Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke もののけ姫Mononoke-hime, is the story of Prince Ashitaka, a young man cursed by a demon, who travels to a land far to the west and comes upon a violent struggle between guardians of a forest and humans who wish to use its resources.

Summary
The film opens as Nago, a giant boar demon, attacks a secluded village of the believed-extinct Emishi tribe. Ashitaka, their young prince, fights to protect the village on his red elk, Yakul. Though the demon is killed, Ashitaka is wounded on his arm. The village wise woman tells the prince that it is a cursed wound that will eventually spread to the rest of his body, killing him. Ashitaka resolves to travel to the lands to the West where the boar came from and try to find a cure for his curse. Ashitaka cuts his hair, a ritual signifying his permanent departure from the village.

Ashitaka passes by a village being attacked by samurai. Though he intends not to get involved, some of the men attack him, forcing the prince to defend himself. As he begins to fire arrows at them, Ashitaka's cursed arm begins to ripple and warp as it begins to grant him supernatural power, giving his arrows the force to remove the limbs and even heads of his opponents. In a nearby town, Ashitaka meets Jigo, a roving monk. That evening, the monk tells Ashitaka that the god of the forest in the mountains of the west may be able to help him with his curse.

A nearby town in the mountains of the west, called Irontown, is in constant battle with giant beasts trying to protect the forest the people need in order to smelt ironsand. In one such battle, the giant wolf god Moro leads two other giant wolves to attack a caravan of villagers moving rice. Riding on the back of one of the smaller giant wolves is San, a human girl who was adopted by the wolves. During the skirmish, Moro and several villagers are injured. The day following the battle, Ashitaka comes upon two of the injured villagers near a river. While rescuing them, he sees San caring for Moro's wounds, but she quickly disappears. He returns the villagers to their home of Irontown, along the way passing tiny tree sprites called kodama. Also in the forest is the Forest Spirit (Shishigami in the original Japanese), described as a "god of life and death", who takes the form of a deer-like kirin during the day and a large shadowy "night-walker" (Daidarabocchi) at night.

For rescuing the villagers, Ashitaka is given a warm welcome at Irontown. The leader of Irontown, Lady Eboshi, tells Ashitaka that the giant boar which cursed him used to be a forest god called Nago and that Eboshi herself had shot the boar, driving it to madness. On hearingthis, Ashitaka is filled with rage and must hold his right arm back from killing Eboshi. He is persuaded not to by lepers whom Eboshi has taken under her care and employed as gunmakers. She also employs former prostitutes in her famous ironworks in order to free them from brothels. At that moment, San sneaks into Irontown and attacks Eboshi. Ashitaka intervenes to stop them from fighting and takes San back to the forest. However, he is severely wounded when he is shot through the chest. Using the power of his cursed arm, Ashitaka manages to open the gate and leave the town, but soon collapses. San takes Ashitaka to the Forest Spirit who heals his wounds but does not remove the curse.

San learns that the boars, under the leadership of the boar god Okkoto, are planning an attack on Irontown. Eboshi prepares for the assault as well as for their campaign to destroy the Forest Spirit. The head of the Forest Spirit is believed to grant immortality. Jigo, now revealed to be a mercenary-hunter, has arrived to aid in the endeavor. He plans to give the head to the emperor. In return, the emperor has promised to give Irontown legal protection against the many others coveting the town's prosperity. Eboshi, however, correctly suspects that the emperor's agents are also instruted to take control of Irontown at any opportune moment. Meanwhile, Ashitaka has recovered from his wounds and fallen in love with San.

In the battle between Irontown and the boars, the boar army is being rapidly destroyed thanks to the traps laid down for them. Meanwhile, Jigo's hunters use the same poisoned iron ball used on Nago to corrupt Okkoto. Though severely wounded, Moro attacks Okkoto in order to save San, who had been trapped in his tentacles as she tried to prevent the boar from becoming a demon. Suddenly, The Forest Spirit appears and kills both Moro and Okkoto, to prevent them from being corrupted. However, San is spared. As the Forest Spirit is changing into the night-walker, Lady Eboshi shoots off its head. Jigo collects the head and runs off with his hunters as the Forest Spirit's body goes on a rampage, covering the land in a black ooze that kills everything it touches. The people of Irontown are forced to flee to thesurrounding lake as the god destroys the town in search of its head. Ashitaka and San manage to retrieve the head from Jigo and return it to the Forest Spirit. The giant body collapses into the lake and the land becomes green again. Ashitaka, now free from his curse, will stay to help rebuild an Irontown that Eboshi swears will be better than the last. Here Ashitaka and San part, though they promise to see each other as often as they can. The film ends with a kodama appearing in the newly rejuvenated forest.

Themes
Surviving amidst hopelessness and destruction

Survival is a key theme throughout the film. It is what drives the actions of most of the characters. Ashitaka heads west in order to find a cure. The forest gods struggle to survive against humans, who are struggling to make a life for themsleves. Lady Eboshi fights not only for her own survival, but also for the survival of her community. Each group has their own claim to life and reasons to fight. The tragedy, of course, is that their conflict causes most of the destruction and despair that they must fight through to survive.

Overcoming hatred and violence

As Miyazaki says, "There can not be a happy ending to fight between the raging gods and humans."

It is only once we find a peaceful coexistence that we can stop destroying each other. We cannot simply ignore the other's needs as we continue merrily on our way to grab as much as we can for ourselves. When we find the balance in which selfish desires can all but disappear, that is when we will have found our way to true utopia.

Influences
The main themes of Princess Mononoke were the same ones he had explored in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: surviving in the midst of hopelessness and destruction, and overcoming hatred and violence. However, Miyazaki had been dissatisfied with Nausicaä. It had a happy ending, but it had required a miracle to get there. He is quoted as saying, "There can not be a happy ending to the fight between the raging gods and humans. However, even in the middle of hatred and killings, there are things worth living for. A wonderful meeting or a beautiful thing can exist. We depict hated, but it is to depict that there are more important things. We depict a curse, to depict the joy of liberation."

The setting of Princess Mononoke was inspired by the ancient forests of Yakushima and the mountains of Shirakami-Sanchi.

Reception
Princess Mononoke's total revenue was ¥15.9 billion.

In terms of reviews, the film was generally well-received. Though Princess Mononoke only garnered a score of 76 at Metacritic, it earned a lofty 93 at Rotten Tomatoes.

In a study at UGA, Princess Mononoke was generally the least-favorite of the three movies shown (the others being Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle). The viewers, while almost unanimously in agreement that they still enjoyed the movie and that it was beautifully depicted, mostly found the story to be too serious. In particular, the environmental message of the movie was considered too overbearing. One student is quoted as saying, "We get it. Protect the environment. You don't need to beat us over the head with it."

Awards

 * Best Movie; The 21st Award


 * Best Japanese Movie, Best     Animation, and Japanese Movie Fans' Choice; The 52nd Mainichi Movie      Competition


 * Best Japanese Movie and     Readers' Choice; Asahi Best Ten Film Festival


 * Excellent Movie Award; The     Agency for Cultural Affairs


 * Grand Prize in Animation     Division; The 1st Media Arts Festival (by the Agency for Cultural Affairs      of the Ministry of Education)


 * Best Director;      Film Festival


 * Best Japanese Movie; The     Association of Movie Viewing Groups


 * Movie Award; The 39th     Mainichi Art Award


 * Best Director;      Sports Movie Award


 * Nihon Keizai Shinbun Award     for Excellency; Nikkei Awards for Excellent Products/Service


 * Theater Division Award; Asahi     Digital Entertainment Award


 * MMCA Special Award; Multimedia     Grand Prix 1997


 * Best Director and Yujiro     Ishihara Award; Nikkan Sports Movie Award


 * Special Achivement Award; The     Movie's Day


 * Special Award; Houchi Movie     Award


 * Special Award; Blue Ribbon     Award


 * Special Award;      Film Festival


 * Special Award; Elandore Award


 * Cultural Award; Fumiko Yamaji     Award


 * Grand Prize and Special     Achievement Award; Golden Gross Award


 * First Place; best films of the year; The 26th     "Pia Ten"


 * First Place;      Movie Pen Club, 1997 Best 5 Japanese Movies


 * First Place; 1997 Kinema     Junpo Japanese Movies Best 10 (Readers' Choice)
 * 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies Best 10 (Critic's Choice)


 * Best Director; 1997 Kinema     Junpo Japanese Movies (Readers' Choice)


 * First Place; Best Comicker's     Award


 * First Place; CineFront     Readers' Choice


 * Nagaharu Yodogawa Award; RoadShow


 * Best Composer and Best Album     Production; 39th       Record Award


 * Excellent Award; Yomiruri     Award for Film/Theater Advertisement

Cast
Japanese:
 * Ashitaka - Yoji Matsuda
 * San - Yuriko Ishida
 * Moro no Kimi - Akihiro Miwa
 * Eboshi Gozen - Yuko Tanaka
 * Jiko Bou - Kaoru Kobayashi
 * Toki - Sumi Shimamoto
 * Okkotonushi - Hisaya Morishige
 * Gonza - Tsunehiko Kamijo
 * Kouroku - Masahiko Nishimura

English:
 * Ashitaka - Billy Crudup
 * San - Claire Danes
 * Moro - Gillian Anderson
 * Lady Eboshi - Minnie Driver
 * Jigo - Billy Bob Thornton
 * Toki - Jada Pinkett Smith
 * Okkoto - Keith David
 * Gonza - John DiMaggio
 * Kohroku - John DeMita