A pre-release trailer for Gekijoban Mononoke Daisansho: Hebigami (Mononoke the Movie: Chapter 3: Snake God) has been released ahead of its May 29 theatrical debut in Japan. The trailer hints at the emperor and the priest Hokuto Mizorogi having bigger roles to play this round, while showing more of the upcoming supernatural chaos that will befall the inner palace.
The Mononoke film trilogy sees the enigmatic Medicine Seller handling a series of supernatural threats in the Ouku, the inner palace where the Edo emperor’s harem resides. The first entries, Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom in the Rain and Mononoke The Movie: Chapter II – The Ashes of Rage, were released in Japan in July 2024 and March 2025, respectively. Both are on Netflix internationally.
Like the second film, Gekijoban Mononoke Daisansho: Hebigami has Kenji Nakamura (the director of the first film) as chief director and Yasumi Atarashi as scriptwriter. Tomoaki Koshida (RPG Real Estate) is the new director, while Kitsuneko Nagata returns from the first two movies as character designer. Studio Kafka and EOTA are credited with the animation production.
Mononoke began with the “Goblin Cat” episodes of the 2006 horror anime anthology Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales. The 2007 Mononoke TV anime was spun off from them.
Takahiro Sakurai voiced the Medicine Seller in the TV anime and was originally meant to return for the movies. Hiroshi Kamiya ended up replacing him, with the recast decision coinciding with and alluding to a scandal involving Sakurai having an affair.
Production credits
• Chief director: Kenji Nakamura
• Director: Tomoaki Koshida
• Scriptwriter: Yasumi Atarashi
• Character designer: Kitsuneko Nagata
• Animation character designer and chief animation director: Yuichi Takahashi (reprising)
• Visual director: Yoichi Senzui (reprising)
• Background art director: Akira Kuramoto (reprising)
• Background art director: Yoko Saito (reprising)
• Color designer: Kunio Tsujita (reprising)
• Music composer: Taku Iwasaki (reprising)
• Animation production: Studio Kafka and EOTA (Twin Engine EOTA was credited for the first film, while the second had Crew-Cell and EOTA)
Source: TWIN ENGINE YouTube channel