Hey guys!
A month or two ago, I saw a post on AA of a review of the anime Mononoke. I was immediately interested and tried it out. I finished it in two days and really liked it, so I thought I'd make a blog on a character whose name isn't even known: the medicine seller, aka Kusuriuri.
After having seen this AMAZING anime (no, seriously, check it out, it's an awesome horror/mystery anime) I was wondering who Kusuriuri actually is: could he be human, an ayakashi (demon) or even a mononoke (vengeful spirit) himself?
NB: THIS BLOG WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE ANIME MONONOKE. IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU WATCH IT FIRST BEFORE READING THIS BLOG! (I also won't explain the complete story, so it will be difficult to follow if you haven't seen it yet)
Short summary of plot
The story of Mononoke takes place in feudal Japan and partially around 1920. The main character, I will call him Kusuriuri, is a wandering medicine seller, who believes that mononoke (vengeful spirits, these are ayakashi(spirits) that latched onto a negative feeling and have gained Form, Truth and Regret) are creatures that simply shouldn't exist in this world. Kusuriuri has devoted himself to exorcising as many mononoke as possible. This means the story is made out of several different little stories, each revolving around a new kind of mononoke. The only character that appears in every separate story is Kusuriuri.
What ís known of Kusuriuri
Appearance
Kusuriuri has a very striking appearance. First of all, he carries a big, wooden chest on his back, containing all kinds of herbs and medicines, and on top of that, his scales. These scales show when mononoke are near. He has a very fair skin tone with colourful lines on his face (they almost look like make-up, but I don't think that it's make-up). He has a purple cloth around his head, under which his blondish hair is visible. His upper lip is coloured in a light purple colour and, as if that wasn’t enough colour, he wears very colourful clothing.
He carries a beautifully decorated sword with him, which he rarely draws.
Form, Truth and Regret
The sword that Kusuriuri carries with him is used to excorcise the mononoke. However, there is one problem with this sword. It cannot be unsheathed, unless the Form, Truth and Regret of the mononoke is known. With Form, the appearance of the mononoke is meant (for example a ghost cat (bakeneko) or a nue (another Japanese demon)).
The Truth refers to the current physical state of the being and the Regret is the current mental state of the mononoke. When these are known, Kusuriuri can unsheathe the sword. When he exorcises, his skin tone becomes darker and he gets golden stripes all over his body. On top of that, his eyes turn black. The small looking sword turns into a giant one, the blade looking almost like a large flame.
Personality
Kusuriuri often speaks what he is thinking of aloud, without enough context for other characters to completely understand him. He is the 'detective' in every story who has to find out the motives for the existence of the mononoke. He's very smart, and this intelligence is emphasised, because the characters he has to investigate know very little about mononoke themselves.
Kusuriuri doesn't show many emotions. He makes one or two witty remarks and sometimes gets shocked, but he never really laughs, cries, or shows any intense feelings.
The question
There is a question that many people want to know the answer to (including myself, so I really hope a second season will be aired soon): Who is Kusuriuri?
I will give my thoughts on the matter:
Human
You could say that Kusuriuri is a human. He does kind of look like one (in contrast to the mononoke we see in the story) and on top of that, he kills mononoke. If he were an ayakashi, it would be weird that he kills his own species. He even says that he thinks mononoke just shouldn't exist in this world. He being human wouldn’t, however, explain his mastery in exorcising these creatures.
Ayakashi or mononoke
There are also many indications that Kusuriuri isn't human. His powers (and intellect) are far greater than that of the humans he meets. He also doesn't show many human emotions. For example, when the fish mononoke asks him his greatest fear, Kusuriuri gets an illusion of this fear. However, he shows no intense emotion, in contrast to the others, who are shocked or scream (or even vomit. Yeah, that was a nice watch).
On top of that, he's a very skilled fighter and understands how mononoke fight and create illusions. For example, in the train (Bakeneko arc) Kusuriuri notices that something is off and he can enter the part of the train where the characters sit, while no one else can leave or enter that part of the train.
Another big clue is the ending of the anime. After Bakeneko is defeated, Kusuriuri says: ‘My friends, let me ask you of your Truth and Regret. So long as mononoke roam this world…’ after which his sword makes the well-known clicking sound, which indicates that the remark: ‘as long as Mononoke roam this world’ is a Form, Truth or Regret. If this expression refers to Kusuriuri (which would be really logical, since he travels across Japan to kill mononoke), it would mean that he is a mononoke. However, if he were a mononoke, wouldn’t he be more evil?
Something else?
The last option is that Kusuriuri is human nor ayakashi. He could be a completely different entity, one that focuses on destroying mononoke with tremendous exorcising powers and intellect. This would explain his power, wisdom and appearance, which is a little bit different from that of a human. The scales and magic sword would also be explained by this theory. On top of that, the fact that he can see through the illusions created by mononoke would also make sense (since he was created to destroy these creatures, he knows almost everything about them). Because of his reason for living, it would be logical that he says that he is 'just a medicine seller' and nothing more (because there just isn't anything more to his life). Maybe this kind of entity also has a Form, Truth and Regret. These three would not be as negative as the ones the mononoke have, though (I don't think that that is a satisfactory explanation, though).
In conclusion
This question is really difficult to answer, since every theory has it's pros and cons. I personally tend to believe the last one, though. Being human nor ayakashi would explain most of Kusuriuri's actions and abilities. I do find it most interesting to think that he is a mononoke himself (I would REALLY want to know his background if that’s the case).
What do you think? Is Kusuriuri human, ayakashi, mononoke or none of the above? Or do you have a different theory? I would love to hear you guys' opinion on this!
