Sightlines · reception
How Princess Mononoke was received
1997 · Hayao Miyazaki · Princess Mononoke on Sightlines
The arc
It briefly became the highest-grossing film ever in Japan in 1997 — a genuine national event — but its 1999 Miramax release in the US barely registered at the box office. Now it's arguably the consensus pick for Miyazaki's masterpiece and a fixture near the top of every animation canon.
What’s debated
The eternal cinephile fight: is this or Spirited Away peak Miyazaki — with Mononoke partisans arguing it's the darker, thornier film that refuses to give you a villain.
Its footprint
"See with eyes unclouded by hate" is quoted endlessly, the kodama have become a shorthand for forest-spirit imagery everywhere, and San's mask is one of the most recognizable faces in animation. It's also the film that made anime feel like serious cinema to a generation of Western viewers.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd top-250 mainstay and a 'you must have seen this' gateway film — the Miyazaki that even non-anime people are expected to have watched.
Did you know? When Harvey Weinstein's Miramax pushed to cut the film for US release, Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki sent him a katana with a note reading 'No cuts' — Miyazaki later confirmed the story, adding 'I defeated him.' The uncut English dub was scripted by Neil Gaiman.
Named by the director
- John Ford — Miyazaki said he modeled Irontown on the tight-knit frontier towns of outcasts in Ford's westerns.