Hi, sorry it’s been so long since I last posted anything ^^,,, I’ve just been caught up in lots of other things. I also sort of lost interest in my job of posting local anime news, since my news was always several days behind ANN and lots of other news sites. But anyway, my new job here is to post an anime review every now and then. So here’s my first one, of an old classic, Princess Mononoke (which, by the way, is scheduled to air on Cartoon Network next Saturday.) Enjoy!

Princess Mononoke Review

Princess Mononoke was one of the first anime movies to be brought to American theaters, and was also the only Studio Ghibli film to receive a PG-13 rating. But despite being more violent and intense than the lighter Ghibli movies that came before it, Mononoke still ranks high among Hayao Miyazaki’ most acclaimed films, and his greatness as a director can be found throughout the entire movie.

At a glance, Mononoke may seem like a standard “man vs nature” story, which is a common theme in many Ghibli films, but it unfolds into so much more than that. At first it seems like the main conflict is Ashitaka trying to find a way to lift the curse on his arm. But after he meets Lady Eboshi and her men, the beast gods, and of course, the “wolf princess” San, we’re thrust along with him, into a complex war, and the idea of lifting the curse becomes almost secondary, even to Ashitaka. Part of what makes Mononoke such a great example of the storytelling quality of anime is its ability to not portray its plot and characters as black-and-white “heroes and villains.” In the war going on between Iron Town and the animal gods, we’re given insight into both sides’ motives and needs. We realize that both sides are doing what they must to survive, and Miyazaki makes it clear that we’re not supposed to be cheering for one side and booing the other; in his brilliant manner of directing, he shows us that there are reasons to sympathize with both sides. Unlike most other animated films that deal with a conflict between two sides, it seems to me that the purpose of Princess Mononoke is not to gain satisfaction because the good side triumphs over the bad, but to observe both sides’ situations and realize that most real conflicts are not as simple as they seem.

Besides having such an engrossing story, Mononoke portrays another important anime attribute; having true-to-life characters that are not one-sided. After only ten minutes or so of the movie, Ashitaka becomes a likable protagonist, not only because he risks his life to save his village from the boar demon, but because he doesn’t show any anger or hatred towards it, and he even pleads with it to leave before he’s forced to attack it. Right away, this introduces us to his compassionate personality, which sets the stage for when he’s forced to deal with the larger scale conflict between the humans and animal gods. And again, rather than taking a side, he passionately tries his hardest to see “both sides of the spectrum” and stop the war. He’s equally concerned with the well being of both the humans and animals, and the struggle to bring peace between them, instead of being concerned with his own problem of the curse on his arm. And of course, his relationship with San adds to his sympathetic character. Likewise Lady Eboshi, who’s portrayed more or less as the antagonist, isn’t your stereotypical evil cackling witch who wants to conquer everything. Although she cares nothing for the nature around Iron Town, she’s portrayed as a competent and fair village chief, and she shows a lot of kindness towards her people, even going so far as making a haven for the deformed lepers. Again, this makes her seem so much more realistic, and adds greatly to the realism of the movie. The beast gods as well, never seem out of character, and yet they’re so much more than just “talking animals.” Even a non-speaking character like Ashitaka’s steed Yakul, becomes endearing. Even if it’s not spoken, his animal gentleness and stern loyalty to Ashitaka are presented nonetheless. The rest of the Mononoke cast are equally well-developed, and calling them “cartoon characters” almost seems incorrect. They’re perfect examples of the depth and importance of characterization in anime.

Like all Studio Ghibli films, Princess Mononoke has beautiful, smooth, and extremely detailed animation, thanks to a higher budget than typical TV anime and more modern animation techniques than previous Ghibli movies had. Besides good animation, another factor I admire about Miyazaki’s directing is his ability to not take silence and still-scenes lightly. In most of his movies, a good 30 seconds or so could go by without any dialogue or background music, or where the camera slowly and quietly follows the movements of a character or scene, such as the part where Ashitaka first peers at the Forest Spirit through the trees. These techniques force us to really focus on and inquire about what we’re watching. Even having long intervals of dialogue exchange without any background music adds so much to the realism of the movie. Silence and slow camera panes are common in anime and many Japanese and Asian shows in general, but unfortunately not in loud, fast-paced Western entertainment(I believe this says something about the American attention span.) But when there is background music or songs in Princess Mononoke, it usually captures the mood of the scene very well.

English dub wise, like all Studio Ghibli films, because the English versions are released by a huge company like Disney, they’re able to afford to hire real movie actors to play the roles. Not that you can’t have a good dub using anime-only voice actors, but the quality of Ghibli English dubs really stand out. Most of the characters in the dub sound pretty similar to their Japanese voices(the only exception I found was Moro, who sounds very different in the dub) and the acting is top notch. Besides a few minor translation liberties, such as “Shikagami”(means “deer god”) called “The Forest Spirit,” you’re definitely not missing out on anything with the English version. Since Mononoke is such a visually appealing movie, I would personally recommend the dub so you can focus more on the scenes instead of the subtitles.

In conclusion, Princess Mononoke will always be a classic and favorite movie among both American and Japanese fans. It was one of Japan’s top-grossing movies of all time and hopefully, with Miyazaki’s outstanding directing and Studio Ghibli’s quality hand-drawn animation, fans of animation and even general movie fans will realize that a movie doesn’t have to be live-action, nor does it have to have a lot of fancy CG and special effects in order to tell a thought-provoking, universal, and endearing story that anyone can relate to.

~ AnimeDreamer36

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