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Mononoke Anime Film Gets Manga Adaptation

The official Twitter account for Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine revealed on Monday that the Gekijōban Mononoke: Karakasa (Paper Umbrella) anime film will get a manga adaptation on the Comic Days service that will start on May 26. Amazon is also listing that the manga's first volume will ship on July 23.

The film's character designer Kitsuneko Nagata is drawing the manga. The manga will have either two or three volumes.

The film will open in Japan on July 26. The film was previously slated to open last year, but was delayed. Alongside the announcement of the delay in February 2023, the film's staff also announced that Takahiro Sakurai would no longer reprise the role of the Medicine Seller as originally planned. Hiroshi Kamiya will instead voice the protagonist the Medicine Seller in the film.

Kenji Nakamura is returning to direct the Mononoke film, with production at Twin Engine. The staff also includes:

• Animation Production: EOTA
• Character Design: Kitsuneko Nagata
• Animation Character Designer, Chief Animation Director: Yūichi Takahashi
• Background Design: Yōichi Katōno
• Background Directors: Akira Kuramoto, Yōko Saitō
• Color Design: Kunio Tsujita
• Visual Director: Yoichi Senzui
• 3D Director: Kenichi Shirai
• Editing: Shigeru Nishiyama
• Sound Director: Yukio Nagasaki
• Music: Taku Iwasaki
• Producers: Kimiaki Sato, Yūki Sudō
• Planning Production: Kōji Yamamoto

The Mononoke anime premiered in 2007 and aired for 12 episodes. The series is a spinoff of the Ayakashi - Samurai Horror Tales anime. Specifically, it follows the medicine seller from the "Bakeneko" (Goblin Cat) arc. The Mononoke anime has five arcs, the last of which is titled "Bakeneko."

Kenji Nakamura directed the television anime at Toei Animation, and Takashi Hashimoto designed the characters and served as chief animation director. Yasuharu Takanashi composed the music.

The anime previously streamed on Crunchyroll, but is currently available on other streaming services such as The Roku Channel and Netflix. New Video Group released the series on DVD in North America in 2014.

Sources: Monthly Shonen Sirius' Twitter account, Amazon Japan