Picture: Netflix
Over the summer, Netflix suffered a major breach in which a few anime titles were among the leaked. One such title was Mononoke, The Movie: The Phantom in the Rain, which, until now, hasn’t been officially connected to the streamer but today Netflix confirmed it would soon stream the movie following its debut in October.
Directed by Kenji Nakamura, this is a long-awaited movie follow-up to the series, which itself was a 2007 anime spinoff of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales.
Here’s what you can expect from the new film that’s set for a US premiere at the Animation is Film Festival due to take place in October:
“Set in the Ōoku, the women’s quarters of Edo Castle, the film offers unprecedented visual beauty, illustrated like a painted handscroll. Through bold art, new animation techniques fusing computer graphics and Japanese paper textures, an abundance of distinctive shots, and unique use of color, it creates a stunning and immersive world. Along with the peculiar grace of the Medicine Seller, the film draws viewers in a rich and deep setting.”
The Japanese voice cast for the movie (you can also expect an English dub) includes:
- Hiroshi Kamiya as Medicine Seller
- Tomoyo Kurosawa as Asa
- Aoi Yuki as Kame
- Mami Koyama as Utayama
- Kana Hanazawa as Kitagawa
- Haruka Tomatsu as Botan Otomo
- Yuki Kaji as Saburomaru
- Jun Fukuyama as Hiramoto
- Yukana as Mugitani
- Yuhko Kaida as Awashima
The new trailer, called “staggeringly beautiful” and “jaw-dropping” by ScreenRant and very much in the style of the original, was released today on Netflix Anime.
As mentioned, this was one of nearly a dozen titles that got leaked from one of Netflix’s third-party partners earlier this year. Others were more Western titles like Spellbound and Plankton, and other anime like Dan da Dan also were caught up in the leak.
No release date for the movie just yet although we suspect it’ll be before the year comes to an end.
Until the new movie hits Netflix, you can watch the original 2007 12-episode Mononoke series on Netflix globally following its addition to the service in March 2023. You can set a reminder for the film within Netflix using this link.
Will you be checking out Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain when it drops on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
