Princess Mononoke

Princess Mononoke
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanji	もののけ姫
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Mononoke-hime
Directed by	Hayao Miyazaki
Written by	Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by	Toshio Suzuki
Starring	Yōji Matsuda Yuriko Ishida Yūko Tanaka Kaoru Kobayashi Masahiko Nishimura Tsunehiko Kamijō Akihiro Miwa Mitsuko Mori Hisaya Morishige
Cinematography	Atsushi Okui
Edited by	Takeshi Seyama
Music by	Joe Hisaishi
Production company	Studio Ghibli
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	July 12, 1997 (1997-07-12)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Budget	¥2.35 billion ($23.5 million)
Box office	US$194.3 million

Princess Mononoke (Japanese: もののけ姫, Hepburn: Mononoke-hime) is a 1997 Japanese animated epic historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network and Dentsu. The film stars the voices of Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijo, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori, and Hisaya Morishige.

Set in the late Muromachi period of Japan (approximately 1336 to 1573 AD) and including fantasy elements, the story follows a young Emishi prince named Ashitaka, and his involvement in a struggle between the gods (kami) and spirits (yōkai) of a forest against the humans who consume its resources. The film deals with a recurrent theme in Studio Ghibli work: environmentalism as a reaction against over-industrialization within the context of Shintoism, animism, and folklore.

Princess Mononoke was released in Japan on July 12, 1997, by Toho, and in the United States on October 29, 1999. A critical and commercial success, the film became the highest-grossing film in Japan of 1997, and also held Japan's box office record for domestic films until 2001's Spirited Away, another Miyazaki film. It was dubbed into English with a script by Neil Gaiman and initially distributed in North America by Miramax, where it sold well on home media despite not performing strongly at the box office. The film greatly increased Ghibli's popularity and influence outside Japan.

Plot

In Muromachi Japan, an Emishi village is attacked by a hideous demon. The last Emishi prince, Ashitaka, kills it before it reaches the village, but it grasps his arm and curses him before its death. The curse grants him superhuman strength, but it also causes him pain and it will eventually kill him. The villagers discover that the demon was a boar god, corrupted by an iron ball lodged in his body. The village's wise woman, Hī-sama, tells Ashitaka that he may find a cure in the western lands that the demon came from, and that he cannot return to his homeland.

Heading west, Ashitaka meets Jigo, an opportunistic monk who tells Ashitaka he may find help from the Great Forest Spirit, a deer-like animal god by day and a giant Nightwalker by night. Nearby, men on a cliffside herd oxen to their home of Iron Town, led by Lady Eboshi, and repel an attack by a wolf pack led by the wolf goddess Moro, whom Eboshi wounds with a gunshot. Riding one of the wolves is San, a human girl. Down below, Ashitaka encounters San and the wolves, who rebuff his greeting. He then rescues two of the men fallen from the cliff and transports them back through the forest, where he briefly glimpses the Great Forest Spirit.

Ashitaka and the survivors arrive at Iron Town, where he is greeted with fascination. Iron Town is a refuge for outcasts and lepers employed to process iron and create firearms, such as hand cannons and matchlock muskets. Ashitaka learns that the town was built by clearcutting forests to mine the iron, leading to conflicts with Asano, a daimyō (kanrei), and a giant boar god named Nago. Eboshi admits that she shot Nago, incidentally turning him into the demon that attacked Ashitaka's village. She also reveals that San — dubbed Princess Mononoke, a supernatural spirit of retribution — was raised by the wolves and hates humankind.

San infiltrates Iron Town and fights Eboshi, but Ashitaka intervenes and subdues them both. Amidst the hysteria, a villager with a firearm shoots him, but the curse gives him strength to carry San out of the village. San wakes and tries killing the weakened Ashitaka, but hesitates when he compliments her beauty. She decides to trust him after the Forest Spirit heals his bullet wound that night. The next day, a boar clan led by the blind god Okkoto plans to attack Iron Town to save the forest. Eboshi sets out to kill the Forest Spirit with Jigo. Eboshi intends to give the god's head to the Emperor (who believes it will grant him immortality) in return for protection from Asano, while Jigo desires the large reward being offered.

Ashitaka recovers and finds Iron Town besieged by Asano's samurai and jizamurai. The boar clan has been annihilated in battle, and Okkoto is badly wounded. Jigo's men trick Okkoto into leading them to the Forest Spirit. San tries stopping Okkoto but is swept up as his pain corrupts him into a demon. As everyone clashes at the pool of the Forest Spirit, Ashitaka rescues San while the Forest Spirit euthanizes Moro and Okkoto. As it begins to transform into the Nightwalker Eboshi decapitates it. Jigo steals the head, while the Forest Spirit's body bleeds ooze that spreads over the land and kills anything it touches. The forest and its spirits begin to die. Moro's head briefly comes alive and bites off Eboshi's right arm, but she survives. An enraged San tries killing Eboshi, but is stopped by Ashitaka, who consoles her and encourages her not to give up.

After Iron Town is evacuated, Ashitaka and San pursue Jigo and retrieve the head, returning it to the Forest Spirit. The Spirit dies but its form washes over the land, healing it and lifting Ashitaka's curse. Ashitaka stays to help rebuild Iron Town, but promises San he will visit her in the forest. Eboshi vows to build a better town and the forest begins to regrow.

Voice cast

Billy Crudup (pictured in 2015), who voiced Ashitaka in the English dub

Claire Danes (pictured in 2015), who voiced San

Character name		Voice actor
English	Japanese	Japanese	English
Ashitaka	Ashitaka (アシタカ)	Yōji Matsuda	Billy Crudup
San	San (サン)	Yuriko Ishida	Claire Danes
Lady Eboshi	Eboshi Gozen (エボシ御前)	Yūko Tanaka	Minnie Driver
Jigo	Jiko-bō (ジコ坊)	Kaoru Kobayashi	Billy Bob Thornton
Toki	Toki (トキ)	Sumi Shimamoto	Jada Pinkett Smith
Kohroku	Kōroku (甲六)	Masahiko Nishimura	John DeMita
Gonza	Gonza (ゴンザ)	Tsunehiko Kamijō	John DiMaggio
Moro	Moro no Kimi (モロの君)	Akihiro Miwa	Gillian Anderson
Hii-sama	Hī-sama (ヒイ様)	Mitsuko Mori	Debi Derryberry
Okkoto	Okkoto-nushi (乙事主)	Hisaya Morishige	Keith David
Nago	Nago no Kami (ナゴの守)	Makoto Sato	Un­known
Wolf	Yama-inu (山犬)	Tetsu Watanabe
Ushikai	Ushikai no Osa (牛飼いの長)	Akira Nagoya

Development

Production

Some of the film's natural scenery was inspired by Miyazaki's visit to the forests of Yakushima.

Miyazaki composed the preliminary ideas for what would become Princess Mononoke shortly after the release of his first film The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), drawing sketches of a princess living in the woods with a beast. After unsuccessfully proposing the project to several production companies, Miyazaki published his concepts in a 1983 book, republished in 2014 as Princess Mononoke: The First Story. While being set in Japan, the concept had strong similarities to the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" (1740). According to film scholar Rayna Denison, the differences that can be discerned between the original idea and the final film demonstrate the radical change of Miyazaki's filmmaking philosophies. Upon the completion of his manga series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1994), Miyazaki began work on the project proposal for the film in April 1994. However, encountering writer's block in December of that year, he decided to take a break from the production and direct the short film On Your Mark (1995) as a side project. Miyazaki returned to the film and began working on the storyboards in April 1995.

To achieve the environmental depiction that he was seeking to portray, Miyazaki and four art directors visited the island of Yakushima in May 1995. Additionally, art director Kazuo Oga went to the Shirakami-Sanchi mountains, which had already inspired some environments in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Miyazaki did not want to create an accurate history of Medieval Japan, and wanted to "portray the very beginnings of the seemingly insoluble conflict between the natural world and modern industrial civilization." Despite being set during the Muromachi period, the actual time period of Princess Mononoke depicts a "symbolic neverwhen clash of three proto-Japanese races (the Jomon, Yamato and Emishi)."

Animation

Princess Mononoke was produced with a budget of ¥2.35 billion (US$19.6 million; US$36.6 million in 2023), making it the most expensive Japanese animation at the time. The film used 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 animation production commenced in July 1995. The final storyboards were finished in June 1997.

Computer graphics

3D rendering was used to create writhing demon flesh that was digitally composited onto a hand-drawn Ashitaka.

Princess Mononoke was realized with a combination of hand-drawn animation and computer-generated imagery; approximately five minutes of the film were animated entirely using digital processes. A further ten minutes use digital ink and paint, a technique used in all subsequent Studio Ghibli films. The company's hand-drawn methods were becoming outdated by the late 1990s, and in a 1997 interview with members of the computer graphics team at Studio Ghibli, they felt that the adoption was made largely out of necessity. While Studio Ghibli had already begun experimenting with digital techniques a few years prior on Pom Poko (1994), its computer graphics department was opened during the production of Princess Mononoke.

Miyazaki's distaste for digital animation techniques were well known in Japan before the film's release, so his use of computer graphics came as a surprise to audiences. The decision to use computer graphics was made early in the production at his request, starting with the opening sequence with the demon god. Certain sequences in the film were created using 3D tools, then processed to resemble a traditionally-animated sequence using a program called Toon Shader. Some of this work was outsourced to the animation studio Toyo Links. Three broad categories of digital techniques were applied to the animation: use of digital ink and paint to finish coloring hand-drawn frames, 3D rendering and digital compositing, which put the hand-drawn images in a three-dimensional environment to create more visual depth, and morphing and particle effects, which create additional detail and smoother transitions. Yoshinori Sugano, head of the computer graphics department, recalled that the most involved use of digital techniques were to mask the transitions between the digital and hand-drawn elements on screen. Some characters, particularly the gods, alternate being rendered with each approach between shots.

Themes

Conflicts of nature, technology, and humanity

Environmentalism is a central theme of Princess Mononoke, and the violent schism between the people of Irontown and the forest spirits are an allegory of the modern conflicts of human industry with the natural world. In a 1998 interview at the Berlin International Film Festival, Miyazaki stated that he "meant to state [his] objection to the way environmental issues are treated", referring to the general exclusion of humanity's role in environmental discourse in Japan. Setting the film in the Muromachi period allowed him to depict the country before it had been deforested and altered by rice agriculture, and positions the film within the moment of history when "humankind pushed nature into submission", according to the animation writers Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. The film scholars Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc wrote that the film simultaneously mounts a criticism of humanity's mistreatment of the natural world and "grudgingly admits" that some disputes are inevitable to facilitate technological progress. The film presents several themes similarly to the manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which Miyazaki had completed in 1994, namely the "environmental catastrophe, the role of technology and warfare, and human interactions with nonhuman species", according to Napier. The film scholar Raz Greenberg also found similarities with Miyazaki's earlier manga Shuna's Journey (1983), which he wrote created the "narrative frame" upon which Princess Mononoke's plot is built; both works feature the protagonists leaving their homes, witnessing the depravities of humanity, and entering the domain of gods.

Benjamin Thevenin, a media arts scholar, analyzed the film within the idiosyncratic context of melodrama and wrote that the "nuanced environmental perspective" that Miyazaki seeks to communicate is accomplished through an effective use of conventional techniques of the dramatic style. For example, he noted the film presented novel and complex animation techniques with a focus on action sequences and drew a parallel to the use of spectacle as a device in conventional melodramatic works. While Irontown is shown to be a haven for downtrodden members of society, who have the opportunity to live honest lives and enjoy fair treatment from Eboshi, the conflict arises from the harm that the settlement causes to the surrounding environment. Greenberg identified this dynamic as a marked increase in complexity from Miyazaki's earlier works, which typically presented a utopian model as an answer to social issues. Additionally, the film portrays internal strife within parties on both sides of the conflict: the different clans of spirits disagree on how to handle the conflict and the humans war amongst themselves for various reasons. According to the film critic Roger Ebert, Princess Mononoke is not a "simplistic tale of good and evil, but the story of how humans, forest animals, and nature gods all fight for their share of the new emerging order."

Heterogeneity of society

Napier wrote that "the sense of a broken heterogeneous world is stridently manifest" within Princess Mononoke. Although some aspects of the film's storytelling align with the tropes of melodrama, the complexity to which Miyazaki develops the characters and his eschewal of a definite narrative resolution stand in contrast to the typical approach to a melodramatic style, which may use stereotypes and straightforward morals in service of the allegorical plot. In a speech in 2016, Miyazaki explained that he was inspired to portray people living with leprosy, "said to be an incurable disease caused by bad karma", after visiting the Tama Zenshoen Sanatorium near his home in Tokyo. Miyazaki attributed this to his experience of making his previous film, Porco Rosso (1992), and the wars in the former Yugoslavia, which he cited as an example of humankind never learning, making it difficult for him to go back to making a film such as Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), where he explained: "It felt like children were being born to this world without being blessed. How could we pretend to them that we're happy?"

Style

Princess Mononoke marked the first time Miyazaki explored a jidaigeki style – a period drama focusing on the lives of historic Japanese peoples. According to Napier, the film presents a much "grimmer" tone than his previous works, inspired by Japanese literary classic Hōjōki (1212). The film also subverts many traditional elements of the jidaigeki genre, such as the portrayals of the Emperor and the samurai as sacred and noble. Additionally, Miyazaki chooses not to follow typical depictions of the Muromachi period such as the development of high culture or Zen aesthetics in Kyoto, opting to focus on the beauty and danger of the natural landscape. Additionally, the film exaggerates the historical perspective in order to facilitate the narrative; Irontown, for example, is inspired primarily by metalworking settlements in China, and the clothing of the girls in Ashitaka's village are influenced by styles from Bhutan and Thailand. However, according to animation scholar Helen McCarthy, Miyazaki was drawn to the period as the Japanese people "began to feel they could control nature, rather than placate or worship it".

Release

Hayao Miyazaki (pictured in 2009), the director

Toshio Suzuki (pictured in 2004), the producer

Marketing and Japanese release

The promotional strategy was spearheaded by the film's producer, Toshio Suzuki, who by 1997 had already developed relationships within the media industry while promoting previous Studio Ghibli releases. Napier noted that the marketing put the film under the Studio Ghibli brand for the first time – as opposed to previous works that were labeled primarily as Miyazaki films – which she felt reflected Suzuki's rising position as Ghibli's main producer. According to Suzuki, three important elements of the campaign were the repeated use of a recognizable title logo, key imagery from the film, and a tagline. The tagline underwent several iterations before, with Suzuki's input, the final phrase was chosen: "Live." Suzuki also changed the title from the original intention of The Legend of Ashitaka, without Miyazaki's initial approval, as he found it less interesting. The budget allotted for the film's promotion was at least ¥2.6 billion, even higher than the production budget, making it the largest film advertisement campaign in Japan at the time. The film scholar Shiro Yoshioka argued that the commercial success of Princess Mononoke was essential to make up the large production budget, and the scale of its campaign was significantly expanded from previous films'. A number of preview screenings were organized before the release to advertise the film by word of mouth. 130 of them were originally scheduled and 70 were ultimately held, a number that the film scholar Seiji Kanō still found "astonishing"; Miyazaki's previous film Porco Rosso had had only 23 screenings by comparison.

Following the distribution deal struck between Walt Disney Studios and Studio Ghibli's then–parent company Tokuma Shoten in 1997, the film would be the first among Miyazaki's works to receive a worldwide release. While the arrangement did extend the studio's reach to new regions, the announcement was made primarily to attract audiences locally. Miyazaki also hinted that he might retire following the film's release, further piquing audience interest. The film was marketed as a split between an anime and an art house film but avoided advertising in the mainstream ahead of its release. Denison felt that this choice was indicative of the studio's initial lack of confidence in the film's commercial viability and a perception of its financial riskiness. Yasuyoshi Tokuma, the head of Tokuma Shoten, said in an interview before the film's release that it would be a "huge success" just to make back the investments that had been put into the film. Denison argued, however, that the scale of the marketing campaign that was organized revealed the studio's aim to achieve a commercial success; she interpreted this approach to the release as a "local equivalent of the 'calculated' blockbuster film."

Princess Mononoke was released theatrically in Japan on July 12, 1997, to immense public anticipation. The film was screened at 260 of the country's 1800 cinemas, many of which reported people queueing to purchase tickets in previously unseen numbers. The Japanese specialist magazine Animage, which was published by Tokuma Shoten and had been closely associated with Studio Ghibli since the 1980s, released special issues for the film's release, as did several other publications. These featured articles from critics and academics covering several aspects of the film's production as well as interviews with key staff. According to Yoshioka, a variety of academics were attracted to write about the film as due to themes such as Japanese cultural history being relatively "easy topics" to cover, but also in response to Miyazaki's growing status as a public intellectual (bunkajin) in the Japanese society. Newspapers began to refer to the film's release as the "Mononoke phenomenon", as by the end of its first week, the film had brought in over a million viewers and earned ¥1.5 billion at the box office. Advertising for the film labeled it a blockbuster (daihitto) and it increasingly competed with many high-profile films in the Japanese market, including Hollywood imports such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). By November, it had surpassed ¥9.65 billion in distribution rental sales, breaking the national record previously held by E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). 12 million people, a tenth of Japan's population at the time, had come to see the film in theaters during that period. A year after the film's release, it had attracted over 14.2 million viewers and earned ¥11.3 billion in gross revenue, making it the all-time highest-grossing film in the country.

English dub and American release

Neil Gaiman (pictured in 2007), who wrote the English script

As part of the Disney–Tokuma deal, the film was handed over to Miramax Films, a Disney subsidiary at the time, to dub and distribute in the United States and other regions. The dub was directed by Jack Fletcher, who had previously worked on the dubs of other Studio Ghibli films such as Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), and its script was written by the fantasy author Neil Gaiman, who was an unusual choice for anime localizations at the time, according to Denison. In an interview, Gaiman claimed that Harvey Weinstein, who was the head of Miramax at the time, initially offered the role to the film director Quentin Tarantino, who had then recommended Gaiman instead. He was intending to decline the offer before being impressed by a scene in the film in which a stone wets in the falling rain, saying "I have never seen anything like this. This is real filmmaking." Steve Alpert, an executive at Studio Ghibli, provided assistance with the translation.

Denison wrote that Miramax's approach to the dub "might be termed a project of indigenization" motivated by an intent to form a new identity for the film outside of Japan. The language scholar Jennifer E. Nicholson wrote that the differences between the English dub and the original create a product more closely approaching an adaptation than a translation. Cultural differences between the United States and Japan, amplified by the film's discussion of specifically Japanese elements, resulted in a script that continually comingled the languages and cultures of the two. Gaiman inserted dialog for off-screen characters, elucidating cultural concepts considered obscure for American audiences. Humor in particular demanded significant alterations; Gaiman approached the issue by searching for an "emotional equivalent" for the lines instead of considering the reason the originals were humorous. Gaiman recalled in later interviews that although he oversaw the writing process, alterations were sometimes made to the script without his knowledge. Several of the changes cut out terms that identified the setting of the film, such as substituting sake with wine, and removing mentions of Japan and China. Nicholson felt these decisions to be clearly indicative of Miramax's intent to unfasten the film from its cultural context and divorce it from history entirely. Gaiman also recalled his drafts receiving contradictory corrections from both Miramax and Studio Ghibli, to which he responded by writing two sets of revisions and asking them to "go fight it out amongst [themselves]."

The English-language release was marketed primarily as an art house film, and the media scholar Emma Pett felt that choosing to use the Miramax label, rather than the family film–oriented Buena Vista label, advertised the film towards a "middlebrow, culturally sophisticated audience". By this time, Weinstein had developed a reputation of importing and cutting films from overseas to appeal to domestic audiences. However, among the terms of the distribution deal were that Studio Ghibli would approve and have ultimate control of the translation, and that the film would not have any time cut. Weinstein attempted to convince Miyazaki and Suzuki otherwise, but was unsuccessful. Gaiman said that Miramax subsequently rolled back the planned marketing campaign and opened the film in a very limited number of screens. The English dub was screened for the first time at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival on February 11, 1998, and officially premiered at the Avery Fisher Hall in New York City on September 26. It did not perform well in the American box office, earning only US$2.3 million.

Home media and other releases

In Japan, the film was released on VHS by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in 1997, as well as by Tokuma Shoten in 1998. By 2007, Princess Mononoke sold 4.4 million DVD units in Japan.

The DVD release of Princess Mononoke in North America was not initially to include the Japanese audio track. Multiple online petitions were opened to retain it, and the original August 2000 release was delayed as a result. Miramax Home Entertainment released the DVD on December 19, 2000, with the original Japanese audio, the English dubbed audio and extras including a trailer and a documentary with interviews from the English dub voice actors.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Princess Mononoke on Blu-ray on November 18, 2014. In its first week, it sold 21,860 units; by November 23, 2014, it had grossed US$502,332. It was later included in Disney's "The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki" Blu-ray set, released on November 17, 2015. GKIDS re-issued the film on Blu-ray and DVD on October 17, 2017. As of October 2020, the film has grossed US$9.2 million from Blu-ray sales in the United States.

In the United Kingdom, the film's Studio Ghibli anniversary release appeared several times on the annual lists of bestselling foreign language film on home video, ranking number three in 2019, below Spirited Away (2001) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988).

On April 29, 2000, the English version of Princess Mononoke was released theatrically in Japan. The film had earned a total of US$11 million outside Japan, bringing its worldwide total to US$159 million at the time. The film has been rescreened in several runs around the world, including at the annual Studio Ghibli Fest organized by Gkids. As of 2020, the film has grossed US$194.3 million.

Music

Princess Mononoke Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Joe Hisaishi
Released	July 2, 1997
Recorded	1997
Genre	Anime music
Length	65:05
Label	Tokuma Japan Communications
Joe Hisaishi chronology
Parasite Eve (1997) Princess Mononoke Soundtrack (1997) Hana-Bi (1998)

Joe Hisaishi (pictured in 2011), the soundtrack composer

As with many of Miyazaki's previous films, the film's score was composed by Joe Hisaishi. According to McCarthy, the development of the score involved a much closer collaboration between the two than on previous works. Hisaishi first composed an image album – a collection of demos and musical sketches that serve as a precursor to the finished score – which he shared with Miyazaki and Suzuki. The unused title The Legend of Ashitaka appears here as the title of the opening theme. With their input, the demos were then worked into the final score, performed by the Tokyo City Philharmonic. Tokuma Shoten released the image album in July 1996 and the soundtrack album in July 1997. The vocal theme song performed by the countertenor singer Yoshikazu Mera was released as a single before the film's release and became popular with Japanese audiences. A third version of the soundtrack, arranged for symphony orchestra and performed by the Czech Philharmonic, was released in 1998.

The vocal theme was re-recorded for the English dub by the American vocalist Sasha Lazard. Denison argued that this was a part of Miramax's efforts to remove Japanese elements from the film. However, she also acknowledged that the score deviates substantially from a typical Hollywood-style compositional approach. Leitmotifs, for example, which are commonly used to represent characters or settings, are instead used in transitional moments between more significant narrative events. McCarthy also wrote that the film complements the scenes featuring music and dialog with a liberal use of silence and ambient sounds to augment the tension of certain moments, a significant departure from American scoring approaches. Hisaishi also uses Japanese pentatonic scales in conjunction with Western tonalities.

Music releases for Princess Mononoke 

Release date	English title	Japanese title	Estimated units
July 22, 1996	Princess Mononoke Image Album	もののけ姫 イメージアルバム	75,000
June 25, 1997	"Princess Mononoke"	もののけ姫	605,000
July 2, 1997	Princess Mononoke Soundtrack	もののけ姫 サウンドトラック	500,000
July 8, 1998	Princess Mononoke Symphonic Suite	交響組曲 もののけ姫	80,000

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 117 critic reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's consensus reads, "With its epic story and breathtaking visuals, Princess Mononoke is a landmark in the world of animation." On Metacritic, it has an average score of 76 out of 100 based on 29 reviews, indictating "generally favorable reviews".

The Daily Yomiuri's Aaron Gerow called the film a "powerful compilation of Miyazaki's world, a cumulative statement of his moral and filmic concerns." Leonard Klady of Variety said that Princess Mononoke "is not only more sharply drawn, it has an extremely complex and adult script" and the film "has the soul of a romantic epic, and its lush tones, elegant score by Joe Hisaishi and full-blooded characterizations give it the sweep of cinema's most grand canvases". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called Princess Mononoke "a great achievement and a wonderful experience, and one of the best films of the year", and awarded it a full four stars. Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly called the film "a windswept pinnacle of its art" and that it "has the effect of making the average Disney film look like just another toy story". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said that the film "brings a very different sensibility to animation, a medium [Miyazaki] views as completely suitable for straight dramatic narrative and serious themes." In his review, Dave Smith from Gamers' Republic called it "one of the greatest animated films ever created, and easily one of the best films of 1999".

In 2001, Animage ranked Princess Mononoke 47th in their list of the 100 best anime. It ranked 488th on Empire's list of the 500 greatest films. Time Out ranked the film 26th on 50 greatest animated films. It also ranked 26 on Total Film's list of 50 greatest animated films.

Accolades

Princess Mononoke was submitted by Japan to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Award / Publication	Year	Category	Recipient	Result	Ref.
Kinema Junpo	1997	Best Ten (Critics' Choice)	Princess Mononoke	Won
		Best Ten (Readers' Choice)		Runner-up
		Best Director (Readers' Choice)	Hayao Miyazaki	Won
52nd Mainichi Film Awards		Best Film	Princess Mononoke	Won
		Best Animation Film		Won
		Japanese Movie Fans' Choice		Won
10th Nikkan Sports Film Awards		Best Director	Hayao Miyazaki	Won
		Yūjirō Ishihara Award	Princess Mononoke	Won
1st Japan Media Arts Festival		Grand Prize in Animation		Won
7th Tokyo Sports Film Award		Best Director		Won
Osaka Film Festival		Special Award		Won
21st Fumiko Yamaji Award		Cultural Award	Toshio Suzuki	Won
15th Golden Gross Award		Gold Award	Princess Mononoke	Won
39th Japan Record Awards		Composition Award	Joe Hisaishi	Won
		Best Album Production	Music of Princess Mononoke	Won
21st Japan Academy Film Prize	1998	Picture of the Year	Princess Mononoke	Won
		Special Award	Yoshikazu Mera	Won
40th Blue Ribbon Awards		Special Award	Princess Mononoke	Won
22nd Hochi Film Awards		Special Award		Won
12th Takasaki Film Festival		Best Director	Hayao Miyazaki	Won
Elan d'or Awards		Special Prize	Princess Mononoke	Won
28th Annie Awards	2000	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Hayao Miyazaki	Nominated
4th Golden Satellite Awards		Best Animated or Mixed Media Film	Princess Mononoke	Nominated
27th Saturn Awards	2001	Best Home Video Release		Won
36th Nebula Awards		Best Script		Nominated

Legacy

James Cameron (pictured in 2016) cited Princess Mononoke as an influence on his science fiction film Avatar (2009).

According to Napier, the film is commonly considered to be the most significant of Miyazaki's feature films. She wrote that the film marked a "new chapter" in his filmography on account of its nuanced and intermingled themes and the unprecedented scope of its production. The film was longer and more expensive to produce than any Studio Ghibli film up to that point, which Napier reported induced a high level of stress and demanded "almost superhuman efforts" from the entire staff, Miyazaki included. Some senior employees, worn out from the film's production, left Studio Ghibli in its aftermath, with Miyazaki himself increasingly withdrawing from public relations. Suzuki recounted that Miyazaki was overtaxed from supervising the storyboards, music, and vocal recordings, and had "given his body and soul" to the making of the film.

Princess Mononoke was the first film in which Miyazaki directly referenced scholarly writing, which strongly contributed to his status in Japanese society as a bunkajin and marked his works out for further academic inquiry. Alongside Neon Genesis Evangelion, the film also laid the foundation for anime as a whole to become the subject of study by academics and critics. Yoshioka suggested that Miyazaki's growing reputation may have constrained his later creations – as he never wrote a feature film in the style of his earlier action-adventure works after Princess Mononoke – and motivated him to retire from the public eye. McCarthy, however, felt that the film provides a novel view of femininity that allows the female characters to express themselves without needing comparison to the men, but writes that Miyazaki "opened the gates of this marvelous possibility" only to revert to traditional storytelling and character archetypes in his subsequent films.

Yoshioka also felt the film's widespread success turned Miyazaki into an "icon of contemporary Japanese cinema" on the international stage and primed many of his subsequent works to become commercial successes in turn. Pett wrote that the film is now an "established cultural touchstone", and identified multiple other works which it had influenced. James Cameron, for example, cited the film as an influence on his science fiction film Avatar (2009). Critics have also named a number of video games that take influence from the film, including Ori and the Blind Forest (2015) and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017). Pett identified a shift in critical writings that reinterpreted San as a feminist figure. In April 2013, Studio Ghibli partnered with the English production company Whole Hog Theatre to create a stage adaptation of the film. It premiered at the New Diorama Theatre in London after selling out a year ahead of time, and moved to Tokyo later that year.

References

Book and journal sources

• Alpert, Steve (2020). Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man: 15 Years at Studio Ghibli. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-6117-2057-0.
• Clements, Jonathan (2013). Anime: A History. British Film Institute. ISBN 978-1-84457-390-5.
• Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (2015) [2006]. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Century of Japanese Animation (3rd ed.). Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-6117-2018-1.
• Denison, Rayna (November 2005). "Disembodied stars and the cultural meanings of Princess Mononoke's soundscape" (PDF). Scope (3). ISSN 1465-9166. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 8, 2024. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
• Denison, Rayna (2008). "The language of the blockbuster: promotion, Princess Mononoke, and the daihitto in Japanese film culture". In Hunt, Leon; Wing-Fai, Leung (eds.). East Asian Cinemas: Exploring Transnational Connections on Film. I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-615-6.
• Denison, Rayna, ed. (2018). Princess Mononoke: Understanding Studio Ghibli's Monster Princess. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-5013-2976-0.
  • Denison, Rayna. "Introducing Studio Ghibli's monster princess: from Mononokehime to Princess Mononoke". In Denison 2018, pp. 1–20.
  • Yoshioka, Shiro. "Princess Mononoke: a game changer". In Denison 2018, pp. 25–40.
  • McCarthy, Helen. "Teenage wildlife: Princess Mononoke and Hayao Miyazaki's theory of the feminine". In Denison 2018, pp. 97–114.
  • Nicholson, Jennifer E. "The translation and adaptation of Miyazaki's spirit princess in the West". In Denison 2018, pp. 133–150.
  • Pett, Emma. "Homer, Ovid, Disney, and Star Wars: the critical reception and transcultural popularity of Princess Mononoke". In Denison 2018, pp. 173–192.
• Denison, Rayna (2023). Studio Ghibli: An Industrial History. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-031-16843-7.
• Galbraith, Stuart IV (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-1-4616-7374-3.
• Greenberg, Raz (2018). Hayao Miyazaki: Exploring the Early Work of Japan's Greatest Animator. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-5013-3594-5.
• Kanō, Seiji (2006). 宮崎駿全書 [The Complete Hayao Miyazaki] (in Japanese). Film Art. ISBN 978-4-8459-0687-1.
• McCarthy, Helen (2002) [1999]. Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-8806-5641-9.
• Miyazaki, Hayao (1999) [1997]. Princess Mononoke: The Art and Making of Japan's Most Popular Film of All Time. Translated by Schilling, Mark. Hyperion. ISBN 978-0-7868-6609-0.
  • Schilling, Mark. Introduction. In Miyazaki 1999.
• Miyazaki, Hayao (2002). 風の帰る場所ナウシカから千尋までの軌跡 [The Place Where the Wind Changes: The Path from Nausicaä to Chihiro] (in Japanese). Rockin' On. ISBN 978-4-8605-2007-6.
• Miyazaki, Hayao (2009) [1996]. Starting Point: 1979–1996. Translated by Cary, Beth; Schodt, Frederik L. Viz Media. ISBN 978-1-4215-6104-2.
• Miyazaki, Hayao (2014) [2008]. Turning Point: 1997–2008. Translated by Cary, Beth; Schodt, Frederik L. Viz Media. ISBN 978-1-9747-2450-5.
• Napier, Susan J. (2005) [2001]. Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-7051-0.
• Napier, Susan J. (2018). Miyazakiworld: A Life in Art. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-3002-2685-0.
• Odell, Colin; Le Blanc, Michelle (2009). Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Kamera. ISBN 978-1-84243-279-2.
• Suzuki, Toshio (2005). 映画道楽 [My Film Hobby] (in Japanese). Pia Corporation. ISBN 978-4-8356-1540-0.
• Suzuki, Toshio (2016). ジブリの仲間たち [Friends of Ghibli] (in Japanese). Shinchosha. ISBN 978-4-1061-0674-3.
• Thevenin, Benjamin (October 1, 2013). "Princess Mononoke and beyond: new nature narratives for children". Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture. 4 (2): 147–170. doi:10.1386/iscc.4.2.147_1.

Magazine and news sources

• Biodrowski, Steve (February 5, 2009). "Changing sake into wine – Neil Gaiman on adapting Princess Mononoke for America". Cinefantastique. Archived from the original on February 21, 2024. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
• Brooks, Xan (September 14, 2005). "A god among animators". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 25, 2008. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
• Burr, Ty (October 29, 1999). "Princess Mononoke Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 25, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
• Caraan, Sophie (April 16, 2020). "Princess Mononoke soundtrack to receive first ever vinyl release". Hypebeast. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
• Collin, Robbie (August 4, 2014). "Goodbye Studio Ghibli, your genius will endure". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on April 9, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
• Ebert, Roger (October 24, 1999a). "Director Miyazaki draws American attention". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2009 – via Industry Central.
• Ebert, Roger (October 29, 1999b). "Princess Mononoke". Rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
• "The 500 greatest movies of all time". Empire. Archived from the original on November 20, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
• Gerow, Aaron (July 10, 1997). "A spirited battle for nature". Yomiuri Shimbun. p. 9. Archived from the original on January 8, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2024 – via Nausicaa.net.
• Giardina, Carolyn (July 17, 2017). "GKIDS, Studio Ghibli ink home entertainment deal". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
• Green, Scott (March 14, 2014). "Viz to release Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke: The First Story". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on December 30, 2023. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
• Ito, Norihiro (December 25, 2009). 新作「アバター」宮崎アニメにオマージュ Ｊ・キャメロン監督 [New film Avatar pays homage to Miyazaki's animated film: J. Cameron]. Sankei Shimbun (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 28, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
• Jolin, Dan (September 2009). "Miyazaki on Miyazaki: The animation genius on his movies". Empire. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
• Kelly, Stephen (July 13, 2022). "Princess Mononoke: the masterpiece that flummoxed the US". BBC. Archived from the original on August 22, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
• Kitano, Ryuichi (January 29, 2016). "Hayao Miyazaki: Leprosy scene in Mononoke Hime inspired by real-life experience". Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
• Klady, Leonard (January 29, 1998). "Princess Mononoke". Variety. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
• Lussier, Germain (September 24, 2012). "Official stage adaptation of Princess Mononoke coming to London; sold out almost a year in advance". /Film. Archived from the original on March 30, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2013.
• "52nd Mainichi Film Awards Winners". Mainichi Shimbun. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
• Myers, Maddy (May 28, 2020). "Studio Ghibli's influence on game designers is extensive and expanding". Polygon. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
• Polo, Susana (July 30, 2015). "The complete Hayao Miyazaki collection is pretty enough to spirit you away". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 31, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
• Rowe, Willa (May 16, 2023). "Tears of the Kingdom doubles down on Breath of the Wild's best inspiration". Inverse. Archived from the original on August 10, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
• Shimamura, Tomio; Sugano, Yoshinori (September 1997). 本格的デジタル化に医とんだ「もののけ姫」のＣＧ現場から [From the site of Princess Mononoke's CG standard digitization]. Kinema Junpo (in Japanese). No. 1233. pp. 74–82. ISSN 1342-5412.
• Smith, Dave (December 1999). "Anime Republic". Gamers' Republic. Vol. 19, no. 2–07. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
• Tanaka, Nobuko (April 19, 2013). "U.K. stage group to rework Mononoke magic". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on April 19, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
• Turan, Kenneth (October 29, 1999). "Mononoke a haunting, magical world of fantasy". Los Angeles Times. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2012.
• Yanagihara, Hanya (May 17, 2018). "A real-life enchanted forest". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2023.

Online and other sources

• "44 Countries Hoping for Oscar Nominations" (Press release). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. November 24, 1997. Archived from the original on February 13, 1998. Retrieved December 7, 2008.
• "New petition for Mononoke". Anime News Network. July 3, 2000. Archived from the original on September 1, 2013. Retrieved September 15, 2012.
• "Disney blinks". Anime News Network. August 1, 2000. Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved September 15, 2012.
• "Princess Mononoke DVD confirmed". Anime News Network. October 11, 2000. Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved September 15, 2012.
• "Animage top 100 anime listing". Anime News Network. January 15, 2001. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
• "28th Annual Annie Awards". Annie Awards. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
• BFI Statistical Yearbook 2020. United Kingdom: British Film Institute. 2020. p. 94. Archived from the original on April 27, 2022. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
• "Princess Mononoke". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 10, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
• "映画賞 受賞者一覧" [List of film award winners] (in Japanese). Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Foundation. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
• Hisaishi, Joe. "Discography". Joe Hisaishi Official Site (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 4, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
• "International Press Academy: Satellite Awards". International Press Academy. Archived from the original on January 6, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
• "21st Japan Academy Film Prize Winners". Japan Academy Film Prize. Archived from the original on September 3, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
• "第15回ゴールデングロス賞受賞作品" [15th Golden Gross Award Winners] (in Japanese). Japan Association of Theater Owners. Archived from the original on June 4, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
• "第39回日本レコード大賞" [39th Japan Record Awards] (in Japanese). Japan Composer's Association. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
• Loo, Egan (December 15, 2020). "Spirited Away, 3 other Ghibli films' box office totals rose due to this year's revival screenings". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
• Matsumoto, Hitoshi; Hamada, Masatoshi (November 26, 2013). 鈴木 敏夫 [Toshio Suzuki]. 100秒博士アカデミー (in Japanese). RCC Broadcasting. TBS Television.
• Mera, Yoshikazu (June 25, 1997). もののけ姫 [Princess Mononoke] (CD) (in Japanese). Japan: Tokuma. TKDA-71167.
• "Princess Mononoke". Metacritic. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2023.
• Nakamura, Hitoshi (May 23, 2007). "110万冊無料配布。"ゲドを読む。"の狙いを読む 宮崎吾朗監督作品「ゲド戦記」DVDのユニークなプロモーション" (in Japanese). Nikkei Business. Archived from the original on August 16, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
• "Princess Mononoke – credits". Nausicaa.net. Archived from the original on June 12, 2010. Retrieved December 28, 2023.
• "Princess Mononoke – film information". Nausicaa.net. Archived from the original on January 8, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
• "Princess Mononoke – video list". Nausicaa.net. Archived from the original on June 7, 2009. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
• "日刊スポーツ映画大賞 – 歴代受賞者・作品" [Nikkan Sports Film Award – Past winners and works]. Nikkan Sports. Archived from the original on September 3, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
• "Mononoke-hime (1999) – Video sales". The Numbers. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
• "Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on July 21, 2023. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
• "Past Saturn Awards". Saturn Awards. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
• "2000 Nebula Awards". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
• "報知映画賞 受賞作品・受賞者" [Hochi Film Award winning works]. Sports Hochi (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 14, 2005. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
• 第12回高崎映画祭 受賞者・受賞作品 [12th Takasaki Film Festival winning works] (in Japanese). Takasaki Film Festival. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
• "Time Out's 50 greatest animated films: Part 3". Time Out. Archived from the original on October 8, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2012.
• Townsend, Emru (November 8, 1999). "Neil Gaiman: the Sandman scribe on anime and Miyazaki". The Critical Eye. Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
• Toyama, Ryoko. "Princess Mononoke – frequently asked questions". Nausicaa.net. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
• Kinnear, Simon. "50 Greatest Animated Movies". Total Film. Archived from the original on May 23, 2014. Retrieved December 18, 2012.

Further reading

• Cheng, Catherine (June 2019). "Nature and the Smiths in Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke" (PDF). Tamkang Review. 49 (2): 27–48. doi:10.6184/TKR.201906_49(2).0002.
• Morgan, Gwendolyn (2015). "Creatures in Crisis: Apocalyptic Environmental Visions in Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke". Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities. 2 (3): 172–183. doi:10.5250/resilience.2.3.0172. JSTOR 10.5250/resilience.2.3.0172. S2CID 156400474.
• Sierra, Wendi; Berwald, Alysah; Guck, Melissa; Maeder, Erica (January 1, 2015). "Nature, Technology, and Ruined Women: Ecofeminism and Princess Mononoke". The Seneca Falls Dialogues Journal. 1 (1). Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
• Smith, Michelle J.; Parsons, Elizabeth (February 2012). "Animating child activism: Environmentalism and class politics in Ghibli's Princess Mononoke (1997) and Fox's Fern Gully (1992)". Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. 26 (1). Routledge: 25–37. doi:10.1080/10304312.2012.630138. S2CID 144411247.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Princess Mononoke at IMDb
• Princess Mononoke at AllMovie
• Princess Mononoke at Box Office Mojo
• Princess Mononoke (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia