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Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari (TV) (w/ index).


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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23904
PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 6:29 am Reply with quote
DP, is they/them your preferred pronouns?
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15521
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 6:58 am Reply with quote
Maybe the safest bet. But I haven't really had enough exposure in whether it might be an all are okay sort of thing.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1224
PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 6:11 pm Reply with quote
DuskyPredator wrote:
@ Edjwald
Off topic, but I think that is the first time I have been referred to with those pronouns outside of something like a video game, which I won't say I have a problem with it. Just a new experience that I am going to process what that felt like, while I have hardly been able to ask people before to use "they".

Sorry, this might sound dumb, but I was focusing on what I wanted to say about squabbles, and I think I just pictured your avatar while I typed.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23904
PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 7:43 pm Reply with quote
Edjwald, I think you just learned a valuable lesson about not confusing a poster with their avatar. Also, you probably shouldn't post while wrapped up in a sleeping bag and jeez would it kill ya to scrape a razor over your face once in a while?
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15521
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:47 pm Reply with quote
Edjwald wrote:
Sorry, this might sound dumb, but I was focusing on what I wanted to say about squabbles, and I think I just pictured your avatar while I typed.

Don't be sorry, it is kind of why I chose this avatar from Immoral Guild. A mostly uninteresting ecchi anime, except for this femboy elf.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:09 pm Reply with quote
Blood - actually, I'm perky and wearing a tux. (Just don't ask me to repeat that during a lightning storm).

Dusky - I think I saw that show on the Recently Added list on HiDive.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1224
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 7:27 pm Reply with quote
Burning questions for the week:

- If Hyouma's brother was all that and a bag of nickels, how come that paper umbrella spirit is so powerful?

What exactly is it that makes some Tsukumogami more powerful than others. Is it the passage of time? Are my neurons misfiring, or didn't Hyouma say something about the spirit that killed his siblings being a new spirit?

Is it the the intensity of emotion that their vessels were used with? Exactly what kind of pyschotic nonsense did somebody get up to with a paper umbrella to create something like that?

I looked up Japan and Paper Umbrella's and significance on Google and this was the immediate response I got:

In traditional Chinese and Japanese weddings, the matron of honor would cover the bride with a red oil-paper umbrella upon arrival to ward off evil spirits. Purple umbrellas are a symbol of longevity for elders, while white umbrellas are used in funerals.

Hmmn?
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23904
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 8:42 pm Reply with quote
Episode 8

I'm afraid I don't have any answer to your questions, Edjwald, but the episode did raise one of my own which I will get to.

First though, I have to say how typically delighted I was with this installment. My first hearty guffaw was when Big Daddy Kadomori - after Hyouma had kicked much butt - tried to pass the whole incident off as, "I was merely testing you... yeah, that's the ticket." My second hearty guffaw was when the dangerously naive Hyouma bought it. I don't know if he would have been able to fend off the attack if Cute Daughter Kadomori hadn't first declined to join her family and then threatened to help out Hyouma, but let's just say it didn't hurt his chances. She clearly liked his deceased siblings and that played in his favour.

There still wasn't enough screen time for my darling Yu - who clearly needs her own show with the same sort of episode count afforded something like, say, One Piece - but she didn't fail to delight with her hissy fit over Botan and Hyouma's "date" (i.e. walking and standing together in reasonably close proximity - scandalous!).

Anyway, the aforementioned question that occurred to me happened after Hyouma told Mortar Wheel that she would be passed onto the Kunato clan to be used in some capacity, albeit not in the same "unilateral" way that the Kadomoris use their tsukumogamis (i.e. involuntarily forced by talismans to do their bidding). That the Kunatos use tsukumogami was news to me. I ask the class... have we ever known of this before?

It quite surprised me because clearly Hyouma knew of this and given his pre-Botan household view of tsukumogami, I don't imagine he would have been very cool with it. Also, how exactly are the tsukumogami integrated with the Kunatos? I assume there is a happy medium between the enslavement technique of the Kadomoris and the family dynamic of Botan.

As always, time may tell.
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Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2912
PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 10:17 pm Reply with quote
#8

No problems with this episode's adaptation. They didn't miss out on the big reveals for this episode, while the battle scene with Yagen met my expectations. I wouldn't be surprised if this episode's revelations didn't allay the lingering suspicions about the unrealistic change of Hyouma's character though.

One thing which even the source material doesn't reveal is whether the Kadomori's knew who was really responsible for the "retirement" of Ou no Onigawara, but I suspect they did not because unlike the Six who did bother looking up Hyouma's background more closely the Kadomori's worked based on hearsay alone. If they had known Hyouma was responsible for single-handedly defeating a Tsukumogami of equivalent power to the Six in Kyoto, they probably wouldn't have tested him like that.

So Hyouma after watching his siblings (effectively foster parents) get killed by a Tsukumogami they were supposed to save in front of him was the catalyst for his start as a Tsukumogami hunter. In six years since he started his hunt, he grew strong enough to defeat a powerful Tsukumogami single-handedly. Yet it's a "surprise" that he's had zero opportunity to try to resolve interactions with Tsukumogami through dialogue. Both Old Man Kadomori and Botan have already remarked that Hyouma is different compared to the start of the series, so I suppose it's either taken at face value or viewers will never cease to impose themselves on a fictional franchise.

If there was one thing I found disappointing about this episode, it was they didn't play up the first meeting between Yagen and Botan more for laughs. It's slightly different in the source material as Botan's next course of action is omitted in this adaptation.

As for speculation from anime-only viewers about what the Japanese Umbrella is, that is something you have to read for yourself in the source material. All I can say is that for an antagonist, the Japanese Umbrella is not to be found wanting. As for its symbolism, not much in this case. There are other powerful Tsukumogami in this series and not all of them are objects casual viewers would associate with incredible supernatural abilities.

Looking at next week's episode trailer and the remaining airtime, unless they agreed to extend this to two quarters I'm almost certain I know where this adaptation will stop. Whether or not the big questions will be answered will certainly require additional adaptation, so how well this series does in home video sales will determine the odds of future adaptations. As much as I would like to see more, I'm not optimistic as this season is far too crowded and the series has not done quite enough to generate enough interest amongst casual viewers.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
Posts: 1224
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:17 am Reply with quote
Blood - yeah, the series is still hitting the high notes with me too. The pink haired clan daughter seems fun, and seeing Yugen again was unexpectedly...well, not poignant exactly, but nice.

Harley - I'd love it if this series pulled some Fruit of Evolution type hail mary play, but I have to admit, I don't like its chances for a second season either.

Maybe I'll inspire a Tsukumogami while clutching the bluray case of one of my favorite anime that didn't get the attention it deserved...
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15521
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 5:23 am Reply with quote
Surprise of the episode for me was that the mind controlling talismans introduced last episode can be used on humans, and he was just allowed to be let go after easily being a big criminal who tried to take away the physical agency of someone.

Also, are tsukumogami meant to be known as being human like in emotions or not? If so I would think that noncontrolling as disposable soldiers should cause some trouble. And Botan really did not know until now that he had a really good reason not to be trusting of them tsukumogami?
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23904
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 6:47 am Reply with quote
@ DP - whose physical agency did Hyouma try to take away? I was kind of surprised Botan didn't know about his siblings, too.

Anyway, I hope this speculation over the unlikelihood of future sequels turns out to be wrong, but if it is not then this is an example where I would turn to the source material to be able to continue the story. Fortunately for me, Seven Seas began releasing volumes in English last month. I can only hope they sell well enough for the title not to get cut off before it catches up with the number of Japanese volumes.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15521
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 8:56 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
@ DP - whose physical agency did Hyouma try to take away?


The old guy tried to mind/body control Hyouma, he was the almost victim, in a way that would suggest that he quite possibly does it to other people. And Hyouma kind of just let him go, I guess buying that it was all a test.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23904
PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 9:47 am Reply with quote
Oh, I misunderstood. I thought you were saying that Hyouma was the big criminal who tried to take away the physical agency of someone. Well, I wouldn't say that Hyouma just let him go easily. If you accept the in-world explanation, Hyouma bought Kadomori's b.s. that he was just "testing" him therefore, presumably, he doesn't think Kadomori was *really* trying to take him over.

But frankly, even if he did, what could he do? Although he was strong enough to resist, I don't think he was strong enough to actually do anything about Kadomori. I imagine any inter-saenome disputes are settled in-house as opposed to going to the cops, for example.
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Edjwald



Joined: 03 Aug 2017
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:55 pm Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Anyway, I hope this speculation over the unlikelihood of future sequels turns out to be wrong, but if it is not then this is an example where I would turn to the source material to be able to continue the story. Fortunately for me, Seven Seas began releasing volumes in English last month. I can only hope they sell well enough for the title not to get cut off before it catches up with the number of Japanese volumes.

Are you talking about the manga series that has two volumes out? I checked up on that too.
Just from the summary, doesn't look like they extend up to the point we've reached so far, much less cover the entire anime, so we're probably looking at a good wait.
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