The black mark on Ashitakaโs arm is a curse he had no say in. He takes it while holding off a beast that something monstrous has gotten into, and the old rule of his village puts him on the road to find whatever might lift it.
Princess Mononoke reached cinemas on July 12, 1997, a single feature rather than a series. Studio Ghibli produced it, and Hayao Miyazaki held the jobs that decide what a film becomes: original story, screenplay, direction, and the words of the theme song. Shin Itagaki is credited on the in-between animation that carries one drawing into the next. The film is filed under action, adventure, drama and fantasy all at once.
San and Ashitaka stand at the center of the story, with Moro no Kimi and Eboshi Gozen around them. Ashitaka comes to it as an exile, a young prince his own village has sent away under its traditions. What he is after is a way out of the curse, before it takes him over.
