35 Responses to “Princess Mononoke”

1. 

   CJ Holden

   February 23rd, 2010 at 1:52 am

   Glad you didn’t stop, strived for excellence and got your website a comment section. The people who are visiting your sight today, seem to be much nicer than the people from 10 years ago.

2. 

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   January 1st, 2011 at 11:26 pm

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3. 

   USMLE step 2

   July 2nd, 2011 at 10:58 pm

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4. 

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   July 7th, 2011 at 11:49 pm

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5. 

   Griff

   August 14th, 2012 at 5:55 pm

   whoa Vern, I had no idea you reviewed an anime once

6. 

   Griff

   August 15th, 2012 at 8:24 am

   I got to admit though, I think it’s a real shame that for most people their stereotype of anime is “there is a demon that rapes a chick”

   there’s so much more to it than the pornography and yes, some anime is even meant for kids, but it figures that the most shocking aspect of it would be what sticks out the most in people’s minds even if it’s the minority

7. 

   Mr. Majestyk

   August 15th, 2012 at 8:32 am

   This movie was actually what finally made me admit that anime was just not for me, Griff. I’d been giving the big names (AKIRA, GHOST IN THE SHELL, TOTORO, etc.) a shot and discovered that I always started out blown away by their technical expertise but ended up bored and exhausted long before the credits rolled. I went to see MONONOKE in the theater with my girlfriend at the time (who was the vice-president of our school’s anime club) and found myself begging the universe to just let it end already. That was when I knew that anime and I were just never going to see eye to eye. It has nothing to do with the content; it’s the form itself. So I don’t think of anime as “demons raping chicks.” I think of anime as really well-made cartoons that just happen to bore the shit out of me, no matter what they’re about.

8. 

   Broddie

   August 15th, 2012 at 8:48 am

   I too have always had the same short attention span problem with anime that Mr. Majestyk has though I could always make it through AKIRA and FIST OF THE NORTHSTAR somehow but they’re the only exceptions.

9. 

   Mr. Majestyk

   August 15th, 2012 at 9:00 am

   I always meant to check out FIST OF THE NORTH STAR but then I saw that live-action Gary Daniels version and that pretty much killed any and all curiosity I might have about that particular story.

10. 

    Griff

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:01 am

    but guys, you really need to at least give Cowboy Bebop a chance, it’s one of the most badass things I’ve seen movie or otherwise and any purveyor of badassdom really needs to give it a chance regardless of your thoughts on anime

    but I’m happy to see Mr. Majestyk that you’ve given anime a fair shake in the past, I can understand why it would not be everyone’s cup of tea and at least you tried it

11. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:04 am

    I just want to stress again, Griff, that it’s not the content I have a problem with. All kinds of awesome shit happens in all the movies I mentioned (naked cyborg assassinatrixes, Cronenbergian body horror on a Michael Bay scale, geysering katana wounds, etc.) but the style and form renders it all rather academic for me. I might be able to recognize that COWBOY BEBOP is theoretically badass, but I wouldn’t feel it. And if you don’t feel it, what’s the point?

12. 

    Vern

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:06 am

    It’s true, there are a handful that are not about a demon raping a chick, this being one of them. But I still think it will be worth your time to check out.

13. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:14 am

    Vern, did you mean MONONOKE or COWBOY BEBOP? Because I saw MONONOKE and had my usual reaction: initial admiration followed by pervasive fidgeting.

    I kinda liked BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, I think because it was only about an hour long. That seems to be my threshold.

14. 

    Griff

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:20 am

    Mr. Majestyk – I got to admit I find that kinda strange, I guess animation in general is just not your thing? I personally have always been a big animation fan, anime or otherwise

    anyway because I’m bored I’d like to explain part of the appeal of anime to me for those that may not understand, anime for me has always been just as much as a social identifier as it is something I legitimately enjoy, it’s my way of “standing out from the crowd” as being the “anime guy”, it’s a way of having uniqueness that I think I otherwise would have lacked, be it online (such as on this site) or in real life, especially living in a small town in Georgia it goes without saying that being really into a foreign culture is pretty unique here

    so that was one of the reasons I really got into anime in the first place was because it was something that very much NOT part of the mainstream, but still popular enough that it has a sense of community and fandom

    it’s just like any other nerd hobby I guess like comic books or Star Trek except that in age when nerdiness has become mainstream and no one really bats an eye if you say you’re into comic book super heroes, anime is still a legitimately nerdy hobby that raises eyebrows and I like that

15. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:41 am

    Yeah, that’s definitely part of it, Griff. I have a hard time getting into animated movies. There are exceptions, like when I decided to give the most beloved Pixar films another chance last year and found that I really liked TOY STORY 3, most of WALL-E, and half of TOY STORY 2. But in general, I don’t feel like I’m actually seeing anything happening, and I don’t feel connected to the characters. It’s just moving drawings with disconnected voices attached to them, nothing that sucks me in and makes me give a damn. The funny thing is, I watch cartoons all the time, but they’re all TV shows like SOUTH PARK or FUTURAMA. TV gives me a chance to connect with the characters and the world, making it feel real in a way that animated films don’t have the time or space to do. Also, it helps that they’re actually funny, unlike Pixar or similarly family-friendly fare, which is too pleasant to ever actually make me laugh. I also have a hard time taking cartoons seriously as drama, which negates most anime right there. I’m just clearly not the market for this stuff. There’s something missing in my brain.

16. 

    Charles

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:48 am

    I really love PRINCESS MONONOKE, and most of Miyazaki’s films. I started to work on a list of my favorite 100 films of the 90’s for the forum and have not found the time to finish it, but both this and NINJA SCROLL are on my list (GHOST IN THE SHELL looks cool but I find it to be pretty boring). I used to really love anime when I was younger but a lot of the more recent anime I have seen just doesn’t do it for me. I think back in the day only the really good or sexually bizarre stuff made it to our shores, but now a day we have accesses to a ridiculous almost overwhelming amount of anime here in the states and a lot of it is not very good. The art and animation might be ok, but often the story telling is sorely lacking. I don’t know, maybe it is just a cultural thing and what I am missing is lost in translation. However, I do think COWBOY BEBOP is amazing, and it is probably my favorite anime series of all time. The art, storytelling and charters are all great. It also an anime that is very much influenced by Americana and features themes and charters that are in the mold of classic westerns and hard boiled noir stories. There really is no other anime like it. Mr. M I can understand how you feel about anime, but you shouldn’t hold that against COWBOY BEBOP it might surprise you.

17. 

    CJ Holden

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:49 am

    It is heart that is missing. From…your brain.

    (But I’m not into anime either. Although I have to say that COWBOY BEBOP and HELLSING [and to a degree CASE CLOSED] are pretty watchable, even though I stopped watching after a few episodes.)

18. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    August 15th, 2012 at 9:54 am

    My brain has heart. It’s just not easily accessed. But once you find your way past the guard dogs and laser beams and terra cotta warriors, I am a big softy.

19. 

    Charles

    August 15th, 2012 at 10:03 am

    Whoa, Mr. M I don’t think even Danny Ocean and his boys could make it past a security system like that.

20. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    August 15th, 2012 at 10:07 am

    Well, it’s like I always told my fellow fiction writers in grad school: Nothing easy was ever interesting.

21. 

    Broddie

    August 15th, 2012 at 10:47 am

    I tried watching COWBOY BEBOP once and ended up disappointed because there were no cowboys or bebop music anywhere to be found. Seriously though for me it’s just an aesthetic thing. I love animation; I grew up during the second Disney animation renaissance (LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, ALADDIN, THE LION KING) so I grew up appreciating well executed 2D animation.

    With anime one of the quirks that really irks me and make me tune out is how stiff a lot of the animation seems. Like when characters speak and their mouths look like their lower jaw is attached to a piece of string that keeps getting pulled down as opposed to looking more natural and fluid like it does when Geppetto from PINOCCHIO sings a song.

    You could say that’s a byproduct of the dubbing but this even applies to the ones that aren’t dubbed. Mouth movements never seem natural and that stiffness is one of those things that completely throws me out of what I’m watching. It’s pretty distracting. Then when they aren’t dubbed sometimes you have to put up with some of the craziest high pitch voices with frequencies that come straight from hell. That shit just doesn’t work for me

    The voice work also comes across as stiff and emotionless because the faces and body movements aren’t expressive enough. It’s like they quickly go from panel A to panel B on the animation board when it comes to show someone from going from happy to sad. There is no progression in between the face with the non-smile and the one with the smile it just awkwardly comes in. Not natural way of doing it (Ie: The Grinch’s grin from the Chuck Jones cartoon) .

    Another issue is pacing. They usually start pretty dynamic and then just roam around doing a whole bunch of nothing by the mid point. With long lingering shots that would be interesting in say a Malick movie but don’t work in anime because of how unengaging and lacking in fluidity I find most of the animation to be. So I completely get where Majestyk is coming from. I respect anime and yes a lot of them have some very interesting ideas and concepts but the execution is damn near always pretty ho hum.

22. 

    Charles

    August 15th, 2012 at 10:47 am

    True, drama is birthed in conflict.

23. 

    Broddie

    August 15th, 2012 at 10:50 am

    Mr. Majestyk – “I also have a hard time taking cartoons seriously as drama” I know someone who was like that too till I showed them TOY STORY 3. She was fucking floored by the scene with the toys staring at their hot molten fate at the garbage disposal site and holding hands together ready to face hell as a family. It truly moved her and by the end we were both in tears (yeah I have no problem admitting that TS3 was the only other movie besides MY LIFE to get me to produce some tears) by the end when Andy says his thanks to his toys. That is some truly powerful shit there.

24. 

    Mr. Majestyk

    August 15th, 2012 at 10:59 am

    That scene in TS3 is by far the best thing I’ve ever witnessed in an animated motion picture. It made me contemplate the inevitability of death in a way that almost none of the millions of death scenes I’ve witnessed in live-action films ever did. But I do think it proves the point I made about my initial reluctance to connect with animated characters. By that point, I’d had three films to get to know them, so that barrier had been removed. I doubt I’d have been so moved if that had happened in the first film (which I think is kind of terrible, to be honest. Shrill, hateful characters, plot centered on lame misunderstandings, no longer impressive animation, etc.).

25. 

    dna

    August 15th, 2012 at 11:25 am

    – griff

    Have you seen Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex? It`s pretty badass for a tv-show, with an excellent story and great action. And series 2 is even better.

26. 

    CJ Holden

    August 15th, 2012 at 11:25 am

    I never understood why the Japanese can’t draw facial expressions or even just dialogue scenes. They come up with all those detailed backgrounds and awesome action scenes, but can’t even make lips move realistic.

27. 

    Broddie

    August 15th, 2012 at 11:52 am

    CJ Holden – It boggles the mind and you would think after so many years and all the progressions in animation they’d wake up to the fact but no they keep their little stiff animation around I guess because it’s a “cute trademark” of anime or whatever. Be it as it may it’s also a reason why many don’t really give anime much of a chance in the first place cause I know you and I aren’t the only ones bothered by that shit.

28. 

    Broddie

    August 15th, 2012 at 11:53 am

    *stiff facial animation

29. 

    dna

    August 15th, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    CJ Holden and Broddie

    I can assume that you haven`t seen a lot of anime, but yes, japanese animation might be percieved as stiff by some audience members when compared to Walt Disney stuff. The budget for japanese animation is very low when compared to western feature animation because of the smallish audience. If I remember correctly, they usually only animate 12 frames instead of the usual 24 frames. It has never bothered me, though, being used to reading comics and stuff since a very early age. If you compare japanese acting to american acting, japanese actors are usual very stoic or still, that might have something to do with it as well. But as the budget is very smaller than american animation, the animators tend to concentrate on story, character, background, lightning, colors etc instead of the characters movement, in order to tell the story. I like this more subtle (and cinematic) approach to storytelling and prefer it vastly over some animated animals who break into song about how sad the princess is and stuff.
    The lipsync is properbly just a case of you guys watching a dubbed anime, it usually fits pretty well with the original japanese audio-track.

    A lot of anime is crap, but once in a while you find a real gem.

30. 

    Nice Guy Eddie

    August 15th, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    Vern, love the sight and your general excellent taste in movies and actors, I guess this deserves to be said in a first comment.

    Now to where I have something to add, dubbing and watching dubbed anime should be a crime (maybe not one that puts you somewhere with an unpleasant vocal minority though; perhaps the punishment should be an angry Toshiro Mifune yelling at you in a heavy Brooklyn accent). So much of the original feel gets lost with the language that there is no reason it should ever be done, plus the mentioned desynchronization effect (usually these things are timed perfectly in Japanese).

    As for Cowboy Bebop, while I think it’s amazing (how could a show with a ’70s looking bounty hunter protagonist on a space ship who does martial arts and his rugged ex-cop partner who’s constantly complaining about making ends meet be anything less?), it has a unique funky style that you either love or hate.

    As for something everyone should enjoy (as long as you like Japan’s samurai era), I would recommend “Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal OVA”. I think it’s a masterpiece for a lot of reasons – it doesn’t skimp on the blood, has likable characters doing questionable, but from their perspective understandable things, avoids simplistic moral judgments while dealing with issues like revenge, loyalty and love, and is beautifully done. Not the lightest watch though. This one should be in 4 episodes (not the entire TV series titled Rurouni Kenshin). If you dislike this one, you probably should avoid anything anime-looking like the plague.

31. 

    Griff

    August 15th, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Broddie – as has already been said, the “stiff facial animation” is just a sad fact of budgetary limitations, there’s no way an anime tv series is gonna have anywhere near the budget of a Disney movie, so I think that’s a bit of an unfair standard

    for me personally though it’s never bothered me, I guess it’s just another “acquired taste” thing, but that said I’ve never seen an anime that was half as ugly and stiff as any 80’s american cartoon such as GI Joe or Transformers

    dna – I have certainly seen Ghost in the Shell SAC

    Nice Guy Eddie – I have nothing against watching an anime subtitled and for certain series I couldn’t imagine watching it dubbed, but at the same time I also have nothing against a well done dub and for certain series (such as Cowboy Bebop) I couldn’t imagine watching it NOT dubbed because the dub is so well done

32. 

    Broddie

    August 16th, 2012 at 6:27 am

    dna – Yeah I haven’t seen all that much but I’ve seen enough to know that it’s not for me.

    Griff – Well tbh a lot of the anime I’ve seen isn’t even TV shows outside of the MACROSS saga anyway. Everything I’ve seen has been feature length like GHOST IN THE SHELL, WICKED CITY, VAMPIRE HUNTER D. I’m assuming those had greater budgets than the TV stuff but fine it may not be fair to compare them to Disney films but you’d still find a lot of western animation even on TV that had more fluid animation stylings. Even back in the 80’s.

    I never really liked the gen 1 TRANSFORMERS show or the old GI JOE cartoon as a kid BTW. I was more into the toys and the Marvel comics when it came to those but yeah there was some seriously cheap HANNA-BARBERA-esque budget animation all over those shows. Ironically the new GI JOE show tries to hard to ape an anime style which really doesn’t capture my attention either.

33. 

    Griff

    August 16th, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    another thing that really appeals me to me about anime is the weirdness, for every western styled show like Cowboy Bebop there also tons of extremely weird stuff that feels very uniquely Japanese

    one of the weirdest animes I’ve seen in recent years is called Maria Holic, it’s a comedy about a lesbian schoolgirl who attends a Catholic school and falls in love with a girl, only to learn “she’s” secretly a boy

    very strange hilarity ensues (seriously, you have no idea how different Japanese humor is than America humor)

34. 

    dna

    August 17th, 2012 at 1:51 am

    I just finished a pretty good anime yesterday, called Welcome to the N-H-K. It`s about a twenty-something old unemployed guy who suffers from Acute Social Withdravel and is convinced that he´s the victim of some sort of conspiracy. He basically hasn`t left his appartment in four years. One day a young schoolgirl shows up and wants him to cure him, but he freaks out and pretends that he is actually a game-designer to impress her. With the help of his perverted otaku-neighbourg he decides to make the ultimate erotic game and hilarity ensues. Also a lot of suicide-attempts, paranoid schizifrenia, psychoanalysis and mental breakdowns. It`s a pretty sweet and really funny show with very flawed characters.

35. 

    Griff

    August 17th, 2012 at 8:22 am

    I’ve been meaning to watch Welcome to the N-H-K for ages, but, it feels like it might hit a little too close to home