Classic anime has a rep for being over-the-top sexy, and oddly absorbing, playing into guilty pleasures of (at least on our side of the globe) the late night male watcher.
BUT there’s another side to anime that Toonami and Adult Swim watchers might have overlooked.
Hayao Miyazaki is among the oldest and most legendary Japanese anime filmmakers, a master in his field, and he’s still chugging them out after 60 years. He’s adapted to the cultural divide between east and west in his most popular movies such as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.
Today, I’d like to talk about my personal favorite, one that plays into a much less modern vision of our world: Princess Mononoke.
One of Miyazaki’s best reoccurring themes revolves around nature, and man’s struggle to control the environment.
In this fairy tale-esque story, an industrial town has cropped up in contrast to the hero’s Kokiri-type village, and the pollution, deforestation, and poaching has driven the forest’s most ancient spirits into a feral. A disease spreads among the ancients in reaction to man’s evil as a way of fighting back, but quickly shows how the legends in the forest are willing to die to drive man away.
The two main characters are exceptionally dynamic. The first you meet, Ashitaka, is a warrior inflicted with the ancient forest’s disease while defending his town from a feral legendary boar. After the opening scene’s epic battle, he’s the perfect, ideal, and most honorable warrior you’ll find in any film there is. He’s given a death sentence, and sent on his way to solve the mystery of where the boar came from, vowing to prevent any creature of the like from returning to his home.
The other main character takes some time to understand, and she unfolds as the forest opens up to reveal its secrets to the viewer. She is Princess Mononoke, adopted by the wolf spirit pack, and has a bleeding heart for the forest that Ashitaka takes the time to support.
The artistry of the film is beautiful. It contrasts the dark contaminants of the villainess, Lady Eboshi, who is the epitome of a strong leader with a bad ass musket gun simply trying to do what’s best through the production and labor of her people, with the pure and simple yet mystical forest. There is no real bad guy, because to admit Lady Eboshi is inherently evil is to say man is inherently evil, and the film’s take on man’s connection with nature is far too complex for that answer.
All in all, these apples are the shit. If you’re looking to watch a decent anime with minimal nude exposure (the biggest hottie is Ashitaka, although you get some nice butt shots of the ladies..), Princess Mononoke is down to earth, and confronts age old problems man will always have with the origins of life and respect for what has come before us.
This film carries some specific cultural references to Japanese honor and moral code, but it’s nothing the average viewer can’t understand. You might get weirded out by the gross effects of war and the forest dying — animes tend to exaggerate as much as possible for an eye-popping reaction.
It is a 134 min movie, from 1999, slows down at parts to expose the Miyazaki art, and will give you a taste of what anime is all about without having to stay up past midnight for when the kids’ cartoons turn off.
When you get to this part… you’ll understand
Because I’m that cool… Shhhhhh
You Like Them Apples 