Princess Mononoke
is a 1997 Japanese animated historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Set in the Muromachi period of Japanese history, the film follows Ashitaka, a young Emishi prince who journeys west to cure his cursed arm and becomes embroiled in the conflict between the forest of the gods and a nearby town, as well as the feud between Lady Eboshi, the town's leader, and San, a human girl raised by wolves. Produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by Toho, it stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori, and Hisaya Morishige.
Miyazaki began developing early concepts in 1980 and later considered basing a film on the Hōjōki, a Japanese literary classic; elements of both evolved substantially into the eventual film. After taking a break to direct On Your Mark, he led the production with a budget of, making it the most expensive animated film at the time. Some computer-generated imagery and other digital techniques were used in conjunction with hand-drawn animation, a first for Miyazaki. The film explores themes of environmentalism and societal diversity, partly inspired by Miyazaki's readings into novel historical and cultural studies, and presents a feminist portrayal of its characters. It also blends fantastical elements with its depiction of medieval Japanese history, influenced by the jidaigeki style. The score was composed by Joe Hisaishi, a longtime collaborator of Miyazaki's.
Princess Mononoke was theatrically released in Japan on July 12, 1997, and broke several box office records. Suzuki led the film's marketing, then the largest advertisement campaign in Japan. It eventually became the highest-grossing film in the country. Following a distribution deal struck between Tokuma Shoten and Walt Disney Studios, it was the first of Studio Ghibli's films to be released internationally and was given to Miramax Films to be dubbed into English and distributed in North America. Neil Gaiman wrote the translation, making significant alterations for its American audience; the dub underperformed at the box office., the film has grossed through various theatrical and home media releases. It received a broadly positive critical response in both Japan and the United States and earned a number of major Japanese accolades, including top awards at the Mainichi Film Awards and the Japan Academy Film Prize. Its sustained popularity and cultural impact have since made it a cult film.
Plot summary
In Muromachi-era Japan, the last Emishi prince, Ashitaka, kills a gigantic demon to protect his village, but his arm is afflicted by its curse. The demon, once the boar god Nago, was corrupted by an iron ball embedded in its body. Learning that the curse will eventually kill him, Ashitaka is exiled to the west, seeking a cure by uncovering the source of Nago's hatred.On his journey, Ashitaka discovers that the curse grants him supernatural strength. He encounters a monk named Jigo, who advises him to seek answers in the nearby mountains from the Forest Spirit– a deer-like god of life and death that transforms into the giant Nightwalker at sunset. Guided by tiny Kodama, Ashitaka passes through the forest of the gods, where he catches a glimpse of the Forest Spirit. Meanwhile, Lady Eboshi and her men repel an attack by a pack of wolves led by the wolf goddess Moro and her adopted human daughter, San.
Ashitaka arrives at Irontown, a settlement that has deforested the surrounding area to mine iron, leading to conflicts with the animal gods of the forest. The town shelters former prostitutes and people with leprosy, who work to manufacture firearms. Eboshi, the town's leader, admits to shooting Nago, instilling the hatred that corrupted him. She also reveals her plan to kill the Forest Spirit, hoping to eradicate the gods and enable Irontown to prosper. Though Ashitaka's cursed arm tries attacking Eboshi, he resists its influence. Eboshi is collaborating with Jigo, who stands to be richly rewarded for delivering the Forest Spirit's head– believed to grant immortality– to the Emperor.
The wolves attack; San, whom the townspeople call "Princess Mononoke", infiltrates Irontown and duels Eboshi. Ashitaka subdues them both, but a townsperson shoots him. Strengthened by the curse, he takes San out of the town before collapsing. San threatens to kill him for sparing Eboshi, but is taken aback when he compliments her beauty. She brings Ashitaka to the Forest Spirit, who heals his wound but leaves the curse. The next day, a boar clan, led by the blind god Okkoto, declares their intention to attack Irontown, preferring to die in battle rather than allow their kind to diminish. Ashitaka recovers and implores Moro to let San escape with him, but is banished from the forest instead.
The boars assault Irontown's forces but are annihilated by their weaponry. San and the mortally wounded Okkoto retreat to the forest, unknowingly followed by Eboshi and Jigo, who use the blood of the fallen boars to deceive Okkoto into leading them to the Forest Spirit. San tries stopping him, but his pain transforms him into a demon, engulfing her. With Moro's remaining strength, she and Ashitaka free San. The Forest Spirit grants peaceful deaths to Okkoto and Moro. As it transforms into the Nightwalker, Eboshi beheads it. Its body explodes into a dark, chaotic fluid that expands in search of its head, killing everything it touches– including the forest– and briefly reanimates Moro's head, which bites off Eboshi's arm.
Though reluctant to help the humans, San joins Ashitaka in pursuing Jigo to recover the Forest Spirit's head. Ashitaka evacuates Irontown as the Nightwalker's body floods it, and together, he and San retrieve the head from Jigo, returning it to the Nightwalker. As the sun rises, the Nightwalker dies and dissolves into the wind. In its place, the devastated land is renewed with abundant flora, and Ashitaka's curse is lifted. A repentant Eboshi resolves to build a better town. While Ashitaka chooses to help with Irontown's reconstruction, San, unable to forgive humanity, stays in the forest. They promise to meet as often as they can.
Voice cast
Development
Early concepts and pre-production
composed the preliminary ideas for what would become Princess Mononoke in 1980 after releasing his first film, The Castle of Cagliostro, drawing sketches of a princess living in the woods with a beast. The story was roughly based on the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale, set in historical Japan. The Beast was realized as an animalistic spirit whom the protagonist, the daughter of a nobleman, is forced to marry. After unsuccessfully proposing the film project to several production companies, Miyazaki published his concepts in a book in 1983, republished in 2014 as Princess Mononoke: The First Story. He reused various ideas from this project in works such as My Neighbor Totoro and Porco Rosso. Shuna's Journey in particular bears the closest resemblance to the eventual film, featuring a protagonist who rides an elk to the land of gods. A few fundamental ideas from the 1980 concept appear in the final film, but the character designs and plot are entirely different. The film scholar Raz Greenberg wrote that the original concept also the end of tyranny vividly", in contrast with the film, showing the antagonist's fortress destroyed and its slaves emancipated. According to the film scholar Rayna Denison, the stark difference between the original idea and the final film demonstrates the radical change of Miyazaki's filmmaking philosophies during that time. He took cues from Japanese folklore, especially the tale of a princess with a birthmark, which evolved over time into Ashitaka's curse.Inspired by the writings of Yoshie Hotta, Miyazaki also considered creating a film adaptation of the Hōjōki, a Japanese literary classic on the ephemerality of life. It was written by the poet Kamo no Chōmei during a period of political turmoil and natural disasters, which the animation scholar Susan J. Napier felt resonated with the "increasing sense of vulnerability" in Japanese culture during the time of the film's production. However, Miyazaki felt the concept was "far removed from common sense" and had no possibility of commercial success; he never moved forward with this concept but continued to consider creating a historical piece. Upon the completion of his manga series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Miyazaki began work on the project proposal for the film in August 1994. However, encountering writer's block in December, he took a break from the production to direct the short film On Your Mark as a side project. Miyazaki returned to the film in April 1995 and began working on the storyboards in May. The film's broad scope and high level of detail extended the pre-production process. That month, Miyazaki took four of the art directors to visit the island of Yakushima, which had already inspired some environments in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, to achieve the environmental depiction that he was seeking to portray. The island's relative lack of development informed their sketches of the film's forest of the gods. The fifth art director, Kazuo Oga, went to the Shirakami-Sanchi mountains to draw inspiration for the Emishi village.
Production and animation
Princess Mononoke was the most expensive animated film ever produced in Japan at the time. It was originally allocated a budget of, which was expanded to later in the production, more than double that of any previous Studio Ghibli film. Miyazaki stated, "I don't care if the studio goes bankrupt." The animation production commenced in July 1995. Miyazaki created the storyboards using the approach he took toward serialized manga, writing the film's plot as he drew the scenes. His declining sight initially caused him to use oversized paper, but he switched back to the normal size to increase the pace of the storyboarding. This process was done in parallel with the animation, and the final boards outlining the end of the film were not finished until January 1997.An unusually high level of detail was afforded illustrating backgrounds and animating background characters due to the large budget available. The decision to assign five art directors to the film was also unprecedented. Each tackled a different aspect; for example, one handled daylight shots while another covered the nighttime. The film used approximately 144,000 cels, 80,000 of them being key animation frames, more than any other Studio Ghibli film. Miyazaki is estimated to have drawn or retouched nearly 80,000 cels himself. The final shots were completed in June 1997, less than a month from the release date.