The story is set in medieval Japan, during the dawn of the Iron Age. Mankind still lived in harmony with nature but slowly mankind was trying to tame and overtake it.
In simplest form, the film revolves around a young prince of a tribe, Ashitaka who after having protected his village from the Boar God/Demon, inherits an incurable evil curse that's going to eventually kill him. In order to save himself from the curse, he travels into the great forest of the west with his trusted elk, Yakul. There, he plans to find the source of the iron ball, found in the decomposed body of the Boar, as a way of diminishing the curse's plague on his body. Once he reaches the forest however, he is caught up in the middle of a long raging war between the technologically advancing humans and the forest spirits, lead by the female protagonist, Princess Mononoke (San). Ashitaka's journey brings him to the situation where he must try to stem the flow of blood being spilt, reach out and show the good in both of the sides. This is met by animosity by the human and forest spirits and seeing him working to help each side leads to them approaching him as an enemy.
I guarantee that you won't find Hollywood films as philosophical as this film. The obvious message of the film is to represent the relationship between humanity and nature. But even deeper within that outer layer, there are plenty of themes: such as the concept of "right vs wrong", "good vs evil", "freedom vs confinement", "reality vs dreams", and most importantly, "technology-future vs agriculture-past". Miyazaki doesn't only bash technology though, he shows that technology can be the demise of mankind as well as nature, but it can also be the greatest innovation ever if handled properly. The show shows being alive and being happy in any form in itself is a magical thing that people should appreciate. I could go on and on about the symbolism and themes, but moving onto why the show was enjoyable. The love in this show was handled beautifully (& metaphoric). Ashitaka and Princess Mononoke's lives and points of views differ despite them being in love. They realize that neither of them can really lead the life of the other, and so they learn to grant each other "freedom" (reality). There's no holding back despite it being a Ghibili film in the violence part of the show, which was a nice surprise.
The characters were symbolic figures rather than relatable and solely enjoyable to watch. Ashitaka symbolizes purity and innocence, which is what he loses when he kills the Boar (despite it being to protect his village), hence leading him to set off to the great forest of the west, to purify his curse/himself and repenting for his sins. San symbolizes the harmony between humanity and nature. San is a human despite living and fighting alongside nature, who become torn between her origins vs her ideals. Eboshi, who most people call "the villain" of the show symbolizes the evolution of humanity. But in Princess Mononoke, no character is intrinsically bad or good, just like in our reality which avoids the usual simplifications and shows the difficulty in judging things easily; there is no "bad guy". Lady Eboshi may be massacring the forest animals, but she is also rescuing prostitutes and lepers. Just like how San and her wolves may have killed humans, but they were merely defending the forest; their home. Genius.
The images are gorgeous, the lighting is amazing; concept of "illuminating light at end of the dark tunnel", and the lavish backgrounds of mankind's civilization vs mother nature: Perfection. The addition of forest spirits was beautiful as well. Furthermore, the portrayal of the animals of nature was like a shameless addition of magical icing on top of the perfect cake. I mean honestly, the great white wolves and their threatening look/teeth that give the message, "mess with nature, and we're going to kill you filthy human beings" to the sad writhing dying body of the boar (god). But, the character's I must admit aren't unique at all though... They look just like all of Studio Ghibili's film's characters, except with addition of "nature" on them. The realism of the show is scary as hell. The lush and lavish green forests --- Empty, destroyed wasteland. Animals scurrying around the woods --- extinction due to mankind's hunting. Vast beautiful trees --- dying trees, cut down trees. How can an anime have such beautiful art?
Do I even have to say anything about the music? You already know that it's 10/10 stunning, beautiful, fitting to Miyazaki's films, masterpieces of music once you hear that Studio Ghibili + Joe Hisashi are involved. The music fits the film's themes and emotions by amplifying scenes level of emotion; Sadness, Pity, Anger, Violence, Ominous, and Love/Unification (between nature and humanity). "Legend of Ashitaka" is a piece that I've played in my orchestra; it is beautiful. Alongside Joe Hisashi's stacks of great music, Legend of Ashitaka tops it alongside other masterpieces such as Laputa (Castle in the Sky), One Summer's Day (Spirited Away) and Kaze no Toorimichi (Totoro). Of course, there are more than 1 good song, the entire soundtrack of Princess Mononoke was dazzling (another great piece is "Journey to the West"). The voicing of the characters (in japanese) gives the entire film a whole new level of feels. I want to mention that the dubbed version of Princess Mononoke isn't terrible, but it's certainly worse than the subbed version, so.. I recommend the sub if you haven't seen this masterpiece yet (what are you doing with your life, go watch the movie). Oh my goodness, I love Joe Hisashi's music... His music fits Miyazaki's films so well that it's scary.
Now having said all of this, I hope you've either already seen the movie, or are planning to see it now, otherwise I don't know what you're doing with your life.
