Princess Mononoke: The First Story
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Performing Arts
Princess Mononoke: The First Story Details
About the Author Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's most beloved animation directors. In 2005 he was awarded the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement, and his Studio Ghibli received the festival's Osella Award for overall achievement in 2004. Miyazaki's films include Spirited Away, winner of the 2002 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo, all of which have received great acclaim in the U.S. Miyazaki's other achievements include the highly regarded manga series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Starting Point: 1979-1996, a collection of essays, interviews, and memoirs that chronicle his early career and the development of his theories of animation. Both are published in English by VIZ Media. Read more
Reviews
"Princess Monoke: The first story" is a fantastic picture book by Hayao Miyazaki. While the book shares the same title as the Miyazaki directed Studio Ghibli film the book predates the film and the two works are otherwise totally unrelated.The plot of Princess Monoke is a rather straight forward fairy tale quest. I won't go into details other than to say that it involves a samurai who has given his daughter to a cat like beast in exchange for saving his life.The book itself is an a quite large book, similar in size to ViZ's other studo ghibli art books. The illustrations are gorgeous watercolor paintings but have a real loose, almost quick study feel to them. Seeing Miyazaki's work is a real treat and it's impressive to see how much movement and emotion he conveys with just a few lines in his art.The text is minimal and the overall look of the work is that if a larger, much thicker children's book complete with dust jacket.I enjoyed the story and the art immensely. Obviously this book would appeal most to fans of Studio Ghibli. Reading through it one can see the beginning of ideas that would crop up in later films.Overall this is an easy recommendation for any Ghibli fan or those who collect picture books. Well worth the price!
