Mononoke Hime, though, sets a precedence for Studio Ghibli in the film's ferocity and violence. Besides the bloody battle enactments, there are also scenes with arms dismembered and heads flying, all of which Miyazaki defends vehemently. "When there is a fight, some blood is inevitably spilled," he said. "We cannot avoid depicting it." In his project proposal, Miyazaki also stated that it is through the depiction of hatred that the film tells of more important things.

Viewers familiar with the Disney brand of animation might be left gaping, but then again, Miyazaki himself is not exactly a fan of Disney's. "I hate Disney," the master wrote in the 1988 book, Modern Japanese Cinema. "They seem like nothing but contempt for the audience." Unlike Disney, he also sees movies as a window into the world's secrets, and should be more than just a quick laugh or two.

It is thus that he declared in his proposal for Mononoke Hime: "there is no happy ending to the war between humans and the gods."

...Though Disney will be distributing it

The irony to this perhaps is that Disney will be the company distributing Mononoke Hime in the west. Having signed an agreement with Studio Ghibli's parent company Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co. in 1996, Disney will be distributing worldwide nine animated features by Studio Ghibli - one of them being Mononoke Hime.

"We're going to give it the widest possible release here," said Buena Vista Home Entertainment president Michael Johnson. Other than the United States, Mononoke Hime will be shown in France, Spain, Australia and Brazil as well. It is still unclear who will handle the theatrical release, though it is unlikely to be under the Disney label.

Neither will it be an easy task for Disney to introduce a new brand of animation to the mainstream in the west. "Outside of the U.S., animation is a mature art form," Johnson explained. "Only in America do people confuse it with cartoons."

Mononoke Hime will be released in both dubbed and subtitled formats, the latter catering to older audiences. One of the conditions in the Tokuma agreement also demands that Disney makes no alterations to the film. What this means is that the two-hour plus film - violence and all -- will be uncut. A possible marketing headache for Disney, but a condition that Miyazaki himself has personally insisted on.

Will Princess visit Singapore?

Mononoke Hime has already been shown in both Taiwan and Hongkong, though the prospect of it being screened here remains unclear. I do believe that it will get to the cinemas during one of the local film festivals, but other than that, it is a close call (but then with Disney involved, who knows?). Another problem could be the violence in the film, and Tokuma's insistence that they should be left intact. The Board of Censors here are not known for being generous as far as where the scissors should go (well, most of the time). The movie might come in under an R(A) rating, but video distributions might hit a snag if the Censors choose to take a tough stand on the gore in this film. And even if they do not, parents here who have been fed the notion that animation should be cartoons (and cartoons would probably be Disney) might not take kindly to what they are going to see.

But the pessimism aside, Mononoke Hime is nevertheless a fitting swansong to a great master - especially should it be Miyazaki's last major work - and it is also befitting that this should be the film that might change the way many feel about anime for the better.

And it is about time too, if you ask me.

Article is written by Yukino Yoshi. The writer welcomes links to these pages, but anyone who wishes to reproduce this article elsewhere -- electronically or otherwise -- please e-mail the writer for his permission.

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