A love story to remember

Rating: Null/10 (3 August 2004)

I first saw Princess Mononoke when I was in seventh grade. I had only seen minor animes before on television and the only full length anime I saw up until that point was My Neighbor Totoro. As an American growing up around Disney like cartoons, this film came as quite a shock to me. I was more horrified than stunned at seeing the PG-13 and even R like violence in the film. I very much shut out all interest in the film a week after I saw it although I still continued to watch animes.
Nearly three years after first seeing Princess Mononoke I gained a greater amount of respect for animes that were farther from the seat of an American viewer. It was then that I finally came across a original Japanese poster for the film that featured the title character on the front. Upon looking at this picture the first thing that came to mind for me was a line that the main character in the movie said to the Princess Mononoke which I will not repeat here for fear of spoiler. From that moment I was digging my head into as much information as a could get about film and then finally seeing it again with a better understanding of the story itself. I say all of this before my review because being an American who never saw deep anime like this before came as a big shock to me, which is why anyone who is new to anime and is planning on seeing this movie, I advise them to start out slow with other animes like Kiki's Delivery Services and Spirited Away, so that this film won't bring on any bad carma upon the first viewing.
With that said: Upon my second viewing of Princess Mononoke I came to understand the themes that this film deals with. Ashitaka (the main character) is a young man, no older than seventeen, who faces the perils of a war that seems almost unstoppable. Although the film is intended for more adult audiences it still carries child like ideas such as seeing the world as a gift and not a tool, to live and enjoy life and not destroy it, to seeing the world as it truly is without real evil.
This is one of the many things that I loved so much about this movie is that isn't simply and good guy vs. bad guy film. The story is more complex than that. We get reasonable and unreasonable arguments from both the nature side and the human side that in the end only spell that neither side is completely good. Each has there own qualities that make their argument unfit to be considered just.
If there is any true innocence that runs through this story, than it is the love story between the main character Ashitaka and the title character San (the Princess Mononoke). The relationship that these two characters share is not anywhere near important in the story beyond themselves, and the movie is not specifically considered a romance. For the love story this works as an advantage because it is not the focus of the story it is very much cast to the side, allowing their relationship to develop in a more natural way through the events that unfold in the story. Also their love is expressed more through actions than through words which makes it more effective in dealing with the fact that love is seen hear as an emotion and not a story.
I'm not proposing that anyone seeing this movie should be looking for Romeo and Juliet like story, but instead look for the hints at their growing relationship and how they regard one another through out the film. The love story in this film has grown to become one of my favorites of all time, the way in which the film maker, Hayao Miyazaki, deals with story and Ashitaka and San's relationship is further proof of his artistic talent.
Hayao Miyazaki is well known and admired by animators and film makers alike as being a constant inspiration to their work and being one of the greatest and most important film makers living today primarily because of the way he relates the human and nature relationship of today in this film. If nothing else see it for that.