Welcome to the Ooku, the harem of the Tenno, the Emperor of Japan. In this colorful, luxurious space, forbidden to men under the penalty of immediate beheading, an all-female service takes care of the eight concubines of the one sitting on the Chrysanthemum Throne. They also perform various sacred ceremonies, and the first among them is the celebration of the birth of the royal princes and princesses, who may one day rule the fates of the nation. To stay in the royal palace, strict training is required, and to drive that point home, the aspiring maidens who pass the selection process are deprived on arrival of one of their most precious possessions, which is then thrown into the water pond at the center of the complex, the same water that is then used in the purification ritual. Asa and Kame undergo this process before they assume their duties, but it seems something foul is now tainting the water. Investigators of the Shogunate arrive to find out why the ceremony in honor of the newborn prince has been postponed. And a mysterious Medicine Seller sits in front of the palace, waiting for the right time…

Mononoke is back, and back in style. Prepare for some of the most colorful and breathtaking visuals known to anime, inspired by traditional Japanese paintings, and inhabited by horrors born of the darkest human passions. Prepare to hear the shakuhachi, the biwa and the shamisen, seamlessly combined with traditional chants and stylized rap. And lastly, prepare for the mystery to be unfolded like a morality play, and for the Medicine Seller to put his Sacred Sword to use. All of it, accompanied by solid character work, and the the crazy visual storytelling and breakneck editing of Kenji Nakamura, delivers one more deeply human horror story that manages to be different from anything else you might find out there. So, are there any catches? Well, as per usual with this franchise, you need to put your five senses in the story or it will leave you behind like a bullet train. Think the Monogatari series, but without the dialogue (or the fanservice). If you don’t mind playing Nakamura’s speed chess, this is the golden brooch the show needed, a classy, quintessentially Japanese, bigger and better scenario for the Medicine Seller. This is like Sherlock Holmes solving a case in Buckingham Palace, and I think it will stay with you.

Mononoke: The Phantom in the Rain can be streamed on Netflix.