CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Besides all the "gods", I really enjoyed this movie. Ashitaka's cute...definetely a bishie... But the deer spirit creature was really freaky...deer with human faces are just odd...

You mean the Spirit of the Forest? Yah, he was a little creepy, but not as creepy as when lord Okoto (or however you spell that) turns into a demon…
I also appreciated this movie. The voices were done well, the animation was good, the characters were compelling and the story good.

Its one of those stories where each of the main characters is a good guy in their own way, and each is a bad guy in their own way. And Ashitaka is the one sent to bring balance to the land. You will find balance as a common theme is a lot of anime. Its not like western movies where the good guy wins, or get the girl, instead the good guy gives his life (which didn’t really happen in this one) to bring about balance.

Kaji’s Rating (out of 5):

I didn't think that Ashitaka had a bad bone in him... But Princess Mononoke... ... *does not want to get bitten by Princess Mononoke*

His curse is odd, though. When I first saw it (when his arm pulsates and the black worms/snakes crawl around under his sleeve), I was compelled to say "Eeeek!" out loud but I suppressed that urge... ...nevertheless, a moment later...that samurai guy's arms get shot off by the arrow. Double "Eeeeks" in a row...but at the same time it was funny because he was standing there, not bleeding, just looking around, like, "Where'd my arms go?" He looked so utterly confused...

Those tree spirits were freaky. Especially when...

[SPOILER]
At the end, that one comes out, sits down, waits, then its head goes "clickclickclickclickrattle"...
[/SPOILER]

Did you notice that when Ashitaka was carrying that unconcious dude through the forest, and all the little kodama are following him, some of them copy him and start carrying each other piggyback? That was adorable!

Mononoke was excellent; it's really a movie that isn't very predictable to its credit, but it does suffer from terminal weirdness. It's a very trippy movie especially the ending

[SPOILER]"We brought you your head!!"[/SPOILER]

The animation was good, but when I saw it I was like.... It had a good concept the whole... find a cure to save your life etc, and the music was good, human character design. But the whole Gods weirdness thing, and demons etc it was too overwhelming for me to enjoy the entire movie.

So I didn't think it was anything 'special', it was well done, and looked nice, but its not on my recommendation list.

^_^ Ever since I saw Spirited Away I've been trying to see as many of Miyazaki's movies as I can, and I really liked this one. It probably had the most bad-religion of any of his movies, though...over all, good movie, but I think my favorite is Castle in the Sky. ^_^
Ashitaka is a DEFINATE bishie...XD

I haven't seen Castle in the Sky yet.

Prince Ashitaka is the prince of the bishies in my opinion...there should be a contest between him and Haku...

Ooh...I forgot about Haku...

Haku...Ashitaka....Haku....Ashitaka...argh! Can't choose!

I remembered seeing this in the movie rental and seen it before, so I had to get it. My anime craze was just starting up. Blew me away! Never has such an odd movie turned out being so GOOD! Watched it several times during the rental, then downloaded it at one point because I HAD to see it again, and then I bought it on VHS, which I then sold to get the DVD because I really wanted to hear it in Japanese....

For those who seen it in Japanese, does uhhh... Maro sound a bit... masculine? And when I say "a bit" I mean A LOT!

Also yeah Castle in the Sky is a VERY nice Miyazaki flick. One of his more underrated ones, but it is just a very nice movie. Looks dull, but the scenes of the, well, caslt ei nthe sky it just puts you in awe with the imagination...

Anyone else eager to get their hands on Nausicaa, Totoro, and/or Porco? I definately want to get Nausicaa (VERY recommended,) and Totoro because it's amusing and I wanna see it in orginal Japanese without Angela off of Rugrat's voice acting. Still deciding about Porco though. Doesn't look too appealing, so maybe worth a rent first.

Personally, I loved Porco Rosso. I would recommend it.

I think he's good, but I like Miyizaki better. Miyizaki's cleaner.

What I really loved about this movie is what Kaji touched on, which is everyone has both good and evil traits, and everyone believes their way is the right way. I mean, everyone is right according to their own point of view - which meant the movie had some characters which were more interesting than your usual "this is the good guy and that is the bad guy."

That is why Ashitaka had to view the world through unclouded eyes (something like that) in order to bring these very different views together, playing the peacemaker. If you really think about it there is a Christian moral message here, not Christ-message, but a moral one. The wisest man is the one who can freely look at people with no judgment, no jealousy, no self involved. A true peacemaker has unclouded eyes. Anyways, that's my two cents - *suddenly feels the urge to sip some tea*:sweat:

The whole God of the Forest thing did not bother me at all, that was the premise of their fantasy world in Miyazaki's fantastical movie. So, I had to watch it from his reference point, since he was the creator. When I create something, I will hope people enjoy it from my reference point, which will definitely be our God-based.

Now, this is one of my favorite Miyazaki movies, next to "My Neighbor Totoro." I love "Spirited Away" also, but "Princess Mononoke" just has such great characters.

It gets Chloe's rating of (borrowing Kaji's method): 1/2

Hmm... I'm gonna go lister on all of ya's

1. It was beautiful... The most beautiful work of animation I've ever seen, and that includes Secret of Nimh (but Nimh is also incredible) and Prince of Egypt... And Spirited Away...
2. It was epic... Epics don't usually catch me as much as smaller stories do, so the story wasn't quite as high on my list.
3. The Shinto elements, AKA the plot, don't bother me one bit. I treat it as mythology... Now why I can't do that to the book of Mormon or The DaVinci Code, I don't know... Maybe because they are a bit too close to home.
4. As for the "balance" thing, that's just Buddhism. Yin and Yang. Everything good has some evil, everything evil has some good, and there needs to be a balance of good and evil in the world... This is wrong. Eventually the evil will be removed. It will all be in Hell, and heaven (or rather the new Earth) will be nothing but good. In our earthly eyes and earthly understanding, we need shadow to see substance, but God's perfect rises so far above that, we can't even comprehend it now. So, the "balance" is the ultimate viewpoint from the earthly perspective. It's just not a correct one in view of eternity. As for how this comes out in the movie, it does not bother me personally, but it bothers me when Christians latch onto this balance Idea from things like this and things like Star Wars... There will be evil, probably more evil than good, until the end, but the evil will not last forever. In the end, only good. In the end, only God...