There was once an anime called Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror, a compilation of three stories inspired from Japanese folklore. While two of them are considered largely unremarkable, the third one, the story of a mysterious medicine seller fighting a vengeful cat demon, was impressive enough to later spawn its own full series - Mononoke.

Mononoke is an episodic anime and it follows its protagonist, known only as the Medicine Seller, as he travels across feudal Japan and deals with various evil spirits called "mononoke". To fight them he must first uncover their form (Katachi), the truth behind their appearance (Makoto) and the reason for their unusual behavior (Kotowari).

The most striking aspect of this series is obviously the visuals which are just gorgeous and will without a doubt leave you speechless from the first minute and a half of watching. The colors and patterns are really vivid and it might take a while for your eyes to get used to them. The five stories are each different from one another and interesting in their own way and each one unfolds slowly taking you closer and closer to the core of the problem. Together with the soundtrack you get a very eerie atmosphere, surreal and sometimes even unsettling, but always captivating.

To be honest Mononoke was one of the best surprise anime has ever given me. I just couldn't keep my eyes off of it. It's true that it's not the kind of thing to appeal to anybody, but if you're one of those people who think anime has nothing interesting to offer anymore, give this one a try.

Ah, you beat me to it...

I don't think the other arcs in Ayakashi were unremarkable it was just Kusuriuri-san is amazing!

>>3 "Considered largely unremarkable"
Its a general statement lol, I don't think they were unremarkable either, but fuck, in comparison to the 3rd, yeah they were.

In all honesty...I haven't actually watched the other arcs in Ayakashi. I based what I said on what I've been hearing around rather than personal experience. So um, sorry if I was a bit unfair:P

>>4 & >>5
Yeah I understand that it's just the general perception but I was just stating my opinion.

Hey does anyone know of any anime with a similar art style to Mononoke?

>>6 I think the one that comes closest in terms of style is Gankutsuou, they both use textures and patterns instead of solid colors. That's pretty much the only similarity though, the story, setting, etc. are all completely different.

And you could always try the other anime directed by the same guy (Kenji Nakamura), they're all pretty interesting looking, but in different ways.

Over two years since bump. Wow.

I borrowed this series from my library recently. I really didn't think I'd like it, and after watching only two episodes, I'm still not sure if I do.

Sure is hard to look away from it, though. I get the feeling I'll be buying this on DVD at some point.