Video features footage from March 14 film
Twin Engine began streaming a music video for the second film Mononoke the Movie Trilogy: Chapter 2 (Gekijōban Mononoke Dai-Ni-Shō: Hinezumi), and it reveals and previews the theme song “Hana Musо̄” by Aina The End. The video features footage from the upcoming film.
© Twin Engine
The second film will premiere in Japan on March 14.
New cast members include Chō as Yoshimichi Tokita and Kenyuu Horiuchi as Rōjū Ōtomo (elderly Ōtomo). Hiroshi Kamiya reprises his role as the Medicine Seller. Other returning cast includes Haruka Tomatsu as Botan Ōtomo, Yōko Hikasa as Fuki Tokita, and Yūki Kaji as Saburōmaru Tokita.
Mononoke The Movie: Phantom in the Rain (Gekijōban Mononoke: Karakasa), the Mononoke project’s first film, premiered in Japan on July 26. Netflix is streaming the film. The film was previously slated to open in 2023, but was delayed. Alongside the announcement of the delay in February 2023, the film’s staff also announced that Takahiro Sakurai would no longer reprise the role of the Medicine Seller as originally planned. Kamiya instead voices the protagonist the Medicine Seller in the film.
The first film won the Axis: Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation for best animated feature film at this year’s annual Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.
Kenji Nakamura returned to direct the first Mononoke film, with production at Twin Engine. Kitsuneko Nagata was the character designer, and Yūichi Takahashi adapted those designs for animation and served as chief animation director. Taku Iwasaki composed the music. EOTA animated the film.
Singer Aina The End performed the first film’s theme song “Love Sick.”
The Mononoke anime premiered in 2007 and aired for 12 episodes. The series is a spinoff of the Ayakashi – Samurai Horror Tales anime. Specifically, it follows the medicine seller from the “Bakeneko” (Goblin Cat) arc. The Mononoke anime has five arcs, the last of which is titled “Bakeneko.”
Kenji Nakamura directed the television anime at Toei Animation, and Takashi Hashimoto designed the characters and served as chief animation director. Yasuharu Takanashi composed the music.
The anime previously streamed on Crunchyroll, but is currently available on other streaming services such as The Roku Channel and Netflix. New Video Group released the series on DVD in North America in 2014.
Sources: Twin Engine‘s YouTube channel, Comic Natalie
