Dealing with the demon has placed a deadly curse on the Prince Ashitaka. So he journeys to the west to find a cure. When in his quest, he finds another village of iron-miners, Ashitaka meets Mononoke, human daughter of the great Wolf Tribe’s leader. Ashitaka learns there is more to the curse that bewitched him — a war between humans with a need to protect their community and animal-gods with a sacred vow to protect nature.

Princess Mononoke is probably one of the most spectacular anime I have ever seen. While it may not say much in terms of artwork, its plot and storyline have definitely placed their mark in my memory (just don’t think about the annoying Claire Danes’ voice if you’re watching the English dubbed version). Like most serious anime, it’s quite difficult to tell who the real villain is until you get to the last part. Both the mining village and the animal-gods have their reasons to fight. The village only wants to protect their lady, who has shown them nothing but great kindness and compassion. She longs for a bright future for the people she governs and will destroy anything that gets in the way of this vision. The animal-gods, in turn, fight for the preservation of their home and their tribes. Virtually every character in PM have well-defined good and bad points. Although Princess Mononoke is the title character, I had observed that Ashitaka is the main character, not Mononoke herself. Foreshadowing is also used effectively to captivate the audience. Every emotion, whether you find yourself empathizing with the humans or animals, can be felt clearly. There is a thin line between ambition and corruption, and PM plays this out all too well. Overall, I could say that this is not only a beautiful anime but a profound message about the ecological devastation that people are capable of. Truly a masterpiece!

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NOTE: This description was written sometime in 2001 and was recorded in the classic Otaku Fridge as ??.??.2001. Unfortunately the database would not accept non-numerical values, so this review is now dated January 01, 2001 by default.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 8; Story 9; Characters 9; Sounds 8

This entry was posted on Monday, January 1st, 2001 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Princess Mononoke, Anime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.