Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke)

When an Emishi village is attacked by a fierce demon boar, the young prince Ashitaka puts his life at stake to defend his tribe. With its dying breath, the beast curses the prince's arm, granting him demonic powers while gradually siphoning his life away. Instructed by the village elders to travel westward for a cure, Ashitaka arrives at Tatara, the Iron Town, where he finds himself embroiled in a fierce conflict: Lady Eboshi of Tatara, promoting constant deforestation, stands against Princess San and the sacred spirits of the forest, who are furious at the destruction brought by the humans. As the opposing forces of nature and mankind begin to clash in a desperate struggle for survival, Ashitaka attempts to seek harmony between the two, all the while battling the latent demon inside of him. Princess Mononoke is a tale depicting the connection of technology and nature, while showing the path to harmony that could be achieved by mutual acceptance.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

In 1997 the film won Best Japanese Movie, Best Animation and Japanese Movie Fans' Choice awards during the 52nd Mainichi Film Awards. In 1998 the film won the Best Picture award during the 21st Japan Academy Awards.

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Adaptation:

Mononoke Hime

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Characters & Voice Actors

San

Main

Ishida, Yuriko
Japanese

Ashitaka

Main

Matsuda, Youji
Japanese

Gozen, Eboshi

Supporting

Tanaka, Yuko
Japanese

Kodama

Supporting

Yakul

Supporting

Moro

Supporting

Miwa, Akihiro
Japanese

The Forest Spirit

Supporting

Iinuma, Kei
Japanese

Jiko, Bou

Supporting

Kobayashi, Kaoru
Japanese

Okkoto

Supporting

Morishige, Hisaya
Japanese

Toki

Supporting

Shimamoto, Sumi
Japanese

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Staff

Suzuki, Toshio

Producer

Miyazaki, Hayao

Director, Theme Song Lyrics, Screenplay, Creator

Gaiman, Neil

Script

Pannetier, Jean-Marc

Script, ADR Director

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Opening Theme

"Ashitaka Sekki (アシタカせっき; The Legend of Ashitaka)" by Joe Hisaishi

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Ending Theme

"Mononoke Hime" by Joe Hisaishi

Reviews

Jan 8, 2024

Pursueth

Recommended

"Life is suffering. It is hard. The world is cursed. But still, you find reasons to keep living."

Grim, long, and an utterly complex epic. This is arguably Miyazaki's most striking work both visually and thematically and for someone who's mainly known for creating soft, comfy films it's understandable to see why.

It's easy to look at Princess Mononoke as an allegory of naturalism vs industrialism, and to an extent it seems that is what Miyazaki had in his mind while he was creating the film. But I'd like to think that Miyazaki rather wanted this to explicitly be a film about how human beings collectively look ... at nature and the blatant lack of gratitude we have towards it. Rather than solely being a clash of opposing ideologies between two extremes with a centrist protagonist, to me it's like giving the voiceless nature a voice. Manifesting ideas like life and death and giving them literal forms in a world that very much like our own would still be driven to gain from it. Our lack of empathy doesn't necessarily come from the lack of visualization, it's from a lack of knowledge of consequences. Perhaps that is why Miyazaki allows Lady Eboshi to live. To serve as an example that even perpetrators of said rampage sometimes do so without knowing the full picture, rather than pure malice as we would often associate them with and maybe they too, can learn to heed and grow.

I also love how Miyazaki writes his female characters. They're not written to belittle their male counterparts as most modern "feminist" works would tend to depict. "Equity" and "equality" are often conflated and Miyazaki perfectly illustrates how women can also be an active part of different societies whether it's physical work or not. It's a great subversion of how we expect "strong" female characters to be written as male supersedes rather than their own individual characters. San, Eboshi, Kaya, and Toki are all part of various archetypes that work harmoniously well to colour the full female spectrum (at least it comes somewhat close to it). The cast in general is filled with definitive characters, which is one thing you can never deny about Miyazaki's films.

Technically, this film is perfection. Almost everything about it from the gorgeously animated sequences and backdrops to the incredible score is just immaculate.

The ending is what truly sells this. This isn't a film with answers. You're not going to leave with a profound realisation about nature or reality or whatever. It's more so a seeping thought that swells from within. The more you think about it, the more it sticks with you.

Miyazaki is truly a fascinating mind. Undeniably one of the great artists of all time, ever.

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Jan 31, 2023

benjihubs

Mixed Feelings

I don't get the hype of the movie. I watched it, and it was Fine. Not amazing as most people seem to think. If this movie was exactly the same but made by anyone else than Ghibli, i belive it would just been an anime lost in time, Howl's Flying castle was more entertaining to me. The animation was fine, great landscapes, clean but flat animation, not much depth on the charecters, but that is the style of Ghibli so that is fine. Story is nice and linear but also predictable, you know what will happen 5 minutes before it does. I think people ...

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Oct 24, 2023

Kyu2

Not Recommended

Funny

If you are like me who hates pacifist main characters who can't take a side then you are going to hate the climax. Our annoying MC couldn't take a side even though it has been abundandtly clear what he should have done but he continues to help the "villains" who also don't get any punishment whatsoever despite all the cruel things they did. when i reached that point i couldn't wait to stop the movie since it took a really tasteless and infuriatin turn. like get a drip and do what must be done. Hated it felt like i wasted 2 hours of my life ...

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Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Mononoke Hime Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Metty - Feb 4, 2008	209 replies	by Kilo_2K4 »» Mar 31, 8:11 PM
worth it _txhsin__ - Feb 20, 2023	35 replies	by mangalicker94 »» Oct 14, 2023 5:37 PM
How tf is san more favored than Ashitaka ? STSayeb - Dec 30, 2022	7 replies	by KayKimii »» Dec 30, 2022 5:37 AM
Princess Mononoke vs. All Other Anime Movies FALLEN101 - Jul 24, 2008	39 replies	by STSayeb »» Dec 30, 2022 2:59 AM
Am I the only person who didnt find Princess Mononoke to be all that great? ( 1 2 ) EmperorDemonGava - Jul 1, 2012	75 replies	by STSayeb »» Dec 30, 2022 2:57 AM

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