The forces of nature clash with human civilization, and morality is never black and white. Through complex characters, picturesque visuals, and powerful storytelling Princess Mononoke captivates you in an immersive story about love and hate.

Story: Explores the moral greyness of the world, of love and hate (9/10)

Characters: Some of the most human and realistic characters I've seen in anime (8.9/10)

Visuals: Feels like a moving painting with that unique 90's/Ghibli style (8.7/10)

Audio: Mostly full of dramatic orchestra scores, decent SFX (8.4/10)

Bingeable/Hype: Keeps you glued to your seat (8/10)

Enjoyment: I liked the unique story and storytelling (8.8/10)

Right of the bat, the story jumps right in following Ashitaka, a young prince who fights a demon, an embodiment of hatred. During this, he's touched by the demon, marking his arm, which forces him out of his village on a quest to find the source of the demon's hatred and hopefully lift its curse. On this journey he faces human nature, and well, nature nature, and the balance between the two trying to navigate what's right and wrong in this world.

The characters are probably the most developed and "human" people I've seen. Usually characters tend to be over emphasized and dramatic, but in this larger-than-life world, the characters feel like regular people. This is emphasized in the small details of their animated habits, and their interactions with each other and the world around them. Much of the story's focus is on three people, Ashitaka, San, and Lady Eboshi. San, AKA Princess Mononoke, is the strong and independent character who represents the natural world. Raised by wolves, she views herself as one of them. Because of her love for her wolf family and all the forest, she see's Iron Town and all of humanity as her enemy. Representing humanity is Lady Eboshi, founder of Iron Town, who created it as a sanctuary for the outcasts of the world and cares deeply for her community. The only way for her community to survive is to mine iron, which makes them a target of other communities forcing them to expand their power in order to defend themselves, expansion at the cost of the forest around them. Ashitaka is in the middle, torn between his loyalty to people and humanity and his growing empathy for the forest gods and nature. He's the character with the most empathy for others, but this also gives him the capacity for the most hate. Then you have the supporting characters such as Jigo, Toki, and the animal gods, who add even more depth to the story.
*More in depth thoughts about characters*

You just can't find anything like the good old hand-drawn animation of the 90's. This movie in particular has meticulous attention to detail in both the characters and scenery. In a word, it's mystical. There's a certain aesthetic to it that I just can't put into words. The action sequences and just overall animation really shine and fully immerse you in this world.

The audio design overall does a great job complementing the visuals. There's enchanting musical scores that help capture whimsy of the story. The sound effects, from the rustling leaves to the clashing swords, are also good. I think SFX are perfect when, aside from a few specific scenarios, you don't really notice them, but they still add so much in the background. There job is to be kind of underneath, supporting and accentuating everything else, and this movie did a pretty goof job of that. But nothing stood out as amazing. There were a few times I personally didn't care for the music but most of the time it was really impactful. As for the voice acting, I watched it dubbed and it was good, and the little bit I saw subbed was also pretty alright; I wouldn't say one was either better or worse than the other.

This is a factor I always consider when rating something because it shows how much I want to keep watching, and by extension how much it impacted me. Now, with a movie, you can't exactly binge, but I can tell you I was glued to my seat the entire time, completely drawn in. I was looking forward to watching this because I'd already seen two other films from Miyazaki and Ghibli and so of course was expecting great things. Princess Mononoke did not disappoint.

While maybe not in my top ten overall, I thought it was a masterpiece of storytelling. It's definitely a thought provoking movie with complex characters, not to mention lovely visuals. I loved the character dynamics more than anything else and the film left an impact I won't soon forget.