The finale of the Mononoke movie trilogy, Mononoke The Movie: Chapter Ⅲ – The Curse of the Serpent, is set to join its predecessors on Netflix on September 29. The reveal comes with an English dub trailer and an English visual.
Mononoke The Movie: Chapter Ⅲ – The Curse of the Serpent was originally released in Japanese theaters on May 29, almost two years after the first installment, Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom in the Rain, begin screening in July 2024. The supernatural mystery trilogy is set in the Ōoku (inner palace) has a focus on the women who are tied to the place. Per Netflix, the third movie “focuses on the Midaidokoro, the highest-ranking woman in the Ōoku.”
The larger Mononoke series began in 2006 with the “Goblin Cat” episodes of the horror anime anthology Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales, which later led to the 2007 Mononoke TV anime. The central character is the mysterious Medicine Seller, who slays otherworldly beings known as mononoke, but has to first grasp their Form, Truth, and Reason so that his sword can be used. There are multiple Medicine Sellers in the setting, with an upcoming new project to feature the series’ third Medicine Seller.
Originally, the movie trilogy would have starred Takahiro Sakurai, who already voiced the Medicine Seller in the TV Mononoke anime. He was dismissed in 2023, with the announcement alluding to an affair scandal involving Sakurai and making note of the movie’s attempt to “depict the suffering and remedy of women.” Hiroshi Kamiya became the Medicine Seller of the movies, but tweets from Japanese viewers revealed that Sakurai returned for a cameo in the final movie. A few days after Mononoke The Movie: Chapter Ⅲ‘s premiere, anime producer and Twin Engine founder Koji Yamamoto, who has a “planning produce” credit on the trilogy, said that he would take responsibility and retire from producing.
Takashi Hashimoto (Revue Starlight the Movie co-main animator, Fate/Grand Order THE MOVIE: Paladin: Agateram co-storyboard artist) was the TV anime’s character designer.
Production credits (same credit as the previous movies unless stated otherwise)
• Chief director: Kenji Nakamura (director of Gatachman Crowds: Insight, the first Mononoke movie, and the Mononoke TV anime)
• Director: Tomoaki Koshida (new, RPG Real Estate)
• Scriptwriter: Yasumi Atarashi (since Mononoke The Movie: Chapter II – The Ashes of Rage)
• Character designer: Kitsuneko Nagata
• Animation character designer and chief animation director: Yuichi Takahashi
• Visual director: Yoichi Senzui
• Background art director: Akira Kuramoto
• Background art director: Yoko Saito
• Color designer: Kunio Tsujita
• Music composer: Taku Iwasaki
• Animation production: Studio Kafka and EOTA (Twin Engine EOTA was credited for the first film, while the second had Crew-Cell and EOTA)
• Hiroshi Kamiya as Medicine Seller
• Atsumi Tanezaki as Yukiko
• Miyu Irino as Tenshi
• Kenjiro Tsuda as Hokuto Mizorogi
•Yoshiko Sakakibara as Suikoin
•Tomoyo Kurosawa as Asa)
• Yoko Hikasa as Fuki Tokita
• Haruka Tomatsu as Botan Otomo
• Yuki Kaji as Saburomaru Tokita
•Jun Fukuyama as Hiramoto Saga
• Daisuke Hosomi as Sakashita
• Cho as Yoshimichi Tokita
• Ryo Horikawa as Fujimaki
• Yukana as Amanotsubone
•Fumi Hirano as Tokiwai
• Mariko Honda as Kawa
• Eiji Takemoto as Saku Mizorogi
• Miyuki Sawashiro as Third Midaidokoro
