English Dub Review: Mononoke The Movie The Phantom In The Rain

Overview

In the chambers of the Edo harem, two newcomers uncover political intrigue, rivalry and a vengeful spirit only one traveling medicine seller can vanquish.

Our Take

Anytime someone tries to tell me that American producers and writers have the most violent and disturbed minds in entertainment, I always tell them Japan is by far crazier in this arena. But, that’s why everyone loves anime, because anime isn’t just one thing, it’s an industry. Just when you think you have a finger on the pulse of where the biggest source of Japan’s GDP is going the producers throw different shit at you that makes you think otherwise but you’re never disappointed. Netflix knows this, that’s why they have Netflix Japan, you’ve got to be in the belly of the beast to truly understand what’s going on and that’s why they’ve been very successful, so much so that companies like WB Japan, Disney, and others are running to get in on the gold digging as well and will continue to do so as we look towards 2025.

Enter Mononoke The Movie The Phantom In The Rain, the compilation film adaptation of the 2009 series directed by Kenji Nakamura and created by Toei Animation with EOTA producing. Iyuno checks in again for another solid English dub(more on that in a bit), and Yasuharu Takanashi delivers us what I think might be his finest musical score of his entire career.

The premise of the film sees an inn that was formerly a brothel that used to force its prostitutes to abort their fetuses and leave them all over the place to rot so their collective spirits now confide in the walls which causes mass chaos just as a big event is slated to take place. Fortunately, a Medicine Man comes to town just as shit starts to go haywire and at least gives the modern patrons a fighting chance.

Takashi Hashimoto directed the animation and was the character designer and Takashi Kurahashi was the art director, both of which should be highlighted here as the artstyle of the film lead itself quite well into a heart-pounding hellish thrill the likes of which I think even the hardcore followers of Junji Ito could appreciate. Chiaki J. Konaka, Ikuko Takahashi, Michiko Yokote, and Manabu Ishikawa all helped write the scripts that were later adapted and they’ve efficiently laid down the groundwork for the start of a multiple part saga that might be hard to top next year and instantly makes this franchise one of the most highly-anticipated for 2025 for Netflix.

Last but not least, Iyuno delivers on the English dub cast with a number of heavies in this film, from Kira Buckland, Stephanie Sheh, Ryan Colt Levy, Ryan Bartley, and others so you know the performances are going to be top-notch and they are nothing short of in their execution.

Mononoke The Movie The Phantom In The Rain dropping on Thanksgiving makes this a perfect alternate for those not wanting to watch an afternoon filled with football here in America, but even if you wanted to make today about the games, spend some part of your weekend turning off the lights and have one more fright before we get to the end of the year and you won’t regret it.

Mononoke The Movie The Phantom In The Rain is streaming now on Netflix