The “Onmyoji” novels by Baku Yumemakura are a popular series that has created a boom in Heian-period content. As of October 2024, 6.8 million copies of the series were in print. In this series, 安倍晴明 (Abe no Seimei) and 源博雅 (Minamoto no Hiromasa) team up to solve cases created by spirits of the dead, living spirits, and demons.
Yumemakura Baku’s original story “Onmyoji” has been adapted into an original story that follows the original story and this film. Hiroyuki Sanada, who became famous for his role in “Shogun,” played the role of Dogen in this “Onmyoji.
I expected Abe no Seimei to be mysterious. Still, he is a refreshing young man with a cold attitude toward the world.
Careful explanation of the position of Yin-Yang Master in the Heian period.
In the novel “Onmyoji,” Abe no Seimei has already become an active Onmyoji. In such a situation, this work “Onmyoji 0” is the story of Abe no Seimei before he became an official Onmyoji. In this work, he is just a student of the Onmyo Dormitory. The narration explains the Onmyo-dormitory and the official position, which are unfamiliar to us today, in an easy-to-understand manner from the film’s beginning. It was like listening to a lecture about the Heian period. This narration in the beginning and this lecture scene from the astronomy doctor to the students were very instructive for me when I was learning history just by watching the images of the lecturers teaching their classes.
I thought this made it easier to understand the role of Onmyoji, what kind of power they have, and the struggle against that power since they have positions and ranks.
Unfortunately, there was not enough explanation of the spells used by the Onmyoji. The “陰陽部門(Onmyo division),” “天文部門 (Astronomy division),” “暦部門(Calendar division),” and “漏剋部門(Time division),” which are the positions of Onmyoji, were explained through narration and images. Still, it took time to understand what these spells and dances were used for, such as Abe no Seimei using spells to calm living spirits or the enemy side invoking a fire dragon through dancing. I felt disappointed because the official site explains each term well.
Beautiful stage and beautiful costumes
This film’s indispensable feature is that the Heian-kyo capital, each palace, and the Yin-Yang dormitory are shown very beautifully with the use of sets and VFX. This film seems to have been produced mainly by the Hakugumi team, which was also involved in the production of Godzilla-1.0. The director of Godzilla-1.0, Takashi Yamazaki, is the husband of the director of this film, Sato.
The beautiful images are the beautiful scene of flowers in bloom, as shown in the scene where Hiroga Minamoto and Queen Huiko confront each other with their hidden feelings. In this scene, a wildfire dragon attacks Seimei Abe and Hiroga Minamoto, and the scene where a majestic water dragon defeats the fire dragon is truly a masterpiece.
This visual expression allowed the audience to become more involved in the fantasy world of manipulating curses, witchcraft, and Ayakashi, which are closely intertwined.
Also, the costumes are nothing short of beautiful. Until now, the outfits worn by Abe no Seimei as an Onmyoji had the image of being white or Kari-ginu (hunting robe). However, in this film, Abe no Seimei, played by Kento Yamazaki, wears “blue,” and Hiromasa, played by Shota Sometani, wears “green.” Queen Huiko, played by Nao, wears bright “red. The conventional image of the film did not bind these colors. Instead, they brought out the unique characteristics of each character in the movie. Such vivid colors caught my attention every time the scene changed.
Was it all a trick?
In addition to Baku Yumemakura’s novel, on which this work is based, various media mixes of Onmyoji-themed works exist. One of the most recent is the original anime “Onmyoji,” released by Netflix in 2023. These works mainly feature fantastical settings, such as shinigami or gods of ceremony.
In “Onmyoji 0,” there are no eerie spirits of the dead or demons. It implies that all the monsters referred to by the Onmyoji are “just a trick.” This trick is explained to the “audience” at the beginning when Abe no Seimei pops the frogs, showing them the frogs flying away. Therefore, the central theme of this work is to solve the puzzling events of the world. I got the impression that this theme is similar to the theme of the true identity of evil spirits shown in the famous detective film “Poirot.
Both the first and second installments of the Branagh version of the Poirot series were very elegant in their setting. This installment is set entirely in mid-20th-century Venice, but the case and the building in which it takes place are old Western-style houses, adding a horror element to the series.
However, some scenes cannot be described as “fakes. It would be difficult to tell the scene in which Hiroga Minamoto and Queen Huiko embrace each other. Flowers bloom in profusion, or the spectacular battle between the fire and water dragons, all with the word “fiction. The last part of the story, in which the true identity of Abe no Seimei is revealed, was also a letdown.
I was disappointed because I was expecting many horrifying developments, such as the struggle for supremacy among the aristocrats in the Heian period and the curses and blasphemies associated with it.
The beautiful costumes and stage setting were mesmerizing as the famous detective Abe and Watson’s Hiromasa interacted to unravel the “mayhem” created by human karma without the appearance of any monsters or other apparitions.
