English Dub Review: Mononoke the Movie: The Ashes of Rage

Overview:

The second movie in the Mononoke trilogy continues the story of the Medicine Seller investigating a supernatural threat within the Ōoku, the Emperor’s harem. A series of spontaneous combustions, caused by a mononoke known as the “Fire Rat’s Children,” plague the harem as concubines vie for power and the chance to birth an heir. The Medicine Seller must uncover the spirit’s “Shape,” “Truth,” and “Reason” to stop the fiery destruction.

Our Take:

This is my first experience with the Mononoke series, and I remember the first time I saw the title, I thought it might have something to do with one of my favorite movies, Princess Mononoke. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, but fortunately, it stands on its own if you give it a chance. I think first, I’m going to hit on the negatives I found in this movie.

My only negative for this film was that the story seemed a bit disjointed. I couldn’t quite tell what was going on. That could be because I’ve never watched anything in this series before, but from what I’ve seen, this movie can be watched standalone. If that’s truly the case, then it failed a little bit when it comes to being easily digestible. It was a minor problem, though, because I still managed to follow the story, and I enjoyed it.

When I was a kid, there was an animated film that I loved to watch called The Thief and the Cobbler. I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about this movie before, but I bring it up because Mononoke’s animation style reminds me of it. Everything is so colorful, and the environments the characters are in are unique. It feels like something out of a storybook. The animation alone is worth the price of admission for this one.

The animation isn’t the only great thing, though. If you’ve read my reviews, you know that I love Crispin Freeman, but it seems like he doesn’t do a lot of new voice work these days. As I said, I haven’t watched this series before, so I’m not sure if Crispin always voiced the Medicine Seller, but I would imagine this is a reprisal. I always love hearing his voice, and this was no exception.

I’ve been looking for an anime series to watch that I might have missed out on, and I think Mononoke might be the winner. I like supernatural stuff, and there seems to be a new one to deal with in each episode or movie. I’m going to watch the series and the previous movie, and I can’t wait for part three of this movie trilogy. Do yourself a favor and give this movie a chance, maybe then you’ll be like me and decide to give the rest of the series a go.