for atoning]].

** The mysterious fish bard, voiced by Creator/NorioWakamoto, is a fish-human mononoke that reveals people's fears.

** The Umibōzu arc [[spoiler:has Genkei accepting his darker feelings, such as his incestuous feelings towards his sister and the fact that he was happy she sacrificed herself in his place. Though his sister is long-dead, he has achieved inner peace as a reward for atoning]].

** The masked man from the Noppera-Bo arc. [[spoiler:It's implied that he and the Medicine Seller are one and the same, and that he was derived for the purpose of getting Cho to reveal herself as a Mononoke]].

** The innkeeper and her assistant from the Zashiki-warashi arc are also dark-skinned; it can be assumed it's meant to be a sign of age in the innkeeper, but her assistant's appearance has no apparent explanation. It doesn't help that the assistant has bright red lips to go along with it.

** The mysterious fish bard, voiced by Creator/NorioWakamoto, is a fish-human Mononoke that reveals people's fears.

* AntiHero: While he manages to take care of Mononoke that threaten people's lives and generally attempts to protect civilian lives when he can, the Medicine Seller is rather cold and manipulative at times, with his worst actions coming in the Noppera-Bo arc where he [[spoiler: psychologically breaks a young woman in order to make her move on from her abusive family.]]

* BagOfHolding: Despite the small size of the Medicine Seller's backpack's compartments, he can fit ''hundreds'' of Mononoke-detecting scales, and possibly more inside.

** The Noppera-Bo arc [[spoiler:has the Medicine Seller disguises himself as the Masked Man (or at least has his alter-ego act on his behalf) to bring Cho out of her self-imposed shell, and exploit her long-suppressed desire to be free in order to reveal the Mononoke]].
** The Nue arc [[spoiler:has the Medicine Seller reenact the incense ceremonies with long-dead spirits in order to determine what happened to the people who died in that place, and reveal the Mononoke responsible]].

* BrotherSisterIncest: A major motivation for [[spoiler:Genkei]], and was the reason for the creation of the mononoke in the Umi-Bozu arc. [[spoiler:Genkei was implied to have been chosen as a sacrifice for the ayakashi because of this, only for his sister to take his place because she too, couldn't bear to marry any man that wasn't her brother. Genkei's refusal to accept this trope was what caused him to become a Mononoke]].

* DetectEvil: As in the first Bakeneko arc, the Medicine Seller's scales tip to point wherever the Mononoke is.

* DroneOfDread: Whenever the Medicine Seller detects a Mononoke and/or when something creepy is about to happen, an ominous violin melody starts playing.

** Cho from the Noppera-Bo arc barely reacts to the bizarre occurrences around her, even the strangely-dressed Medicine Seller. [[spoiler:Justified, as she has erased or deeply suppressed a large part of her own personality. When her defenses are finally broken and her condition as a Mononoke is revealed, she freaks out for real]].

* EmotionlessGirl: Played realistically in the Noppera-Bo arc with Cho. [[spoiler:She suppressed almost everything about herself to appease her domineering mother and become the ideal wife for her obnoxious husband, even though it hurts her to do so. This erasure of personality caused her to turn into a Mononoke. When the truth is revealed to her, she ''freaks out'']].

* FateWorseThanDeath: In ''Bakeneko'' [[spoiler:the titular Mononoke subjects anyone who steps outside the train car (or simply waiting until they give an important clue) to offing them with invisible cats and leaving them in a perpetual state of rot in its illusion. However, once her killer (her boss) - and therefore her Regret - is revealed, she lets everyone aside from him go unharmed]].

** The Zashiki-warashi [[spoiler:was the result of multiple abortions made against their mothers' will so they can continue working as prostitutes. As such, the spirits of the unborn babies haunted the place they died in until they found a woman who was completely willing to "give birth" to them - namely Shino, who happened to be pregnant]].

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: [[spoiler:The Zashaki-Warashi was the result of the spirits of multitudes of unborn children holding a grudge for being aborted. The two most responsible for the practice are killed, while the heroine Shino, who planned to carry her baby to term and was willing to birth the Mononoke at the cost of her own baby, is the only leading player to survive the night. She ends up keeping her child in the end. Played with however in that the abortions were unwanted in the first place and extremely violent, all for the purpose of the women continuing to work as prostitutes.]]
* GoOutWithASmile: The zashiki-warashi, [[spoiler:as they have finally found the mother who was willing to give birth to them even at the cost of her own child]].
* GreyAndGreyMorality: The entire series has this as its basis. The Mononoke are vicious eldritch beings, but most of them ultimately originated from human cruelty. The humans themselves are ultimately flawed beings, with good and bad people.

* LetsGetDangerous: Though the Medicine Seller is far from incompetent, he keeps up the facade of a "simple medicine seller"... until he starts suspecting a Mononoke is near, which is when he starts turning into a detective of sorts. By the time the Mononoke has made its move, the Medicine Seller unleashes his true power in the form of his alter-ego, who obliterates the Mononoke completely.

** Cho often has a serene face that's likened to a mask. [[spoiler:Because she suppressed everything about herself to appease her mother and in-laws, she essentially became something that no longer resembles Cho as a human, hence her transformation into a Mononoke]].

* MonsterOfTheWeek: The four arcs are named after, and focuses on, the Mononoke that the Medicine Seller hunts down.

* MusicalAssassin: The fish-headed Mononoke from the Umi-Bozu arc, who carries a biwa. Though he doesn't harm his targets, his music makes people relive their worst fears.

** Sasaki Hyouei in the Umi-Bozu arc normally speaks in a quiet CreepyMonotone, but completely loses his shit when trying to attack something [[spoiler:or being attacked by his greatest fear.]]
** Cho in the Noppera-Bo arc resembles the ideal wife of the period, being emotionally passive and serene. [[spoiler:The truth is that she does have feelings, but they're suppressed to appease her domineering mother and the abusive family she married into. Over time, she emotionally breaks down thanks to the Medicine Seller bypassing her defenses, and once she realizes she became a Mononoke as a result, she screams in horror]].

** Played dramatically in the Noppera-Bo arc. [[spoiler:As Cho gradually reveals her long-suppressed emotions, the kicker was [[TomatoInTheMirror learning that she became the Mononoke the Medicine Seller was looking for]]. That was when she completely breaks down and screams]].

* PsychologicalHorror: Though some of the scare factor comes from the [[EldritchAbomination Mononoke]] themselves, a lot of it comes from the process of learning about people, the cruelties they committed to create the Mononoke in question, and why they did it.

** Shape would be the appearance of the Mononoke.

** Reason would be the motive of the Mononoke.

* StepfordSmiler: Deconstructed in the Noppera-Bo arc. Cho grew up with an emotionally abusive, domineering mother, and later married into a wealthy yet equally unpleasant family, but she refuses to escape her horrible situation and insists she loves them. [[spoiler:This eventually turns her into a Mononoke]].

* WellDoneSonGuy: Gender-inverted; Cho and her [[MyBelovedSmother domineering mother]] have this kind of relationship. [[spoiler:In an effort to please her mother, who only wanted her to marry so she could appease her ancestors, Cho almost completely suppressed a large part of her own personality to the point of becoming a Mononoke]].
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The "regret" of some of the mononoke could make them this, especially the [[spoiler:titular Mononoke from the Noppera-Bo and Bakeneko arcs, respectively]].

* {{Youkai}}: The Mononoke are based on traditional Japanese monsters, with a modern twist added to play with the mystery/horror genre. Rather than being interchangeable, mononoke are defined as a specific kind of being.

* {{Crossover}}: With ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'' for the anime's 10-year anniversary. The Medicine Man is released as a [[TemporaryOnlineContent limited-offer]] SSR ''shikigami''.

The story follows our [[InexplicablyAwesome mysterious]], [[NoNameGiven nameless]] medicine seller in his travels and the various people -- and monsters -- he encounters. To slay each mononoke he must first discover its Shape (form), Truth (origin), and Reason (motive), which often proves far more difficult than it sounds. The [[TwelveEpisodeAnime 12-episode]] series is divided into five arcs.

A manga adaptation of the series started around the same time in 2008, covering the "Bakeneko" arc. A separate manga covered the rest of the anime's arcs, ending in 2019. The series received a movie project with a new story in 2023. However, the movie is postponed to Summer 2024.

A manga adaptation of the series started around the same time in 2008, covering the "Bakeneko" arc. A separate manga covered the rest of the anime's arcs, ending in 2019. The series received a movie project with a new story in 2023. However, the movie is postponed until to Summer 2024 due to replacing the voice actor of the Medicine Seller.

A manga adaptation of the series started around the same time in 2008, covering the "Bakeneko" arc. A separate manga covered the rest of the anime's arcs, ending in 2019. The series received a movie project with a new story in 2023. However, the movie is postponed until further notice due to replacing the voice actor of the Medicine Seller.

[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relations to]] ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', the Miyazaki film.

* {{Bishonen}}: You can see why ladies ''love'' the graceful good looks of the Medicine Man.

* KansaiRegionalAccent: The characters from the Nue arc speak with a Kyoto dialect, since the story is set around the old capital.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: [[spoiler:The Zashaki-Warashi was the result of the spirits of multitudes of unborn children holding a grudge for being aborted. The two most responsible for the practice are killed, while the heroine Shino, who planned to carry her baby to term and was willing to birth the Mononoke at the cost of her own baby, is the only leading player to survive the night. She ends up keeping her child in the end.]]

A manga adaptation of the series started around the same time in 2008, covering the "Bakeneko" arc. A separate manga covered the rest of the anime's arcs, ending in 2019. The series received a movie project with a new story in 2022.

* ShoutOut: The painting on the boat in the Umi-Bozu arc is reminiscent of the 1907 artwork ''Art/{{The Kiss|Klimt}}'' by Creator/GustavKlimt. There is also aMatisse ''Blue Dancers'' reference in the Nue arc and a Picasso in Bakeneko.

* DarkSkinnedBlond: The Medicine Man turns into a pale-haired, dark-skinned being after unsheathing his sword.