Princess Mononoke

Anime Reviews Special-Princess Mononoke

In the old days, man and beast lived in harmony with one another. But as time went by, and as most of the great forests were destroyed, the tender boundaries between the two began to collapse. Humans and the giant animal gods of the forests in the west waged war for the land upon which both depending on for life. Thrown into this chaos is a young exiled prince named Ashitaka, who seeks to discover a cure for the curse that is slowly killing him, and who strives to learn more of the mysterious girl living within the woods, known only as Princess Mononoke, or the Princess of Beasts.

Hayao Miyazaki never fails to astound, amaze, and downright inspire his millions of fans worldwide. Princess Mononoke came into a well-deserved fame in 1999 and was a staggering hit at the box offices of Japan, nearly toppling James Cameron's Titanic. It missed, but just barely.

It's the story of a young Emishi prince named Ashitaka, who sustains a deadly, albeit baffling curse after his struggles with a demonized boar god rampaging through the mountains. A strange ball of iron discovered inside the boar had poisoned him, driving him mad. Now, with the disturbing knowledge that his curse will slowly kill him, Ashitaka cuts his hair, signifying his permanent departure from his village as he journeys to the west, the origin of the iron ball. Along the way, he meets Jigo, a shady monk who tells him of the giant animal gods of the west, led by the Great Forest Spirit. He also learns of the legend that anyone who comes to possess the Forest Spirit's head will be granted immortality and that the emperor of the region has proclaimed that he will grant a hill of gold to anyone who can help him live forever. At the same time, an iron producing island aptly dubbed Irontown has been having trouble dealing with the wolves of the forest, led by the enigmatic and vicious Wolf Girl, a.k.a, Princess Mononoke and her mother, the wolf god Moro. The battle between the humans and the wolves takes a terrifying turn when a familiar face shows up with motives of his own.

This series is very unique in many aspects. It explores the human psyche in its most natural state; trying to survive and willing to go to any lengths to do so. The beauty of this, amidst several of Miyazaki's movies is that no one is really good and no one is really evil, with the obvious exception of Laputa- Castle In The Sky. Everyone in this movie is just human. But the aspect that really hits home is the environmental message in this movie and the fact that it's actually very subtle, which is rather rare nowadays. Either it's too bombastic, I.e, being shoved down your throat, or it's too subtle, in that you have to read a synopsis online to get it. This movie is the calm in-between white rabbit of its genre. It's rare, but it's not unheard of. You definitely get the environmental message, but it's downplayed compared to the imminent threat of territorial war looming over their heads. I also enjoyed the super-sized wolves that Miyazaki's wondrous imagination created. They're actually pretty scary. When it comes to wildlife defending its home, giant animals are a cool way to go.

So lets' take the characters. Since this is a Miyazaki masterpiece, I'm going to be especially thorough. Miyazaki is known for being a women's rights activist and it's even been said that the women's restrooms at Studio Ghibli are much nicer than the men's. As a possible result of this trait, the majority of Miyazaki's main characters are female, often accompanied by male secondary main characters. In this movie, it's the other way around, but the cast here is also pretty diverse. Even characters who have only a couple minutes of screen time are treated as though they're vital to the storyline, such as Ashitaka's fiance, Kaya. (She calls herself his little sister, but she's actually his betrothed. Just to clear up any confusion) The Wise Woman of his village, whom we only see for all of five minutes in total is so well developed in such a short amount of time that it feels like we've known her forever. Because the development is so rich already, it's possible to feel genuine sadness at Ashitaka's secret departure, knowing he will never again return there. Now, why don't we begin to carefully dissect this wonderful story?

Lets' begin with our main protagonist, Ashitaka, voiced by Billy Crudup.

He's actually the rare male hero in most of Studio Ghibli productions. As I said before, most of Miyazaki's characters are young girls. Even though he's unusual, Ashitaka still possesses the same strong will of many of his counterparts from other films, though he's still vulnerable and a tad naïve. He's clearly awkward in this new, unfamiliar setting and this is shown clearly many times following his departure. Having lived a rather hidden lifestyle all his life, he's unfamiliar with the ways of the outside world and believes it's possible for complete peace to spread throughout the people of the west and the gods of the forest. It's a nice idea, but in the end, it realistically doesn't entirely come to fruition. The Wolf Girl, San still refuses to accept the humans as allies and chooses to remain with the wolves in the end. Ashitaka himself is a skilled fighter and refuses to give up on finding a cure for his curse. Rather than live in constant fear of it, he even uses it to his advantage at times, often allowing it temporary dominance over him in order to try to convince people to give up their bitter hatred by showing them what it supposedly looks like. The curse takes the form of writhing black worms encircling his right arm. It's a black and purple bruise-like discoloration that's slowly spreading all across his body and reacts violently to the presence of the Great Forest Spirit. But it occasionally grants him superhuman strength and skill that, while providing him with a temporary advantage, cause the curse to spread more quickly.

Next, we have San and the wolves.

Here, we have San, voiced by Claire Danes, and her two brothers as well as their mother, Moro in the lower picture. It's implied that there were once many others in their pack, but that they were killed off by the people of Irontown. The wolf pelt that San wears is probably proof of this, as it more than likely once belonged to a pack member.

San is the human girl who was adopted as an infant by Moro, who scared away her human parents as they were 'defiling her forest'. Moro chose to raise San instead of eating her and now, San fights for the sake of her wolf family, unafraid to sacrifice her own life for her cause.

However, she, unlike Ashitaka, is far wiser in the ways of this ancient world and understands that her quest may fail. Even despite knowing this, she is undaunted in her goal. She is extremely aggressive toward humans, attacking them mercilessly until she can get past them. She threatens to slash Ashitaka's throat a couple of times and is understandably shocked beyond words when he weakly tells her that she's beautiful. Granted, at this point in time, he's barely conscious and is more than likely speaking on a subconscious level, but it's enough to make her pause and think. As for San's brothers, they are never named outright, at least in the English dub, but they are fiercely loyal to their mother and sister. San is often shown riding one or the other in her attacks against the humans. Their mother, Moro, voiced by Gillian Anderson, is a ferocious, yet sympathetic wolf god and supposedly the last true mature wolf god remaining. Fatally wounded at the start of the movie, she spends much of her time contemplating her death in order to prevent the invasion of a similar poison to the boar who cursed Ashitaka, as he originated from this land. Moro maintains a terse truce with Ashitaka for San's sake, though she states once that she would've killed him if given the chance. Moro understands that she and her dwindling tribe stand little to no chance against the humans and grudgingly accepts this fact, unlike her daughter. Although it seems like she would drag her entire tribe and San down with her in death, this is shown to be false as she tries to convince San to give up this violent way of life to pursue a happier one with Ashitaka.

The last character I'll discuss in depth is Lady Eboshi, mistress of Irontown, voiced by Minnie Driver. At first glance, you think “yeah, there's our bad-guy”. But like I said, there is no true good or evil here. Everyone is just human and Eboshi is no exception. Yes, she may seem like a villainess, but in reality, all she's trying to do is make her Iron business a success in order to better the region for her people. Most of the women in Irontown, if not all of them, are former prostitutes that Eboshi freed from the brothels by purchasing their contracts. She also secretly employs lepers to construct high-tech firearms for her, offering them clean housing, warmth, food and, most importantly, the sense of humanity. Everyone in the town respects her highly, especially the women who are immensely grateful to her for her help. Many times, the women of Irontown prove more dependable than the men as they actually manage to intimidate and drive away an imperial messenger. This may not seem like a big deal, but for the time period, it's borderline illegal, as women back then were expected to be submissive. I assure you, you will laugh yourself silly at their antics. Eboshi is a bit different. Stern, yet compassionate, Eboshi, is a very elegant woman who proves able to understand when something she does is wrong and shows the wisdom and knowledge to correct it.

The rest of the cast is phenomenally well developed, having taken Miyazaki a total of sixteen years to completely put together and polish. There is a small amount of CGI placed here, such as the demon worms that become the tangible form of Ashitaka's curse. But Miyazaki and his team are well known for their skills of the dying art called single cell animation where almost everything is done by hand. This allows them to keep the beautiful settings and rich colors that you just can't really duplicate through computer animation. Most of the older series hold true to this and it's fairly obvious to tell when you look at newer series. It's beautiful and often awe-inspiring, but it's just not the same. Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke pays a lot of attention to detail and character development, as well as story development. Simple scenes that don't have much influence are given as much attention as scenes that change the path of the story altogether. One scene that comes to mind is Ashitaka sitting with the men of Irontown and talking about the giant boar god, Nago, the same boar who gave Ashitaka his curse. You see a brief flashback through the man's tale of how Eboshi arrived to drive the boars away with her new weapons that spew flames and iron balls called bullets. An image of Eboshi standing above the devastated hillside fades to a grim expression on Ashitaka's face, preceding a shot of him gripping his cursed arm. Nothing is said those first few minutes, but the expression on the prince's face is all that it needs. You get the sense of the turmoil he feels simply through the animation.

Like all of Studio Ghibli's works, Princess Mononoke is a highly well-thought-out story stemming from the greatest imagination ever owned by one human being. If you're a fan of anime and haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. If you've seen his movies but somehow missed this one, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? UNDER A ROCK!?

Recommendations: This is Hayao Miyazaki's first PG-13 movie, so definitely for older kids. There's a shot of a complete decapitation, plus plenty of creepy or downright scary scenes that will undoubtedly frighten small kids. If you're going to show them Studio Ghibli material, start with Kiki's Delivery Service or My Neighbor Totoro. Wait a few years to show this to anyone under 16 years of age.