Princess Mononoke: Difference between revisions

[[File:Princess_Mononoke_Japanese_Poster.jpg|frame]]

 

 

 

Set in Japan during roughly the 16th or 17th century, the story begins in a small village of the Emishi (similar to but not the same as the Ainu), the indigenous inhabitants of Japan, who by this time have mostly been conquered or driven into hiding in remote corners of the country where they can live in some semblance of peace. The village's peace is shattered by the attack of a terrible demon; the village's last remaining prince, Ashitaka, is injured during the fight to kill it, and even worse, the mortally wounded demon is revealed to be a powerful spirit—a giant boar that curses the Emishi with its last breath and reveals that the wound Ashitaka suffered has cursed him as well. The village elders decide, with much reluctance, that Ashitaka must leave the village before the curse takes full possession of him and [[Walking the Earth|travel west]] in [[Hero's Journey|search of his destiny]]. Ashitaka leaves immediately, with only his trusted [[Fantastic Mount|red elk]] Yakul and a [[Memento MacGuffin|necklace]] from his sister, Kaya. The young prince follows the demon boar's trail of destruction with the only clue he has about what transformed the spirit into a demon: an iron ball found embedded in a wound on its side.

* [[Bandage Mummy]]: Most of the lepers are wrapped up head to foot, which is probably what would have happened to them in [[Real Life]].

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Ashitaka is very kind, helpful and polite to those he likes, and would rather promote peace than fight. But when he's serious ''nothing'' can get in his way.

* [[Big Badass Wolf]]: Two big badass wolves, and a ''huge'' badass one.

* [[Big Brother Instinct]]: During the demon attack at the beginning of the film, Ashitaka the pacifist is initially very reluctant to attack and spends quite a while trying to pacify Nago. When he sees the demon boar charging towards Kaya, however, he doesn't hesitate to shoot it square in the eye.

* [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]]: Lady Eboshi is a rare well-intentioned version of this.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]

* [[Everything's Better with Samurai]]: Subverted; practically every samurai in the movie is a murderous asshole, which according to some historians is a [[Truth in Television|much more accurate depiction]] than what we normally get in pop culture.

* [[Evil Brit]]: In the English translation, the ''only'' person who speaks with a British accent is the [[Anti-Villain]] aristocrat Lady Eboshi.

* [[Eye Scream]]: Ashitaka shoots a demon in the eye early in the film, which happens to be its only weak spot.

* [[Facial Markings]]: San's distinctive red wolf-fangs.

* [[One-Man Army]]: Ashitaka. It's already established he has the strength of ten men, but what about when he takes on {{spoiler|the forces of Irontown, Lord Asano and Okkoto}} ''all at once''?!

* [[One Sided Battle]]: The animals get slaughtered whenever they try and attack the humans head on. Asano's forces also seem to be on the receiving end of this, due to Iron Town possessing gunpowder and the enemy only having conventional weapons. Despite this, they do manage to break into the city near the end.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Eboshi gets a number of these moments, such as when it's shown that she gives shelter and work to lepers. The movie is unusual for [[Green Aesop]] stories in that the traditionally evil [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]] representative gets several chances to [[Pet the Dog]], while the environmentalist side represented by San is more often [[Kick the Dog|kicking it.]] See [[Hanlon's Razor]]; it's shown that both sides are capable of quite a bit of good, and the source of their conflict stems entirely from their refusal to coexist.

* [[Physical God]]: All the gods are physical. In fact, "god" in this movie essentially means "sentient animal".

* [[Walking Wasteland]]: Nago became this when he turned into a demon. Also, {{spoiler|the Forest God after losing its head}}.

* [[Walking on Water]]: A habit of the Forest Spirit. After the first time he's shot, he briefly sinks into the water, then begins walking on it again as if nothing happened.

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Moro, and Eboshi as well. San, being Moro's adopted daughter, is also this. Sure she hates humans, but the only one she really ''wants'' to kill is Eboshi.

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?]]: Sure, it's a Ghibli movie. So is ''[[Grave of the Fireflies]]''. A lot of kids were traumatized by this movie when their parents took them to see it because ''[[Pokémon]]'' came out in America at around the same time. So logically, they'd love another Japanime type skit, right?

 

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[[Category:Seinen]]

[[Category:Fantasy Animated Films]]

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