Again, I am very very sorry for the late post. I thought I could post this a few days ago, but work and having to go to clinic delayed me from writing this post. I’ll do my best for the next one to follow the schedule properly.
Mononogatari or also known as Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari, is adapted from a seinen manga series of the same name. Just like its title, Mononogatari takes place in a world where spirits exists. These spirits cross over into the human world and possess old objects and gain a physical form: a tsukumogami. If you are knowledgeable about Japanese lore, you must’ve heard about yokai tsukumogami. Tsukumogami can be gentle, violent, or somewhere in-between. Because of this, a clan named Saenome is tasked to peacefully helps send them back to the spirit world.
The protagonist of the story is Hyoma Kunato, an heir to the Saenome clan, who instead of peacefully sending the tsukumogami back to the spirit world, is more eager to just destroy them because of his hatred for them. His actions gives a headache to his grandfather, but he can’t exactly blame Hyoma because the hatred he has for tsukumogami is justified. When he was still in middle-school, he lost his older siblings to a tsukumogami and since then is resentful of the spirits. Based on this experience, he won’t bother to try listen to any tsukumogami he meets and just attack them without hesitation, deeming all tsukumogami are ruthless destructive creatures deserves and needs to be destroyed.
Hoping to change Hyoma’s black and white view, his grandfather ordered him to stay in Kyoto for one year with a girl named Botan Nagatsuki, the head of Nagatsuki clan, who unlike Hyoma, lives with a group of exceptional tsukumogami whom she treats more like a family. Knowing a human lives together with several tsukumogami is obviously a shock for Hyoma who always believes them to be evil beings.
Hyoma is quite likeable protagonist. It’s obvious from the trailer that the source of his hatred for tsukumogami is because he lost his loved ones when they tried to reach out a tsukumogami. What makes him different from many characters with the same reason as him is Hyoma doesn’t let his hatred to completely rule him. There are characters who develops hatred on something or someone to the point they bears severe prejudice so much that they won’t stop at nothing to completely kill the ones they hate. Hyoma hates the tsukumogami and refuse to reach out to them peacefully, but all his attack on them is more out of concern that the tsukumogami would hurt others rather than purely out of his hatred for the creatures. At his core, Hyoma is a good guy who cares for others’ well-being. At the same time, this side of him mixed with his hatred for tsukumogami may one day lead to his own self-destruction. That’s why his grandfather forces him live with Botan and her tsukumogami, to learn that there are good tsukumogami out there.
Hilariously too bad for Hyoma and his grandfather, Hyoma’s arrival at the Nagatsuki estate ends up with Hyoma being beaten up by the tsukumogami whom he was supposed to live with for one year due to his blunt straightforwardness that understandably ticked off Nagi and the other Nagatsuki tsukumogami. XD
Overall, this first episode is a great debut enough for me to continue watching it and wanting to cover it. I’m looking forward to know Botan in the next episode and how her interaction would be like with Hyoma, them being opposites.
Possibility of Blogging: Guaranteed
