"The Forest Spirit gives life and takes life away".

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2015)

A difficult story to follow and decidedly scary animation at times makes this more an adult film than one for younger fans. It's not too hard to follow in the early going but when the hero Ashitaki makes his way East to the land of the Forest Spirit he's faced with choices that put him on questionable sides of relationships already formed. While trying to save his own life endangered by a poisonous encounter with the boar demon Nago, his overriding mission is to 'see with eyes unclouded by hate'. For this he must valiantly strive to understand the motivations and prerogatives of those he meets, including monk Jigo, Lady Eboshi of Irontown and the wolf princess San, a human raised by wolves. In turn, each of these individuals comes to understand that good and evil are not mutually exclusive character traits, but exist in all to varying degrees. The way this all plays out can be confusing and is not made easier by the depiction of characters like Moro, the large threatening white wolf who by design one would consider a male, but in actuality is the mother of San. It's an intricately woven tale and loyal fans of anime will find it spellbinding, though I must admit, for myself it took a concerted effort to follow and understand.