Mononoke Hime

When an Emishi village is attacked by a fierce demon boar, the young prince Ashitaka puts his life at stake to defend his tribe. With its dying breath, the beast curses the prince's arm, granting him demonic powers while gradually siphoning his life away. Instructed by the village elders to travel westward for a cure, Ashitaka arrives at Tatara, the Iron Town, where he finds himself embroiled in a fierce conflict: Lady Eboshi of Tatara, promoting constant deforestation, stands against Princess San and the sacred spirits of the forest, who are furious at the destruction brought by the humans. As the opposing forces of nature and mankind begin to clash in a desperate struggle for survival, Ashitaka attempts to seek harmony between the two, all the while battling the latent demon inside of him. Princess Mononoke is a tale depicting the connection of technology and nature, while showing the path to harmony that could be achieved by mutual acceptance.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

San Main

Ishida, Yuriko Japanese

Ashitaka Main

Matsuda, Youji Japanese

Gozen, Eboshi ing

Tanaka, Yuko Japanese

Kodama ing

Yakul ing

Moro ing

Miwa, Akihiro Japanese

The Forest Spirit ing

Iinuma, Kei Japanese

Jiko, Bou ing

Kobayashi, Kaoru Japanese

Okkoto ing

Morishige, Hisaya Japanese

Toki ing

Shimamoto, Sumi Japanese

Suzuki, Toshio Producer

Miyazaki, Hayao Director, Theme Song Lyrics, Screenplay, Creator

Gaiman, Neil Script

Hisaishi, Joe Theme Song Arrangement, Theme Song Composition, Music

Reviews

Apr 29, 2025

KJandAPodcast

Recommended

Princess Mononoke is a towering achievement in animation and storytelling. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki and released in 1997, this Studio Ghibli classic remains a powerful meditation on nature, industrialization, and the murky gray space between good and evil.

The film follows Ashitaka, a cursed prince from an exiled tribe, as he journeys to find a cure for his affliction. His path leads him into the heart of a war between the guardians of the forest—gods in the form of animals—and the encroaching force of human industry, led by the fierce and complex Lady Eboshi. In the middle of this struggle is San, the titular “Princess Mononoke,” ... a human girl raised by wolves who sees herself as part of the forest rather than mankind.

The animation is breathtaking—every frame hand-drawn with care and detail. From the serene sway of grass in the wind to the grotesque and symbolic curse spreading through Ashitaka’s arm, every moment is visually captivating. The voice cast in the English dub is surprisingly star-studded and genuinely effective, with standout performances by Claire Danes, Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup, and Minnie Driver.

What elevates Princess Mononoke is its refusal to simplify. There are no pure heroes or villains—just individuals with hopes, flaws, and desperate motives. Lady Eboshi liberates women from brothels and shelters lepers, yet she’s also willing to destroy a god for the sake of progress. San fights fiercely for nature but struggles with her identity. Even the “villainous” mercenary Jigo is more opportunist than monster.

The movie also leans into body horror and surrealism in ways that are both uncomfortable and memorable—like the grotesque worm-like tendrils of a corrupted god or the eerie, baboon-like face of the Forest Spirit.

At just over two hours, Princess Mononoke is both action-packed and contemplative. It’s a film that doesn’t spell everything out but trusts the audience to reflect on its themes: coexistence, environmental balance, and the cost of unchecked ambition.

In short, this isn’t just a great anime movie—it’s a great film, period. Whether you're a Ghibli veteran or new to the genre, this is one cinematic journey worth taking.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 31, 2023

benjihubs

Mixed Feelings

I don't get the hype of the movie. I watched it, and it was Fine. Not amazing as most people seem to think. If this movie was exactly the same but made by anyone else than Ghibli, i belive it would just been an anime lost in time, Howl's Flying castle was more entertaining to me. The animation was fine, great landscapes, clean but flat animation, not much depth on the charecters, but that is the style of Ghibli so that is fine. Story is nice and linear but also predictable, you know what will happen 5 minutes before it does. I think people ... mostly just give this a good review due to growing up with it. For a more adult first time view, i think it falls flat.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 5, 2025

Olterr

Not Recommended

Funny

Hella boring, environmentalist propaganda.

The humans are a bunch of cripples and rejects trying to get by in a war torn land. They mine and chop down trees, which upsets the forest inhabitants such as the violent boars that literally do nothing aside from trying to kill humans. THEIR EXISTENCE IS TO KILL HUMANITY. But these are the creatures in the moral right? The boars should die. Same for the wolves. They are wolves, they exist to kill animals yet is that depicted? Nope. What do they eat? Humans? Genuinely that might be it. Root for the human eating wolves and genocidal boars please!

Girl raised by ... wolves that eat people is actually super empathetic and loves nature. Oh but she HATES humans. Why? Because people chop down trees and mine ore to make guns. This is your reason for generational hatred? She is just being unreasonable to be honest. According to the movie, mining causes plants to die. And the forest creatures get really angry about this. Ok. So what should the humans do instead? Just die? This genuinely seems to be the suggestion the movie makes. Stop mining, stop chopping down trees and just die. People love this message. Quite odd.

The argument people make about this is that the ore is used to make weapons which is issue. But this doesn't make much sense, because the ground becoming poisoned is a result of the mining itself, not the fact that the ore is used to make weapons. So at the end of the movie when the female leader of Irontown realises that killing is bad, mkay she will just keep mining and continue poisoning the earth. Mining while smiling causes less pollution? Nonsensical stuff. But all the violent genocidal boars are dead so there are no more issues. Genociding other species was actually a good idea and everything worked out for the best for everyone. Unintentionally based?

Then there is the MC who is super chill, but attracted to the genocidal human girl. She never reciprocates these feelings though so it is just weird following this guy trying to rizz up this girl that clearly shows zero interest. (I think she might be furry if you know what I mean). Quite disgusting stuff tbh. Then there is massive tar invasion explosion, which I think is a reference to hiroshima and nagasaki. I think the creator of studio ghibli is still angry about that one. But when the fat ugly bastard character gives away the god's head the tar goes away and nature becomes healed again. The boars got genocided, the wolves are practically extinct as well. But they had it coming.

Overrated af. Princess mononoke is a total B-word, and the ending is a total blue balls anyways. The art is neat and the tree god stuff is cool I guess, but yeah, studio ghibli creator cringe propaganda is so blatant. He also seems to hate good endings.(Although humans winning is in a way a good ending) Maybe because of the bombs.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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