The Morose Mononokean

Episode 13

Note: Spoilers for the manga's version of this plot arc.

From the earliest episodes, The Morose Mononokean's pathos has strengthened it most. The series knows how to wring the maximum emotional reaction out of its viewers, usually something in the realm of "heartwarming" or "sad." More often, one reaction turns into the other over the course of the episode. With this finale, The Morose Mononokean pulled a heartwarming ending from two previous episodes of sadness.

We all knew that Ashiya would eventually regain his sight. Mononokean is still a fundamentally light-hearted show, despite its moments of drama. Still, there were enough differences from the manga in previous episodes to leave viewers in suspense about how it would happen. This week's version of things actually hewed much closer to how Ashiya regains his sight in the manga, with the yokai cornering him in the mountain shrine and frightening him with a skull and other items. This approach seems to be successful at "scaring" people like Ashiya back into their abilities, and Abeno's previous coldness toward Ashiya about returning to the job was a previous attempt in this vein. It works, and then everything is fine. This fits the more comedic tone of the manga, but the anime needs a more emotional and sappy approach.

The scene goes off in a similar way, but this time they get as many yokai as possible—basically every one that Ashiya had a positive encounter with over the course of the series—to help out. This allows not only a great moment of everyone coming back for the finale, but also displays Ashiya's strong emotional connection to them. At first he can only hear sounds of the yokai moving around him, but then in the dark room, he senses their emotions. While Ashiya has plenty of reasons to be afraid of these sounds, he realizes that he's less afraid of supernatural happenings than he was before he came into the job. He's still jittery, but eventually realizes that he shouldn't be; all the feelings he's sensing are warm, kind, and benevolent. Ashiya starts to relax—until he feels a creepy, clammy "ghost hand" (that just turns out to be Abeno) grab him, causing Ashiya to pass out cold in fear.

When Ashiya comes to, his vision is restored. Of course, the first yokai he senses is his constant companion Fuzzy, as Ashiya nestles into his coziness. Abeno later works out that Fuzzy in particular had to be the one to "wake Ashiya up," because it was Fuzzy's feelings that originally activated Ashiya's abilities. While there had been yokai around him all his life that he hadn't sensed, Fuzzy's powerful feelings had connected with him on a special level, and that was what gave Ashiya the ability to sense yokai. So while reactivating his abilities needed a room full of yokai who'd been personally impacted by Ashiya, Fuzzy needed to take the lead, being right there when Ashiya was about to wake up—just like Fuzzy had been there the whole time on his back, refusing to leave his side even when Ashiya couldn't see him.

Another great choice in adaptation was the decision to center Ashiya's relationship around one yokai like this. Ashiya makes up with Fuzzy by playing toss with his beach ball, and of course, Fuzzy looks cuter than ever soaring through the air to catch it. It makes the viewer wonder what it says about Ashiya that this particular yokai was the one to emotionally connect with him. Ashiya himself is also innocent, a little simple-minded, and sweet, so it makes sense that a yokai who matches those qualities would be drawn to him. Given Abeno's earlier comments about getting too emotionally attached to yokai, it's easy to wonder if there was a particular yokai who opened him up to his abilities in the same way. Was that Yahiko? Abeno had his powers from a much younger age than Ashiya, so it might not have worked the same way, but it's still food for thought.

At the end of the episode, Abeno talks with the Mononokean about the reasons yokai can't get too attached to humans. Humans have finite life spans while yokai do not, reminding him of the reasons that yokai do not understand Aoi's death. Abeno had to learn this the hard way from his previous master's death, but he says that Ashiya will just need to learn it in his own time as he watches him play with Fuzzy. Perhaps Abeno realizes there's value in Ashiya's approach: humans and yokai need to enjoy the time they have, just like humans would with their shorter-lived pets. It doesn't make that connection any less valuable or worth seeking out just because it doesn't last as long as it could.

It was a sweet and resonant way for The Morose Mononokean to end. It didn't pack quite the punch of the show's earliest episodes, but that's to be expected; viewers have developed a tolerance to its predictable patterns of moving from sadness to bittersweetness to happiness. This finale chose the perfect manga arc to stretch out and beef up, one that really demonstrated how much Ashiya has grown and changed his values over the course of the series. While episode one Ashiya would have been glad to lose his ability, by episode 11 it had come to define him. By episode 13, it comes full circle, with Ashiya regaining his powers and resuming the more fulfilling life he has with yokai in it. It may be time for the audience to depart from this happy, heartwarming world, but maybe it won't be for long. There could always be a season two around the corner!

Rating: A-

The Morose Mononokean is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rose is a music Ph.D. student who loves overanalyzing anime soundtracks. Follow her on her media blog Rose's Turn, and on Twitter.