Princess Mononoke / B2 / Ashitaka style / Japan

27.03.13

PosterPosterPosterPoster
Title
Princess Mononoke
AKA
Mononoke-hime (Japan - original title)
Year of Film
1997
Director
Hayao Miyazaki
Starring
Yōji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yūko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Masahiko Nishimura, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Akihiro Miwa, Mitsuko Mori, Hisaya Morishige
Origin of Film
Japan
Genre(s) of Film
Animation | Adventure | Fantasy
Type of Poster
B2
Style of Poster
Ashitaka style
Origin of Poster
Japan
Year of Poster
1997
Designer
Unknown
Artist
Studio Ghibil animation department
Size (inches)
20 8/16" x 28 13/16"
SS or DS
SS
Tagline
--

Princess Mononoke was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the founder of the legendary Japanese animation outfit Studio Ghibli. Apparently around 144,000 cels were hand drawn for this film with Miyazaki personally overseeing each one and making hand-drawn amends to over 80,000 of them.

A fantasy drama set in the Muromachi period of Japan, the film follows the plight of a young warrior called Ashitaka who is stricken by a curse whilst defending his village from attack. After learning that he may be able to obtain a cure from the Great Forest Spirit (Deer God), Ashitaka travels west to try and locate it and ends up becoming involved in the battle between the animal inhabitants of the forest and the greedy humans of Irontown, who are attempting to strip the land of an important mineral called ironsand. The animals have a special ally in the form of San (AKA Princess Mononoke) a human raised by wolves, and Ashitaka must join forces with her to put an end to the conflict before all is lost.

The film was picked up for distribution in North America by Miramax Films and after the then chairman Harvey Weinstein proposed multiple edits to the film Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki sent a Katana sword to Miramax with the simple message: ‘No cuts’.

This B2 poster depicts Ashitaka but other poster styles were printed for the theatrical release of the film in Japan.

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  1. Author
    Posted by Charles Kenny
    Date Posted
    on 27 March 2013

    This poster is infinitely better than the one used for the US release.

    Thanks for posting Eddie! 🙂

  2. Author
    Posted by Shawn
    Date Posted
    on 29 March 2013

    That is not the Great Forest Spirit. Ashitaka is riding a mount that was with him in his village from the beginning of the story.

  3. Author
    Posted by eddie
    Date Posted
    on 29 March 2013

    Aha, thanks for the clarification. I haven’t seen the film in several years. Let me fix that…