How to beat the MONONOKE in "Mononoke: The Phantom in the Rain"

What would you do if all the women around you are a bunch of faceless robots, and when you try to live like them, people start dying and disappearing? Today, I'm going to break down the mistakes made, what you should do, and how to beat the Mononoke in Mononoke the Movie, The Phantom Reign. This beautiful lady has no idea that her life is about to change drastically in the next four days. Her name is Asa, and she arrives all by herself at this giant, tightly guarded gate to a place called the Ooku. A young man stands by the gate, accepting gifts for a birth celebratory ceremony. The first thing we learn is that the Ooku is off-limits to men, and even for women. You need to possess a gate pass to enter. Another woman named Kame comes close to her, and immediately reveals how much of a klutz she is. She raises her hand, and her stuff falls out of her bag. Asa helps her pick them up, and Kame immediately offers her one of her grandmother's rice balls. Then they strike up a conversation immediately, talking about how they have both come to work at the Ooku before they are interrupted by this weird-looking man. I'll call him Mr. Medicine Man. And just after he interrupts, our naive little Kame offers him one of her little rice balls, too. A guard that I will call Mr. Gate Man walks up to them, and lets them know that he's been expecting them. He tries to rizz them up, talking about how beautiful they are, but they know he doesn't have no aura, no juice, so he offers to help them carry their luggage, but Asa declines while Kame agrees, but not without giving him, yep, you guessed it, some of her mother's rice balls. Mr. Medicine Man notices his failed attempt at wooing, and offers to give him a love potion to help his future attempts. That's when Mr. Gate Man notices there's even someone standing there. And yep, this is all shades of wrong, because why are you a guard if you can't even notice the strange figures LITERALLY STANDING AT YOUR GATE?! But then the scene changes, and we see some guys who, weirdly enough, have made it into the Ooku. The more stern-looking one calls his friend in glasses Hiromoto, and scolds him for flirting with the girls in the Ooku. Hiromoto calls him Saburo Maru, and tells him to keep quiet, because he can sense pretty ladies nearby. Yep, serial flirt. And soon enough he sees Asa and Kame, but before he can move on them, Saburo Maru threatens to throw away his gate pass. Mr. Gate Man opens the gate for Asa and Kame, after inspecting their gate passes, and tells them to meet with Madam Awashima and Mugitani beyond the gate. He warns them to make a good first impression, and wishes them good luck, before sending them on their merry little way. With the gate opened, Mr. Medicine Man tries to slip into the Ooku, but he's quickly stopped by the Gate Man, who warns him that the Ooku is not a place for men, but for women that serve the pleasure of the king. So yeah, it's basically like a legal harem. He warns that if he tries to go any further without a gate pass, he will lose his head. Okay, this Gate Man could have saved himself a lot of future trouble, and here's what I would do. The self-acclaimed Medicine Man has been fishy since he arrived. One, looking at the Gate all funny and dressed up like a clown with all this makeup on, and even worse, he isn't actively trying to sell anything. Instead, he's just poaching on innocent girls and teasing a security guard. But his real red flag is that he tried to slip into the Ooku without a gate pass. I may not know everything about being a security guy, but I know this. When someone shows up uninvited and tries to slip into without a valid means of entry, it is reason enough to send them away. Far, far away from that place. Heck, for all we know, he could be surveying the security apparatus of the place, trying to get cozy with me or the other guards, or even looking for a good entry point into the palace! So, if I were in the shoes of the Gate Man, I would obey the rules of guarding 101. As soon as he moves funny, I send him and his medicines. We don't even know if it's real medicines, by the way. For all we know, he could be smuggling illegal stuff. If it's not enough to threaten him, it's better to take action now and explain later. Too many things can go wrong if this Medicine Man turns out to be no good. If he can enter into the King's harem and possibly even have his way with some of the King's wives, guess who would lose his head for that? Me, if I was the guard, so no thank you. Thank you for your medicine, but take it and be on your way. Asa and Kami continue that tour of the O-Uku, and Kami holds Asa's hand like they've been best friends since forever before jumping on the O-Uku rug. They meet Lady Awashima, the head housemaid, and Mukitani. Just think of her as an assistant to the head housemaid. After Asa and Kami introduce themselves, they do some initiation ritual for them, because why are they giving them weird water blessed by their goddess to drink? Awashima explains that all the maids that live in the O-Uku partake in the water-drinking ceremony every morning, and she claims it is to ensure that they can always produce an heir for the King. But... take a look at all the chicks around us. They're all faceless zombies with weird spirals in place of their face. Oh no, it's Uzumaki all over again! As soon as they drink it, Asa and Kami frown with their faces, showing that whatever blessing this goddess gives tastes foul at best. Mukitani, the assistant maid, then instructs them that to show their devotion to the King, they must throw away whatever their prized possession is into a well. To them, it means discarding their ties to their former self, whoever they were, before coming to the O-Uku. Kami initially resists, but when all the brainwashed girls in the O-Uku start echoing the same phrase, she decides to partake in it. But first, she tries to share her precious rice balls with the woman. Seriously, how can she not read the room? And as she passes the pack to the woman closest to her, they pass it on and on without taking anything until it gets to Mukitani, who gets a little too excited to throw it all into the well. Some babe named Uteyama walks through the room, and you can immediately tell that she's a big shot. All the maids clear the way for her and begin to greet her with another coerced phrase. Awashima, the headmaid, tells Kami that she cannot focus on her duties if she's still tied to her old material possessions. Asa, however, is a badass opinionated woman. I know I liked her for a reason. She talks back to the headmaid, asking why they can't work and care for their possessions at the same time. The headmaid is surprised by how outspoken she is. She explains that she has practiced writing since an early age, and was only allowed to enter the Ooku because they had recognized her talent as a writer. She explains that aside from her love for writing, she has nothing physical that she can throw away. Lady Awashima is shocked that there is a lady that has no physical possessions that she cherishes. Meanwhile, Kami is already getting into the spirit of it. She pulls out a special comb given to her by her beloved grandmother, and throws it into the well as a symbol of her dedication, even though Asa tries to stop her and points out that the entire ceremony is not necessary. At the same time as Kami feels sad for throwing away her grandma's comb, our medicine man, still at the gate, feels jitters down his spine. A drop of water out of nowhere lands on his cheek. Talking to no one in particular, he says, I sense a form has appeared. Comb floats for a while, and then suddenly it starts to rain. Lady Awashima points out that the ladies are going to get wet, and that's when they all mindlessly bring out their umbrellas to shield themselves from the rain. She apologizes to Lady Uteyama that she had to witness Asa's outburst before screaming at Asa and Kami to bow their heads before Lady Uteyama and Lady Buran, a concubine of the king. Lady Buran stylishly scolds the head maid for Asa's actions, but while the head maid is apologizing, Asa's not moved. She explains confidently that she does not neglect her duties. Uteyama the head admin explains to Asa that the Ooku is not a place for the fulfillment of any private ambition. Everything must become secondary to the Ooku, which she calls their primary identity. Uteyama explains that as they continue to work in the Ooku, they would obtain a higher perspective. Outside the Ooku, the medicine man asks the gate man why so many people are gathered at the gate, and the gate man is surprised that he does not know about the birth of celebratory ceremony. The medicine man says he only smelled a money-making opportunity. This makes the gate man give out some information, that one of the king's ladies, Lady Yukiko, just gave birth, and they're celebrating the birth. The medicine man proves to be quite knowledgeable, Inside, Saburo Maru introduces himself and Hiromaru to Lady Uteyama. Without wasting time, he asks why the ceremony was originally postponed, but instead of answering, Uteyama asks him to leave everything about the ceremony to her. She sticks to the explanation submitted in her report, that there was a lack of preparation. She calls in some big names, using Lady Buran's position to her advantage. Saburo Maru tries to raise his voice, reminding her that he came on behalf of the Shogunate, but Lady Uteyama cannot be bullied. She reminds him of his place by telling him that the Ooku belongs to the king and exists for his sake only. She warns Hiromaru to stop flirting with the girls in the Ooku, leaving him red with embarrassment. Mugitani takes Asa and Kame around and shows them the building while informing them of their duties, and boy, there are many. They're supposed to make breakfast before sunrise, but Kame protests. Evidently, she was made for the soft life and not for serving tables. Asa, on the other hand, is not shaken. She has a history of serving her neighbors, so even serving 100 maids is not a scary task for her. And Mugitani takes the girls to the side for the concubines to move. Despite being warned by Mugitani, Kame can't hold herself when she sees a beautiful concubine. She blurts out a compliment at one of the ladies called Lady Fuki, but this angers Mugitani. Meanwhile, the medicine man stands by a well just outside the Ooku. He puts a sticky paper on one of the walls of the well just before a guard asks him to leave because they're closing. For some weird reason, as soon as he places the paper on the well, the conversations holding in different areas of the Ooku echo into his ears from the well. So, he can hear what Saburo Maru and Hiromoto are discussing despite being very far away from their room. While Saburo Maru is talking to Hiromoto about their role in the Ooku, his, I guess you could say, spidey senses are tingling and he senses a weird presence stalking them and gets on his guard. He signals Hiromoto to follow him, but when they open the door after doing some ninja moves, there's no one in the doorway. In their room, Kame also talks about how bitter the water tasted and wonders how the others can drink it so casually. And there are also more pressing things on her mind, like succession to the throne and becoming a concubine to the king. Yeah, you see, for all the glam and beauty of Kame, she actually thinks that's all there is to life. Asa, on the other hand, doesn't like being overly romanticized or becoming a concubine of the king. She'd rather learn a skill. Kame feels like Asa would be good at anything she decides to do, but she doesn't have that luxury. Asa tells her they're a team that she has nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, we finally see what makes Lady Fuki so attractive. She's obsessed in a bad way. She drinks again and again from the water that Asa and Kame have confirmed to be gross and bitter. Maybe there's something in the water. After drinking and drinking, she goes to join the king for the night. And you know and I know what happens next. Asa and Kame go about their duties, setting tables, and Kame proves why she must get the king's attention soon. A few seconds after they start, she slips and loses the food she's eating. Then, they join the rest of the women for their morning weird water drinking ritual. They sing a sad song about women and their misfortunes, which is kind of funny because they're supposed to be the king's concubine. But anyways, Utayama enters, and the faces of the faceless women begin to change color from black spirals to blue spirals. And she informs them they're now just three days away, and she will not tolerate any slip-ups. At the gate, the weird medicine man is still around, and he stares at his paper on the well and makes a weird comment about how it is not yet time because whatever it is is still far away. Lady Utayama announces that there are about to be some changes in the personnel structure and ranking of the ladies. Lady Awashima is put in charge of the arrangements of the ceremony, and is promoted from head housemaid to guest greeter. Following the change, Mugitani becomes the head housemaid, and Kame can already imagine how bad things are going to get for her. But just when she thinks things can't get any worse, they actually DO get worse. Lady Utayama announces that she is also promoting Asa to the position of tour guide to Saburomaru and Hiromoto. So, they appoint her as a housemaid, and get this, it's the first time someone has become a housemaid in less than two days. Just so they could keep the two men from sticking their noses elsewhere. Because she tells Asa and the other maids to serve the Oku with their body and soul. Asa is accosted by Kame, because we all know she's too lazy to do actual chores. So she decides to help Asa with giving guidance to the men in the Oku. At the gate, the medicine man and the guard are becoming way too chummy. But really, it's just the guard being unprofessional again, and releasing vital and secret information to someone he just met. He tells the medicine man the story of a woman who left the Oku and went back to her village because she couldn't keep up with the life of the Oku. When the medicine man asks for the name of the girl. He finally realizes how dumb he is, then he FINALLY shuts his mouth. Asa carries out her duties. But Ani just keeps being annoying, and she's all fuzzy from walking where Lady Fuki walked yesterday. And cares nothing for actually DOING what she offered to help Asa do. Utayama seems to have taken a liking to her dear old Asa. Because when Awashima informs her that the purification salt for the ceremony has now arrived. She decides that the responsibility for getting the salt should be taken from Awashima and given to Asa. She says it is her duty to give more work to those who are good and responsible. Anyway, Asa arrives in her private room, because promotion comes with its perks. Kame seems a little jealous, but does a good job of hiding it before running out of the room. As Asa walks around the room, she opens a shelf, and an old concubine doll falls out. Pretty normal, right? WRONG! As soon as it falls out, a series of events start to happen. First off, someone shows up in the doorway saying that she left the doll there. But when Asa turns to answer, the person's gone. Suddenly, everywhere she turns, she hears the sound of the woman's voice. She says she left it when she changed rooms. Asa finally sees the person talking, and she introduces herself as Kitagawa, the former occupant of the room. Asa notices that she is the official scribe of the Ooku because of the kimono she's wearing. But when she speaks, the lady tells her that such hierarchies only exist within the Ooku. Asa explains that she once visited the Ooku with her father for a birth ceremony. And that's when her childhood dream to work in the Ooku began. She recounts of how she fell in love with the scribe that wrote that day. And then, Kitagawa informs her that she was the one meant to fulfill that role at the ceremony that was postponed two months ago. While remembering, Kitagawa sees the figurine drawing of a lady under her. But it suddenly turns around to look at her, causing her to scream. She tells Asa to apply for the role of official scribe. Asa refuses, wearing her crown of humility by saying that she's not ready yet. Before she leaves, she tells Asa to look after the doll for her, claiming that she would return for it another time. She leaves the room, and Asa runs after, but when she gets to the room door, there is no one in the corridor. Kitagawa has vanished. Mugitani spies on Asa while she works. And that's how we get to know that Kami is not setting up the morning dishes with her. At the morning water drinking ritual, Kami is still dozing away. Mugitani is watching her angrily. And as soon as the water ritual ends, Kami's morning gets a lot worse. Lady Awashima starts scolding Kami because she failed to attend to the task Mugitani gave her the previous day. While she was busy walking about with Asa and getting lost in thought. But then Asa shows up again and takes responsibility for Kami's mistakes. Awashima wants to use it against her by asking about the purification salt she sent Asa to get the previous day. But Asa is the epitome of order. She informs Awashima that she has already gotten the purification salt. But then Mugitani takes the opportunity to lay into Kami even more because she is not as capable as Asa. Asa shows that she is also skilled because she defends Kami like her life depends on it. While they're talking, the eyeballs of fish in a drawing begin to change. While that's going on, Mugitani is attacking Kami for flirting with men, being lax about her duty, oversleeping, calling her a promiscuous and lazy woman. And Awashima then steps in before Mugitani can continue and Kami thinks it's over. But she is so wrong. Lady Awashima tells Kami to pack up her things and head to Mugitani's room. Where she will be giving more detailed lessons of how to take care of a house and do chores. Mugitani is way too happy by this and she looks down on Kami with a wicked grin on her face. Asa, however, tries to protect Kami by offering to take her under her wings and train her herself. But before she succeeds, Mugitani grabs Kami by the hand and drags her away. Elsewhere, we see Hiromoto flirting with one of the maids and Sabu Romaro is honestly really tired of him. However, he proves that he is not only a serial flirt, but also an information specialist. As soon as he leaves the babe, he shares information with Sabu. A maid servant fell ill and left the Ooku two months ago. But aside from that, no one in the Ooku knows the real reason why the ceremony was postponed. Back to the front gate, our gate man is having fun with his bestie, the medicine man. But then this medicine man brings out a device. And when the gate man asks about it, he tells him that it is a scale that measures the distance from that which cannot be seen by human eyes. As he says this, the guard gets nervous. Mugitani begins to torment Kami in her room and she pours a bucket of water on her and asks her hard questions. As she continues to torment her, the scales outside of the Ooku begin to turn. The guard notices it. And at the same time as the water in Mugitani's room overflows and the floor begins to change color, Lady Awashima notices that something is wrong because she sees a figurine on the floor. Outside of the gate, the guard braces himself as the medicine man draws suspiciously close to the gate. And then suddenly, the scale chimes again and the medicine man screams excitedly for the first time since arriving at the gate. Inside, Mugitani carries all of Kami's properties and heads to the balcony before throwing them all away. Kami screams in tears, but then something even weirder happens. Tears start coming out of Mugitani's eyes. And then the tears change from white to a funny blurred color. The items hit the water at the same time as the medicine man gets ready to enter the Ooku. Then we finally see the guard get serious. He warns the medicine man that if he takes one step in the direction of the Ooku, he will be cut down. But the medicine man doesn't seem to mind. He gets himself ready and rushes at the security guard. And then he proves why the security guard should've been fired for a long time. He moves so fast, faster than the guard can pull out his sword, and in a very weird fluid motion, he pushes the sword back into the guard's sheath before kicking the guard away. But then he runs further into the Ooku, and he warns the guard that the Mononoke is here. The guard runs after him, but his weird scale things point him further into the Ooku. The guard tries to stop him, but then they find a frightened Lady Awashima. She runs quickly and hides behind one of them, begging them not to leave her alone. When they ask what happened, the medicine man says Lady Awashima heard a frightening scream from Mugitani. While the security guard stays with Lady Awashima, Asa climbs the stairs, chasing after the medicine man. When she gets up, they find the wet body of Kami, but he confirms that she's still breathing. He asks if she was alone, but Asa tells him that Mugitani was also with Kami. And he praises Asa for how calm she is. The medicine man tries to say something, but then realizes that something is very wrong. He says he didn't make it in time. And then they suddenly hear a rustling sound on the roof, and all his scales begin to point in one direction. Then, out of the ceiling, just like an item warping out of Obito's dimension, all of Kami's items that Mugitani threw into the water fall out. But that's not all. Together with them, a dried, mummified body falls out of the ceiling. And believe it or not, this ancient-looking corpse of a body was once the chubby chubby Mugitani. The medicine man tells them that what they have witnessed is not the work of any human. The guards try to attack him for invading the Ooku without a pass, but he's not bothered at all. He tells them to put away their swords because they are dealing with something that cannot be slain by a mere sword. He explains that they've witnessed the work of a Mononoke. Think basically demons from Demon Slayer. They attack him, thinking he's just playing, but he simply ignores them. And in the best use of anime Jedi magic ever seen since the invention of Star Wars, he summons his sword and draws it to himself before holding a piece of wood and jumps away from the range of their swords. He inspects the wet, dead body on the floor and notices the circular patterns. By this alone, he figures out the name of the Mononoke when it was alive. He calls it Karakasa. He warns them he cannot get rid of the apparitions until he has slain the Mononoke. To slay the Mononoke, he must use his sword, which he calls one of the eight swords representing yin and yang. And after a lot of explanations, we find out he's a guardian. He tells them the name of the sword, the sacred sword. Honestly, I expected more from after all that buildup. Lady Uteyama shows up, absolutely not bothered by the freaking dead body on the floor, and asks why has he not slain the Mononoke. He explains that as usual, every great weapon has a drawback. In his case, to draw the sword, certain conditions must be met. He must discover the form, truth, and reason of the Mononoke before he can slay it. To get these things, he basically has to uncover all of the hidden secrets of the Ooku. Alright, look, Mugitani would've said a line if I had my way. Here's how. The beginning of this issue, leading up to her death, was Kami. Whether we like it or not, Kami influenced the outcome by how clumsy she is. First, she spoke to Lady Fuki when Mugitani told her to keep her mouth shut. And then from that point, Mugitani already had a vendetta against her, and it became even more obvious to Lady Aoshima when Mugitani was scolding Kami for missing out on her morning duty. And with all that info, there was absolutely no reason to leave Kami's punishment to Mugitani, especially when Asa had already offered to help discipline her. If I were in Aoshima's shoes, I would immediately stop Mugitani from coming into any contact with Kami. And with that, the situation Mononoke would not have happened. And what's more, her death could've been averted if the security guard knew how to do his dang job. Instead of giving information to a total stranger, he should've been the one getting information out of the guy. I mean, seriously, a random dude shows up at your gate, refuses to leave, and you just assume he's there to sell medicine? If I were in his position, I would super stylishly ask some relevant questions, like, "'Gee, why are you here, really?" Or even subtle ones, like, "'What do you do when you're not peddling medicine?' "'Anything to get him talking.'" "'Heck, take him out to eat when my shift is over.'" "'Do anything to get info out of him.'" Because getting info out of him helps me get him into the oku faster. And if he gets in there faster, he can get to Mugitani before the Mononoke dies. And this doesn't happen, though, does it? No. So now here we are, stuck with a dead body. Lady Uteyama doesn't wait to hear more information from Medicine Man, and she asks the Gate Man to give the Medicine Man a pass to the oku. And then she proves why she's the big bad wolf of the story. She tells everyone in the room to not speak about the incident to anybody. And if anybody should ask about Mugitani, they're to say, "'She's alive and well, nothing wrong here.'" And the Medicine Man doesn't seem to care about any of it, and he asks all of them in the room to share their form, reason, and truth with him. Lady Awashima disposes of Mugitani's corpse by throwing it into the same water they fetched to drink from, and we wonder why it was so bitter. She gets so traumatized by what she's done that she vomits into the river. The next day, Kami doesn't show up at the morning water ritual. Asa drinks her water and goes to beg Lady Uteyama to not dismiss Kami. The Medicine Man, with his pass, begins to send out his scale things all over the oku. Asa eventually gets Lady Uteyama to allow her to deal with Kami. The Medicine Man joins them for the morning ritual to watch. But when Saburo Maru and his companions see him, they're not happy. Lady Uteyama comes up and states that Lady Mugitani had to go home For the first time, the men see the blankless emotion of the spiral faces of the women. Don reacts to the departure of Mugitani, and it just rubs them in a very bad way. Consequently, Asa, who just arrived three days before, is appointed as the new head housemaid in place of Mugitani. While the appointment is going on, a piece of paper drops in front of Saburo Maru, and through that, we figure out that the lady who left for home two months ago never made it home. The duo stops the Medicine Man on his way and asks why is he in the oku, but he tells them to ask Lady Uteyama before showing them his gate pass. While talking to them, his scales begin to point in a certain direction. Kitagawa shows up in Asa's room again, and she asks Asa what is she willing to get rid of in order to move forward. She tells him that some things must not be discarded, because if they're discarded, you will drive from the inside. And that's when Asa's room door swings open and the Medicine Man is standing right there. At the same time as it opens, Kitagawa disappears. Asa goes to check on Kami, who is ignorant of Mugitani's death. Kami's hiding and says she doesn't want to work with Mugitani, but Asa says she doesn't have to because she can work with her instead. Kami gets to work on writing, but quickly gets bored and decides to lay down. Are you kidding me? She's basically a cat. A human cat. Not long after she opens her eyes and abandons the work altogether, she decides to go walking through the corridors. But what she doesn't realize is that the eyes on the wall drawings are following her. She follows the sound of the women laughing into her room until she sees a door with a sun on it. She raises her leg to enter the water leading up to the door, but before she gets in, she feels a tug on her shirt. Lady Awashima pulls her back out of the room with so much force, she should have torn her kimono, but she doesn't. She warns her to never approach the night chamber again. Meanwhile, where the Medicine Man and the other two guests are, the scales begin tilting and the guys are stunned and they want to know if he's a magician. And he tells them that Kaonokasa is here. Awashima takes Kami to her room for some discipline, while Asa arrives at the point where she left Kami, only to find out that while Kami has neat handwriting, she quit her job again. Awashima asks Kami, does she want to give up her job in the Ooku? But Kami says no. She claims that she knew she couldn't make it in the Ooku as soon as she saw Asa in the Ooku from the day they met. As Kami speaks, water spills from out of nowhere and begins to fight gravity and go up the walls instead of going down. Kami claims that since the route of being a maid didn't work, she was hoping she would be able to catch the king's attention and, you know, skip maidship before becoming a concubine. But Awashima isn't having it. Then she has a full mental breakdown and rushes at Kami with her scissors. The water has gone to the roof, but they haven't noticed it. Awashima grabs Kami by her hair, pins her down on the ground, and starts cutting off her hair while asking if Asa put her up to the task. Kami runs away and Awashima starts to give chase. The medicine man senses the disturbance in the anime force and rushes out, with Saburo Maru and his companion chasing him. Awashima suddenly starts apologizing for throwing someone overboard, and the room begins to change color. And even when Kami tries to open the door and run out, it doesn't open. But then it does, and Lady Awashima is pulled out by a sudden force. Kami notices the change in the color of the room, and dare I say it, she can feel death coming for her. Awashima falls from one door through another, and just like Mugatani that dried up, she keeps on falling, and her skin begins to dry up. Speaking of Mugatani, Kami hears her voice echoing through the contorted wall colors. She's still talking about teaching Kami a lesson, and Kami screams and Asa hears it from the room where she is. Meanwhile, one of the maids reports to Lady Utayama that the medicine man and the other two men are causing chaos, saying there is a Mononoke in the Ooku. The medicine man arrives just in time to see Kami being sucked into the ceiling. He springs into action, grabbing her by her kimono and yanks her out of the ceiling. He stops the men chasing after him from running into the room. He then shoves Kami back at the two of them before rushing further in. He arrives at the next room where they only find the hand of Lady Awashima sticking out of the ceiling. He points out that it's already too late for her, and rain suddenly begins to fall into the room, and he realizes that the rain is the fluid from Awashima's body. He opens the door just a bit to tell Asa where to find Kami, then closes and seals the door with his papers. Hiromaru and Saburumaru try to get more information about what is happening from Lady Utayama, but even with everything revealed, she remains adamant and tells them to mind their business. The medicine man asks for the name of the maidservant that left for home two months ago, and that's when Asa finally puts everything together. All at once, they say Kirigawa. As soon as they say the name, his sword clenches its teeth. The medicine man tells them that Kirigawa is the truth of the situation. All that's left is the form and the reason, At the same time, all the papers he used to seal the door get covered by weird colored water, and then it covers the entire wall, and then it forming a face with three triangles and starts moving around the wall. As soon as Utayama comes within range of the room, the Mononoke directs its attack at her. The medicine man notices just in time to use his papers just like the hen leaf sealing jutsu to seal off the attack stick. As soon as he wraps the stick in paper, the Mononoke withdraws until it disappears from the room. He warns them the worst is yet to come, because the Mononoke has not obtained its final form. If it does, it would be unstoppable. Despite everything that just happened, her being attacked directly by the Mononoke, she declares sternly that the birth ceremony must go on. Okay, look, we're all thinking it. Allow me to say it. Aoshima's death and this entire ordeal is completely unnecessary. It did not have to happen. We've already dealt with the death of Mugitani, so you'd think these guys would have learned from their mistakes, but no, they don't. I already knew stuff was going down from the moment Utayama said, the show must go on. If that's not foreshadowing, I don't know what is. I would do the exact opposite of what Lady Utayama did. It's pretty basic. The medicine dude just popped out of nowhere, saved a girl's life, and while he's doing it, he's the only one that seems to know what the F is going on. Now, look, he's kind enough to offer his services without a fee, and the best you give him is a gate pass? No, he needs three things to work. Form, reason, and truth. We heard it from him. I'd best start talking and answering all the questions he's asking. Lives are on the line. It is no longer just the problem of the Ooku. Anyone could be next, including me. Also, Mugitani was killed by a vengeful spirit. But guess who didn't want to die and still had unfinished business with Kami? Yeah, Mugitani. It's safe to assume that even after her death, there would be no resting in peace till Kami is also six feet under. And here's the kicker. You know this, and you decide that instead of honoring her memory by letting the maids know what's up, the best thing you can do is cover up the death and throw her body in the well because THE SHOW MUST GO ON? That, my friends, is a recipe for DISASTER. It is also something you wouldn't see me do. So how would I beat Awashima's death? I would disclose everything going on, especially the part about Mugitani's death, as soon as it happens. I'd rather deal with one vengeful ghost than two, thank you very much. In their room, Asa informs Kami that she spoke to the ghost of Kitagawa. When Kami learns this, she doesn't freak out like you'd expect. Instead, she says, When Kami asks her what Kitagawa told her, Asa refuses to tell her, but tells her that she has something else to tell her. Asa confronts Saburo Maru with the new consensus from the Ooku maids. They claim that after the ceremony, they will announce that Lady Awashima has passed away, but the ceremony must go on. Saburo Maru is shocked to hear Asa speak like this. When he confronts her about her duty, she tells him that his job and the real reason why he came to the Ooku was to find evidence to bring down Lady Utayama and nothing else. Asa has become another Awashima. She says nothing will go wrong at the ceremony because she will see to it herself, no matter what it takes. Sound familiar? She goes to the morning water ritual, but Kami throws her water away. And then Kami goes to discuss the secrets Asa shared with her with the medicine man. Asa understands but explains to the medicine man that she cannot help him figure out the reason he is searching for, because while she spoke to Kirigawa, she doesn't know what happened to Kirigawa. Asa goes to speak with Lady Utayama, and Utayama explains to her that she determines how useful a person is by the amount of responsibility they can bear. Asa figures out from her statement that Lady Kirigawa could not live up to Utayama's expectations, and she warns Utayama that she could be the next victim of the Mononoke's attack, but that attack can be stopped if Utayama cancels the ceremony, and Asa begs her and bows her head to the ground. Next, Utayama calls a gathering of all the maids in the Oku, explaining everything that is happening to them, but, stubborn as she is, she insists that the ceremony will go on regardless. Asa explains the plan to them and asks for their support. However, the women don't listen. Well, not until Kami raises her hand in support, and gives Asa the courage to make another bold call for their support. And when she does a second time, Utayama is shocked and pissed off when all the women bow in her support. The security guard arrives at the Oku with the rice balls for the ceremony. In the upper room, Asa and Utayama talk. Utayama says that she is not planning to participate in the ceremony, so that when the Mononoke comes, it will only attack her. But Asa has something to say about that. She finally achieved the higher perspective that Utayama spoke about. She says she is unaffected by a lot of things, but her emotions were kept in check by Lady Kami. However, she has sent Kami away from the Oku through a letter because of her failure to meet up with her duties. As she talks with Lady Utayama, the medicine man notices his scales have started moving again. He chases after them in the direction they're pointing. While Asa goes on her duty, we then see Saburo Maru reading a letter and gets frantic. He runs to the well and grabs the fetcher, and uses it as an anchor to lower himself down. Meanwhile, Asa notices something is wrong. But when she steps out to look, the door seems to shutter out while the Mononoke finally has private time it's been wanting with Lady Utayama. It begins to rain in the Oku, but just as abruptly as it starts, it changes into some kind of weird colored water that filled the room when the Mononoke arrived to take Lady Awashima. The difference this time is that it's a lot bigger and covers the whole of the Oku. The medicine man arrives in the room where Asa and Utayama are just in time and starts using his secret sealing papers to ward off the walls where the Mononoke is trying to seep in. And the warding spell holds the Mononoke in place, but the medicine man warns them that they are almost out of time. He asks Utayama for the reason, the final thing he needs to draw his sword, that the Mononoke starts an intense game of tug-of-war, except this time it's not pulling. It's pushing the space between them apart as it tries to get to Utayama. While trying to hold it, the medicine man starts bleeding. He asks Utayama again why the Mononoke is after her, and she says she doesn't know. The sealing gives way and the Mononoke overshadows the warding paper and sucks all three of them into the ground before erupting like a volcano. Outside, Kame, who was getting ready to leave, plants and starts running back into the Oku. Above the Oku, a giant eye appears in the sky, and standing on top of the roof is none other than the ghost of Kirigawa herself. Kirigawa says she has nothing left and she is all dried out. The medicine man sees the form of Kirigawa and warns them that the Mononoke is finally manifesting in this world. Then an umbrella-like substance comes out of the eye in the sky and begins moving around the Oku. As it draws closer to Utayama and the medicine man, it stretches out different rods like hands, and Utayama knows it is coming for her, and pushes Asa away to safety. Meanwhile, the medicine man dodges the rods. Kame, who was probably trying to do something helpful, sees this, turns around, and runs away, screaming like a little girl. Then we finally get to hear Kirigawa's side of the story, and why her ghost is so vengeful. She says that when she was asked to throw away her most prized possessions, she didn't hesitate. She believed if she casted it away, she would become a different person. She says that she had a Kame of her own in her own time. When she rose the ranks, due to the favor of Utayama, this other girl, her Kame, was not so lucky. Eventually, she had to ask her to leave, so that she could focus on her pressing tasks. But as the person left, she realized what had changed inside. Now, while all of this is going on, our boy Saburo Maru, that took a dive into the well, made an extraordinary discovery. At the shore of the river, where the well is, there are hundreds of dead bodies. Bodies belonging to women who had one time or another worked and served in the Ooku. The entire flower garden at the riverbed is filled with dead bodies. Kirigawa explains that she turned inside to find out what had changed, and that's when she realized that there was nothing inside anchoring her anymore. She had dried up. There's nothing there. She lost her position in the Ooku, and eventually couldn't even leave her room. She then realizes that she had thrown something important into the well, something she held dearly, and she rushed to the well to pick it up. Asa sees Kame trying to jump into the well and goes to stop her, and as she holds on, she switches sides with Kame, showing that Kame really is her anchor in the Ooku, and Kame pulls her out of the well, causing her to cry out in pain cause she nearly lost her anchor. Oh, how sweet and philosophical. At that same time, we see Saburo Maru scream in pain from the weight of his discovery. Utayama remembers Asa telling her that she doesn't think Kirigawa holds a grudge against anyone. But as the scene changes, we see Utayama all dried up with many maids stretching out their hands to dry her even further, and Asa is scared by the sight and looks away. In other news, the menace man reveals that the reason has finally been revealed, and so with form, truth, and reason, he then says a chant, and his body changes from that of a clown in white makeup to a fair young man, and the Mononoke seems to recognize him as a threat, because it rushes towards him, but it's not fast enough. He takes his sword out and cuts down the Mononoke and banishes it by letting it to rest, and then he lands on his feet like a badass, and in a split second, switches back to the weird-looking white clown guy. On the floor beneath him, many prized possessions of different maidens are lying about, including Kame's precious comb. Meanwhile, in the open space of the Ooku, the ceremony goes on. A lot of people don't know what exactly is happening in the hidden parts of the Ooku, since the information is on a strict need-to-know basis. Asa picks up the figurine belonging to Kirigawa and promises to attend the ceremony with it, and then she heads to the ceremony, and having no superior, serves as the official scribe for the ceremony. She takes the giant brush and screams, ready, before scribbling down something on the canvas. Kame finally takes her leave, she puts on her grandmother's beloved comb that makes her glow as everyone passes by, the medicine man is now back at the gate, and then he says he can sense the form of a Mononoke, but it is still very faint. Asa returns the figurine to Kirigawa's closet, but as she puts it in, she sees the doll beginning to smile at her. My, what a happy ending. Jeez, you see what I mean? This is a weird anime. But what do you guys think about the video? 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