Medicine Seller - Tumblr Posts
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The Mononoke production team really went and fed Sakurai Takahiro to the Bakeneko. As much as the outcome may potentially result in complicated feelings in some, I MUST commend their guts and their decision to stand against mistreatment of women (shows how aware they are of the masterpiece they are working on). And it makes me respect and look forward to the movie even more.
For the past 2 days, the Mononoke team’s decision to recast the Medicine Seller has been living rent free in my head. And today I come to offer another perspective.
Because of the way animation in general does not allow for much appearance of the creators, much of the public credit and acknowledgement go to the only slither of humanity that can be seen or rather … heard. People equate their favorite characters with the providers of their voices. Kaji Yuki is literally Eren Jaeger. Dante Basco is literally Zuko. And Sakurai Takahiro is literally Shirokuma, Osomatsu, Makishima, Rohan, Kusuriuri, etc. Except this is a very reductive view because in truth, the voice actor does not, at all, play any part in the actual creation of a character or vision. They are the missing piece of a puzzle, but the other 99 pieces, the base, the frame, they’re the works of the writers, the designers, artists, animators, and directors. The voice actor simply HELPS bring that vision to life per directed, they are not creators.
In light of the recast decision, I have seen outcries saying that without Sakurai Takahiro, the Medicine Seller is no longer the Medicine Seller, which is a sentiment I can understand. I, too, have deep attachments to the characters voiced by him, and thus, indirectly, to his voice. But while his voice is perfect for such calm, mysterious, almost mystical character, consider this. Would you want a main character of a story that intentionally explores the lived reality of women in history (both pain and gain) through a humanizing lens, whose affiliation is neutral but with subtle acknowledgement and empathy for the victims of each crime (who are mostly women), to be voiced by a man who has, for a very long time, deceived and taken advantage of the women in his life? The compatibility between Sakurai Takahiro and the Medicine Seller is purely superficial, they stand for complete opposite things. And the team, while fully know the risks they are taking, sided with their creation.
With that decision, their creative interest is fully protected. By recasting the Medicine Seller, they are asserting their rightful claim to the credits of creating both the character, AND the series. THEY are the mysterious lines spoken in several intakes of breath, THEY are the glamorous kimono, THEY are the cheeky and mischievous actions that also imply a sense of misanthropy. The Medicine Seller is NOT, and never has been, Sakurai Takahiro. Secondly, with such cruel actions as his reputation, it is difficult for any production to continue working with Sakurai Takahiro, especially in a lead role where he would no doubt be involved in many promotional materials and inevitably be linked with its name. Hence, it is likely that, without any drastic action, upon finishing this movie, the Mononoke team, too, might close its door and try to move on. But by detaching him from the name, they are now able to look forward into the future and continue to conceptualize the universe that we all love and crave, without the weight of such an impactful and disrespectful scandal, that directly contradicts their stance, on their mind.
In all, with the single brave decision to recast one of the most recognizable traits of their central character, the Mononoke team has protected their character, their work, their creation. It is truly commendable.
Oh my gosh somebody wrote me an essay I’ve never felt more honored 😭
This is definitely my more recent interpretation of the Nopperabou arc too, but you have even more interesting observation and interpretation 💖
I am also thinking of 2 details that could support or extend this interpretation.
1. When Kusuriuri asks “who did you kill” the last time, and Ochou realizes “they’re all me,” there are several visual flashes of Ochou’s body being mangled. Like hung, or piked, or tied and slashed (sorry for the graphic description 😬). This could represent all the different ways Ochou has contemplated suic*de.
2. A psychiatrist once told me that sometimes mental illnesses manifest as a way for a part of you to let you know that something is deeply wrong. It’s something that your body knows and your mind knows but you refuse to acknowledge. So in order to get your attention, it twists itself and exhibits as a mental illness i.e. depression, anxiety, etc. OR inversely, it could be a part of you that’s trying to protect you but is taking everything to the extreme and you become miserable for it.
And I think that’s what happens with Ochou.
Both the traumas that she never addressed and her defense mechanism manifested into the Man in the Fox Mask. Who represents both her repressed fantasy and her repressed issues. Of course, that part of her is trying to protect her, trying to make her happy. The problem is, it doesn’t have an answer other than pretending to be the man of her dream. But when even that doesn’t work out, its only solution is su*cide.
But here’s something interesting. Around the end, Hyper is shown with his magical sword drawn. But after Ochou says to the little confetti “thank you so much, I’ll be okay now,” Hyper’s sword is shown again WITHOUT the magical pew pew firework beam. This has always been intriguing to me. And it reminds me of another thing that psychiatrist said: “sometimes you have to appease that part of you and reassure it that you’re gonna work on your issues, and that you’re gonna be ok. So it can stand back and not make you so miserable anymore. Because it’s trying hard to protect you, it just doesn’t know how to do it right.” And I think Ochou managed to subdue her Mononoke by embracing it and appeasing it.
So personally, I think Ochou did not actually end her own life after all. She has recognized the problem, and she’s leaving them behind to work on herself.
(Oh shit is this too long? I get excited when people write me essays)
@amaryllis14612 Your post about the Man in the Fox Mask made me think more deeply about why I think he is a part of Ochou.
I remember that the Medicine Seller said that Ochou had fallen in love, and when this person is revealed to us, we see that it is the Mononoke. However, at the end of the episode, we find out that the Mononoke is actually Ochou. Taking all these facts into account, we can come to the conclusion that the masked man is a part of Ochou that wanted to be happy and free, but she kept that part of herself inside her heart, so it is represented as someone else. Ochou developed self-love, and this self-love led her to seek freedom, the freedom she found in ending her own life.
At least that's how I like to think about it :))
❝— Feelings and memories. They only exist inside my heart.
— Even if we live at the same time, or have the same visions, what we carry in our hearts will never be the same.
— Your face, your voice, your image, which only exists inside me.
— Who are you?❞
The second act of Nopperabō is presented in this way. I think that's a way of saying how our hearts carry different hurts, and that this also applied to Ochou, who had created such an unthinkably huge will to be free, that she no longer recognized that part of herself, and only within from Ochou's heart, it became a whole another person.
Mononoke, but I tried to imitate Okami style 🖌
According to the DVD/Bluray artworks, his hair is realllllly long. And I can't find scanlations for those anywhere.
I want to have some fanarts of the new medicine seller.
I read that we’re about to get a movie in the coming year, so I decided to rewatch the series, which in turn led to a new bout of fan-brainrot.
Anyway, here’s some fanart of everybody’s favourite Medicine Seller. I also took the opportunity to mess around with the colour choices, as I have recently found my art lacking in that regard. I am not entirely happy with the result, but it looks decent enough to post.
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Close-ups:
