FIRST TIME WATCHING | Princess Mononoke (1997) | MOVIE REACTION 

It's only natural to watch My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, and Kiki's Delivery Service next!

From Miyazaki's perspective Ashitaka did something he should never have done, that he was cursed for a reason. He shouldn't have killed the Boar God Nago, these actions changes Ashitaka into a "Non-person" hence why he is banished. Instead of a boy growing up and becoming a man, which any other media would view Ashitaka's actions as accomplishing, instead has a boy growing up and becoming nothing. That's why he stands in the middle of all the viewpoints of each of the other characters, San being the Spirit, Eboshi being Direct Human Action, and Jigo being the External Human Action. Ashitaka became neither spirit nor human, so he is the mediator for both.

This is absolutely my favorite Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki film. I love the tone, the setting, the themes. It's just so beautiful.

What is super interesting is that Miyazaki was always anti-war since he witnessed the harshness of war in his young age. This theme is very prominent in his films

Ashitaka's people, the Emishi, were a real Japanese minority that were eradicated in the 7th Century or so. In this story, this one village had survived and persisted in secret for hundreds of years. They did not want to be found. That's why if Ashitaka, or anybody, was to leave, they could not come back and bring the possibilities of outsiders (Japanese) to follow. Great review fellas.

Regarding the "trippy concept style": When it comes to fantasy you can do hard or soft world building. Hard Worldbuilding refers to a writing style that goes very much in depth with how a system works, what happens when and how, and the world you are introduced to runs on certain rules. A great example for hard worldbuilding would be FMAB. When it comes to soft worldbuilding, the best example might be Tolkien's creation of Middle Earth, and of course, most of Ghibi's productions. Here you are introduced to a system that just is... the point of the story isn't to explain how it works or where it comes from, you are meant to experience this universe through the character's. Spirited Away is potentially the best example in Anime when it comes to soft worldbuilding :)

I remember watching princess mononoke when I was 10 yrs old, and though at the time I didn't understand everything, remember being blown away. Always nostalgic to rewatch it as an adult. Great reaction guys !

I honestly can't say that one Ghibli movie is better than another because all of them have their special and unique portrait of reality and human ambiguity (in the sense that no one's really good or bad) and that's what I appreciate about them. in any case, I can say that my favorite Miyasaki movie is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind technically is not a Ghibli movie since it was made before the Studio was founded. I really reccomend it if you liked Princess Mononoke!

You guys should watch castle in the sky too. After all it's the very first one. Meaning it's basically the start of ghibli as we love it today

I am so excited! This is, hands down, my favourite Ghibli movie. The vibes and the music are immaculate.

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Rice cultivation and the culture of iron tools were introduced to Japan by the Yayoi period (710-794). Starting from the southwest, the Yayoi culture spread rapidly in the terrestrial forest zone where food resources were scarce, but it did not spread to the central part of Japan and northward. The Yayoi culture did not spread north of the central region, however, because their food system was different from that of the south and they had abundant gathering, hunting, and field crop resources in the north, so there was no need to destroy their lifestyle to start rice cultivation. However, the Yamato Imperial Court, which was established on the basis of rice cultivation, pushed for the assimilation of rice cultivation and the creation of a mono-cultural area through military force and suppression. The Jomon people (like Emishi) maintained their cultural sphere while being driven northward. The war between the Emishi and the Imperial Court, was a struggle between the descendants of the Jomon and the descendants of the Yayoi.

I really appreciate how when still watching the movie, you guys just enjoy it, throwing out casual remarks like "damn that looks cool" or "woahh" but you manage to store away your thoughts on important scenes for a detailed discussion after the movie. Sometimes, I get a bit peeved when other movie reactors get too into a discussion about a particular scene during the movie that they no longer pay attention to other details and end up talking over them - not that I think that's wrong or anything, since people can enjoy a movie however they want, but I just personally really like the style in which you guys tackle these films. I usually don't listen to reactors or commentators discuss after they watch the movie, but your discussions are so fascinating that I end up watching the whole video. Thanks for giving the Ghibli films a watch even if they do tend to be confusing haha

Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind are my two favorite Studio Ghibli films, but this film was my introduction to the studio and WOW did it absolutely blow my mind.

If you like Princess Mononoke, next is "Castle in the Sky Laputa"

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Even though this is a more serious film (the violence in the action scenes really threw me for a loop the first time I watched this movie because it wasn't something that you usually see Ghibli do), I still think it's one of Studio Ghibli's best works! If you're looking for a Studio Ghibli film that is darker and strays away from their usual fantasy and whimsical side, I recommend Grave of the Fireflies!

As an official backstory, it is said that Eboshi was a girl who was sold to a pirate captain due to poverty. She defeated the captain and took his place, then returned to land to create a village where girls in similar situations could live freely.

I remember this coming out in English when I was in high school. My two male friends and I loved it and when our creative writing teacher was asking for what movie to show, we suggested this one. EVERYONE else whinged that they didn't want to watch a cartoon but the teacher overruled them. At the end they all loved it... except one dude who adamantly claimed that he hated it.... but we could all kinda tell he was lying.

Miyazaki has a lot of great movies but I still think this is kind of his Opus, the themes are so compelling and conveyed so well and there's a lot more nuance than people have come to expect from this kind of story, and the ending is simultaneously tragic and hopeful