Mononoke 3: A Naval Affair

Yeah it’s a small ship in a big ocean. I am surprised that no one has gaged yet. So much for making a killing off of seasickness pills.

Remember the survivors from the Bake Neko arc? Guess what…one of them is back. It seems that this time our favorite medicine seller is now fighting on the high seas. Poor Kayo is just along for another ride, just her luck…you sure know how pick them lady.

Well I must say that ship has a very small crew. If I recall correctly you need many more sailors if you want to get your rigging done right and enough people on deck through out the voyage. Seeing as there is only one crewman, it is a miracle that the ship can operate.

Now the strange part about this arc is that there seems to be a mortal force at work here as some one had to have put that magnet there to throw off navigation. I personally suspect the Monk or the Samurai as the bard seems a bit too nutty to think of such a scheme. The merchant and his crew had no need to use deception as they ran the ship. Kayo-san doesn’t seem too eager to go through that again and what use does the Medicine Seller have for trickery?

It was a famous story and guess what we want a sequel.

Since this is arc is titled Umibozu the main antagonist should logically be an umibozu. However both the medicine seller and the bard believed it to have been a ghost ship at first. The Medicine Seller already suspects that something is odd as his weapon has not yet reacted to his guess. Umibozu are supposed to be large and this one most certainly is large. What I found strange though was the fish with a human leg…

The other weird freakish creatures were of whatever it was that descended from the skies, so why is this one unique? I think that there is more to the Monk than meets the eye, his eager assistant indicates that some monk on monk action is going on. It is no secret that back in the day even monks could be corrupt. Perhaps the monk now has to confront a ghost from his sordid past? Perhaps the vengeful spirit of an ex-lover is out for blood? Umibozu were assumed to have spawned from dead priests and other men of faith. The Samurai could be a candidate as he probably got those scars fight someone or he was really beaten up as a lad. As samurai back then were often exiled to monasteries perhaps there is some sort of family vendetta afoot? The very effeminate assistant might be more dangerous than we may give him credit for. He was crying about something, so maybe in revenge he is plotting his so called master’s demise. As for the Bard he is so inept and incompetent it would really be daft of him to try to show off his trade on a ship in the sea.

You should be a side kick? I agree the bard is so quirky I hope he makes a come back.

Sailing ships was not simple matter in the age of sail even when sailing in coastal waters. As far as I can tell the Samurai and perhaps the Monk might have something that they really regretted. The only way the merchant and his crew have any regretting to do would probably be something they did on a previous voyage or whatever deal they concluded to get the ship in the first place. Even the presence a pond and an aquarium on the merchantman would mean that there is a lot more maintenance required for the vessel.

The wall screens might hold some clues as to what will appear next. There was a running motif of pairs in the depictions of those animals while they were spreading around the ash. The ghost ships story was depicted on the wall screen probably indicated the presence of a ghost ship, so what about the other two? One of them was of a man and a mermaid with some dark creature in the fore ground, and as far as I know there was no Japanese equivalent to the story of the Little Mermaid. The last one shown was that of a girl, a shore side gathering, a monk, and two children. I think the last one has something to do with the real menace the Umibozu, but as to how all that relates to the monster I can only guess.

Assuming we are reading this right to left the monk was once a real shouta-con.

Well I have no idea where this is headed since this time there are more suspects to deal with. The Medicine Seller seems to look forward to it, as am I.