23 minSeason 1 • Episode 12
LatestThe Medicine Seller unravels the mystery and finds the truth behind the passenger's stories.
The Medicine Seller is a deadly and mysterious master of the occult who travels across feudal Japan in search of malevolent spirits called mononoke to slay. When he locates one of these spirits, he cannot simply kill it; he must first learn its Form, its Truth, and its Reason in order to wield the mighty Exorcism Sword and fight against it. He must begin his strange exorcisms with intense psychological analysis and careful investigative work—an extremely dangerous step, as he must first confront and learn about the mononoke before he even has the means to defeat it.
Direction
Kenji Nakamura's art direction is literally unlike anything else.
Cinematography
Ukiyo-e paintings having a panic attack on screen.
Sound
The taiko drums will live in your nervous system.
Takahiro Sakurai
Medicine Seller (voice)
Daisuke Namikawa
Sougen (voice)
Daisuke Sakaguchi
Hyoue Sasaki (voice)
Eiji Takemoto
Kiyoshi Moriya (voice)
Aiko Hibi
Zashiki Warashi (voice)
Fumiko Orikasa
Setsuko Ichikawa (voice)
Hikaru Midorikawa
Man in Fox Mask (voice)
Hiroshi Iwasaki
Jutarou Fukuda (voice)
Houko Kuwashima
O-chou (voice)
Kozo Shioya
Tokuji (voice)
Masashi Hirose
Tansui Nakarai (voice)
Minoru Inaba
Sakae Kadowaki (voice)
Rie Tanaka
Shino (voice)
Ryusei Nakao
Genkei (voice)
Seiji Sasaki
Bunpei Kinoshita (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Each arc adapts a different yōkai from Japanese folklore, with the Bakeneko arc specifically drawing on the 'nekomata' legend of vengeful cat spirits.
The visual style uses 'karakuri' puppet theater aesthetics and was so expensive that the studio nearly collapsed—this is why we never got season 2, and I'm still furious.
JP
