Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫, Mononoke-hime, 1997) is the Studio Ghibli feature most often cited for its environmental and historical seriousness. Set in a mythologised Muromachi-period Japan, the film addresses the ecological consequences of industrial development and the moral ambiguity of all sides in environmental conflict. It was the highest-grossing Japanese film of its era and one of the works most responsible for raising Studio Ghibli's international profile.
Production
Production began at Studio Ghibli in 1994 and ran for approximately three years, an unusually long cycle even by Ghibli standards. Miyazaki drew the storyboards personally and pushed the production to use traditional gouache backgrounds at densities that the studio's parallel TV work had already begun to compromise. The film's per-frame production density is among the highest in the studio's catalogue. Music was composed by Joe Hisaishi, whose 'Ashitaka and San' theme is among his most-cited single compositions.
Reception
Princess Mononoke released in Japan in July 1997 and earned approximately ¥19.3 billion at the Japanese box office, making it the highest-grossing Japanese film at that point. The international release — distributed by Miramax in 1999 with an English dub by Neil Gaiman — introduced Ghibli to a larger English-speaking audience than the studio's earlier features had reached. The film is among the most-discussed in academic writing on environmental themes in popular media.