Synopsis

In medieval Japan, young warrior Ashitaka is cursed after defending his village from a rampaging boar god. Seeking a cure, he travels west and becomes caught between Lady Eboshi's ironworks settlement and the forest gods led by Moro, a giant wolf. There he meets San, a human raised by wolves. As both sides move toward war, Ashitaka searches for a path beyond hatred and destruction.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film was released in Japan on July 12, 1997, and became the country's highest-grossing movie at the time. It was also regarded as the most expensive animated film produced in Japan up to that point.

• Production lasted from August 1994 until June 16, 1997, reflecting the film's unusually ambitious scale and lengthy hand-drawn animation process.

• Neil Gaiman wrote the English-language adaptation for Miramax. The script was shaped as an adaptation rather than a strictly literal translation, with some dialogue expanded to clarify cultural ideas for American audiences.

• During negotiations over the American release, Studio Ghibli insisted that the film not be edited. The famous story that a samurai sword was sent to Miramax with a "No cuts" message has been widely repeated in accounts of the deal.

• The English-language version premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 11, 1998, before its American theatrical release in 1999.

• The Japanese title, "Mononoke-hime," refers to a princess associated with supernatural beings; "Mononoke" is not San's personal name. This distinction is less obvious in the English title.