Yakul is a red elk, a species found only in the Emishi village in eastern Japan. She has the ambition of being the one to bite off Lady Eboshi’s head.Īshitaka’s noble steed. Moro has two sons, which are two wolves slightly smaller than her. She adopted San after San’s human parents abandoned her in an attempt to escape from Moro. Like the other ancient gods, when she speaks, her mouth doesn’t match her words (Not due to bad dubbing). He is very easily angered and brazen in his behavior, but, according to Toki, he is actually useless in a fight and easily cowed. Gonza is Lady Eboshi’s personal bodyguard. Toki assumes the role of leader when Lady Eboshi and Gonza are gone, and is looked to for guidance by the other women of Irontown.
Toki is married to Kohroku, although whether or not she is content with her husband is an arguable point. He is the one who sold Lady Eboshi the guns she used to defeat the boars.Ī former prostitute who lives in Irontown. He is somewhat greedy, humorous, and slightly mysterious. Jigo is short and round around the middle, giving him an unthreatening appearance, but he is apparently very knowledgeable about the way things work. She takes her duties in a practical and businesslike manner, be it selling iron, defending Irontown from samurai, or swordfighting.Ī man who claims to be a monk. Lady Eboshi is charismatic, responsible, generally friendly, and hospitable to guests. As the new leader of Irontown, she allowed former prostitutes and lepers, previously forbidden, into Irontown to work. She used guns, newly invented, to win the war and earn her place as the leader of Irontown. Lady Eboshi came to Irontown during a war between the citizens of Irontown and the boar god Nago. She is particularly violent towards Lady Eboshi.
San has repeatedly attacked human caravans and the iron-making fortress, Irontown. San absolutely hates humans and thinks of herself as a wolf. She was abandoned by her human parents when she was an infant, and has been raised by Moro, the wolf goddess. San is angry and violent towards humans, but friendly and thoughtful to animals. (Ashitaka refers to Kaya as his “little sister”, but it’s only an honorary title.)Ī young warrior-princess. He is an excellent shot with a bow-and-arrow, a skill he uses often, but always in self-defense. Ashitaka is the last prince of the Emishi, a tribe of people who have been banished from western Japan. Ashitaka is forced to find a middle ground between the two ambivalent forces.īased on Japanese folklore, “Princess Mononoke” is a riveting piece which is moving and touches upon subjects that are still relevant today – questions of war, ecology, morals and principles.Īn 18-year-old Emishi prince. Along the way, he encounters San (The Princess Mononoke), a young human woman fighting to protect the forest and Lady Eboshi, the head of Tatara Ba (Iron Town). The film follows Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Ainu tribe, who is cursed by a demonised boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure from the Forest Spirit. It is another Miyazaki masterpiece: Beautiful animation, mystical fern-gullyesque settings, and subtle music which complements the serious nature of the film. This movie will probably stand for years to come as one of the very few truly original modern fables. Sadly, in the upcoming DVD release, there is no japanese language version. It is strongly recommanded that you watch the Japanese version with English subtitles, the voice acting is much better. Hollywood stars just don’t have a grip of the anime. Billy Crudup’s plays a very emotionless Ashitaka, Billy Bob Thornton’s Texan accent destroyed the character and the setting, and Claire Danes completely degrades San’s noble character with a whiny, valley-girl tone. Unfortunately, like most anime that maded to the west, the quality of dubbing can be improved. It contains many epic qualities such as journeying heroes, wars, and involvement from supernatural gods, however, there is a lack of any sort of romantic love. The film is quite serious, playing upon the theme of man vs. Despite it being a cartoon there is a considerable level of violence, and the situations are geared towards adults (animation is definitely not just for children). It doesn’t draw from any particular genre or type, the closest I can think of in terms of heritage is the Ainu people of northern Japan, who seem to have been the inspiration for the look and feel of it. Princess Mononoke is one of the most original and unique movies I’ve seen, even if it is a cartoon. For anyone interested in the genre this is a must see. It ranks up there with other Anime classics such as Akira and Metropolis.
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