Rumors are like curses, you create yourself. The character for ‘spell’ pronounced ‘curse’

The shortest curse in this world is a ‘Name’ – Moon, mountains, willow, road. A name binds the fundamental state of all things. All you need is a name and you can even bind what’s invisible to the eye with a curse.

A man is smitten with a woman and vice versa – we bind that feeling and give it a name, ‘LOVE’ & thus a curse is born.

Abe no Seimei – Onmyoji

I was a bit skeptical while starting Onmyoji but this short dialogue between two protagonists of the anime – Abe Seimei and Minamoto Hiromasa was enough for me to watch the rest of it. Based on short stories and novels written by Japanese author Baku Yumemakura, Onmyoji follows a supernatural plot that is set during a fictional version of the Heian period. The anime revolves around both the protagonists solving the mysterious and supernatural events involving demons and spirits amid all the political conspiracies.

Historical Aspect

Onmyoji focuses on the legendary figures of Abe Seimei and Minamoto Hiromasa who have also appeared in other popular tales in Japan.

Abe no Seimei – A master in onmyōdō, ( a traditional Japanese form of cosmology) is also known as  “Merlin the Magician of Japan” by some scholars. He is a prominent historical figure in Japan and has an important relevance in Japanese folklores. According to one popular legend from Osaka’s Senshu Region claimas that his mother was a kitsune named Kuzu no Ha, making him half-human and an offspring of a fox. This popular legend is also mentioned in the anime adaptation as well.

Minamoto no Hiromasa – A nobleman and popular court musician during Heian period. He was the eldest son of Prince Katsuakira and the grandson of Emperor Daigo, making him a prominent historical figure. He is also known as a gifted Gagaku master, Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances.

Netflix Onmyoji uses these two historical figures and their popular legends in folklore to create this timeless tale which blends historical narratives with supernatural elements.

Episodes and Stories

Onmyoji has total 13 Episodes and each one is intricated with beautiful storyline that involves from supernatural to social aspects. If we start with episode that shows a ‘timeless wait of a lady for his lover.’ The dialogue I have used in starting of my article is taken from episode 01. Ep02 deals with unsaturated greed of human beings followed by the saddest goodbye in Ep03. Ep04 shows how the aspiration of becoming one and greatest make us ignore the good around us. Ep05 challenging the social norms and redefining the line between monsters and humans. Till Ep05, story buildup the plot for further progression with emotional themes and from this onward takes into full-fledge action gear.

Ep06- Ep13 shows a beautiful gathering only to end up in chaos that follows a series of episodes of jealousy, betrayal, care, friendship and ultimate sacrifices. In their journey we witness how the skill & smartness of Seimei and compassion & courage of Minamoto saves the day for them. The story with other important characters like Ashiya Doman, Lady Tsuyuko, Lord Atsumi etc. feels itself like interesting folklore.

To be honest, I’ve never heard of these popular legends until I saw the Onmyoji anime. I’m glad I know them now. Earlier, I watched Onimusha and I loved the spin-off of historical figure Miyamoto Musashi. Although I knew about Miyamoto Musashi even before watching Onimusha but I love the way how Netflix blend his tales as action-packed samurai trying to curb the menace of zombie uprising. Same they done with Onmyoji where our historical figure deals with the demons by acknowledging their roots inside the human psyche making it very much relevant to modern humans as well.

Overall Adaptation

Onmyoji is a blend of mystical, supernatural, and action elements alongside captative visuals. It sort of reminds me of Kamisama Kiss and even the animation style is sort of similar but more on the soft & subtle side. Directed by Soubi Yamamoto along with writers Natsu Hashimoto and Yuiko Kato under the production of Marvy Jack, is a beautiful anime that not only kept its novel originality but also showcased the aesthetically pleasing visuals that work as a background to enhance and provide more depth to its characters. The captative visuals make sense when the natural elements are used as symbolism to depict the inner turmoil of the characters. The process of creation of a Sekisanko is such a thought-provoking idea that it left me with real questions.

The opening theme song “Kodoku no Saibo,” by Ling tosite sigure band prepare the audience for adventure and the closing theme song, “Kioku” by AO gives the audience the time to feel the folklore. It makes more sense when you watch till Ep05. Both the songs evokes very contrasting feeling and somehow depicts the nature of both protagnist as they both have contrasting nature yet they fit so well together.

Overall, Onmyoji was quite a watch during Christmas week as I enjoyed it during the late hours. The visuals, and folklore elements combined with lots of beautiful poetic symbolism make it feel more like a soft lullaby for a late-nights than a haunting tale of demons.