It's Only 12 Episodes But Its 12 Of The Most Beautiful Episodes You'll Ever See - Tumblr Posts

elodee
1 year ago

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 30

SmallishBeans x Mononoke

Minecraft youtuber SmallishBeans (aka Joel) drawn in the style of Mononoke. He is in a traditional Japanese outfit which is light pink and green with sakura blossoms along the sides. He is wearing red face paint reminiscent of a tanuki and long green nails. Behind him is a painting of cherry blossoms. The entire image has a papery texture. Next to Joel is a rectangle with a green-yellow-red gradient which has his YouTube handle written vertically inside it in black. This text looks like its been painted with an ink brush.

For Joel I chose the gorgeous anime mini series, Mononoke!

I chose this for Joel because Mononoke is the most beautiful anime I have ever seen. Others have come close, but Mononoke is number one for me. The bright colors, detail, and texture variation remind me a lot of Joel's base.

The show is animated with a paper texture and looks like a moving Edo era ukiyo-e woodblock print. Still images don't do the show justice, so please go watch it.

Do note, however, that the show is technically horror. The series is beautiful but very eerie and touches on dark topics. It also has a lot of surreal imagery that could be upsetting to some people, so discretion is advised.

To learn more about Mononoke and see my style references, go below the cut.

@hermitadaymay

(Gamers Outreach fundraiser)

Mononoke is the story of a nameless person known only as the Medicine Seller who wanders Edo era Japan. The enigmatic figure seeks out restless spirits called mononoke who bind themselves to negative emotion and haunt the living. The Medicine Seller finds ways to get close to the spirits and learns their purpose for lingering in the human world, then attempts to exorcise them. Every two to three episodes follows the story of an new exorcism.

The draw of the show, in addition to its beauty, comes from unravelling the mystery behind each mononoke, since the Medicine Seller can't perform an exorcism until he understands what happened to cause the spirit to become attached to a specific place or person.

The show feels almost like a detective story, but a really creepy one where you're not really sure what's going on half the time. Mononoke is unique, and definitely not everyone's cup of tea. However, even if the genre isn't your vibe, it's definitely worth watching at least some of it for the visuals alone.

Style references:

The Medicine Seller from Mononoke. He is an elegant looking man with large pointed ears and long, light brown hair. He has pale skin, purple eyes, and red face paint that surrounds his eyes and highlights the bridge of his nose. He is wearing a purple bandana over his hair and is dressed in a light blue traditional Japanese outfit (I am sorry, I don’t know what its called, it looks like a kimono to me but I don’t have much knowledge about this). In this image he is staring down the viewer and holding up the palm of his hand in a ’stop’ gesture. Behind him is a painted background of cherry blossom trees. The entire image has a papery texture.

The show has a papery texture behind the animation, making even very simple shots look really detailed and beautiful.

The medicine seller viewed from a low angle. He is inside the most colorful building you can imagine with busy patterns along all the walls and the stairwell above him. The ceiling is checkered, there are blue columns with floral patterns, and behind and to the sides of the Medicine Seller are what appear to be giant aquarium tanks populated by goldfish. These tanks also have a floral pattern on them. The dominant colors in the image is light blue and a muted red and the entire scene has a papery texture under it.

Some episodes reach hyperpop levels of colors and patterns, though still using paper-like texture throughout. The results are stunning - I remember pausing episodes on my very first viewing just to take in some beautiful scenes.

A chaotic and colorful image that looks like a collage of Edo era woodblock prints that have been brightly recolored. In the centre is a rectangle with a green-yellow-red gradient that has the name of the show written in Japanese inside it in a large ink brush font. The text is written vertically and beside it, also vertical, is the name of the show in English letters in a small type face that looks like it came from an old typewriter. On top of the rectangle is a cat in human Edo-era clothing. To the right of the title is the medicine seller, who is standing in a 3/4 view and looking at the viewer. The rest of the image is a chaotic collage which includes a crowd of people on a yellow bridge, a red god or demon of some kind that I don’t recognize, an old Japanese building, and a wave that resembles The Great Wave of Kanagawa, which is a famous 1830s ukiyo-e woodblock print by the artist Hokusai.

The title design in a piece of art for Mononoke.

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If you are an artist or just like beautiful animation or are a fan of ukiyo-e woodblock prints specifically definitely check this series out it's only 12 episodes but its 12 of the most beautiful episodes you'll ever see and you'll immediately understand why Joel's base makes me think of this show hermitaday hermitcraft smallishbeans joel smallishbeans
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