Princess of Monsters : Mononoke-hime

I would like to recommend to all anime lovers to watch this award winning anime created by none other Hayao Miyazaki. These are the awards that the movie has claimed so far :

• Best Picture; The 21st Japanese Academy Awards
• Best Japanese Movie, Best Animation, and Japanese Movie Fans' Choice; The 52nd Mainichi Movie Competition
• Best Japanese Movie and Readers' Choice; Asahi Best Ten Film Festival
• Excellent Movie Award; The Agency for Cultural Affairs
• Grand Prize in Animation Division; 1st Japan Media Arts Festival (by the Agency for
• Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Education)
• Best Director; Takasaki Film Festival
• Best Japanese Movie; The Association of Movie Viewing Groups
• Movie Award; The 39th Mainichi Art Award
• Best Director; Tokyo Sports Movie Award
• Nihon Keizai Shinbun Award for Excellency; Nikkei Awards for Excellent Products/Service (details)
• Theater Division Award; Asahi Digital Entertainment Award
• MMCA Special Award; Multimedia Grand Prix 1997
• Best Director and Yujiro Ishihara Award; Nikkan Sports Movie Award
• Special Achievement Award; The Movie's Day
• Special Award; Houchi Movie Award
• Special Award; Blue Ribbon Award
• Special Award; Osaka Film Festival
• Special Award; Elandore Award
• Cultural Award; Fumiko Yamaji Award
• Grand Prize and Special Achievement Award; Golden Gross Award
• First Place, best films of the year; The 26th "Pia Ten"
• First Place; Japan Movie Pen Club, 1997 Best 5 Japanese Movies
• First Place; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies Best 10 (Readers' Choice)
• Second Place; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies Best 10 (Critics' Choice)
• Best Director; 1997 Kinema Junpo Japanese Movies (Readers' Choice)
• First Place; Best Comicker's Award
• First Place; CineFront Readers' Choice
• Nagaharu Yodogawa Award; RoadShow
• Best Composer and Best Album Production; 39th Japan Record Award
• Excellent Award; Yomiruri Award for Film/Theater Advertisement

The movie is set in Muromachi Period (1300s) and it portrays the beautiful and green scenery of mountains and forests. It centers on the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who consume its resources, as seen by the outsider. This is common issue dealt by Miyazaki. It tells us that this anime offers more than just entertainment. It is an eye-opener to the real and current situation, even the setting is not the present. In addition, it gives us the insight on how environment is treated nowadays and how people can be profiteering. Furthermore, the portrayal of characters is really 3-dimensional and thorough. The life-stories of San and Ashitaka are exposed in detail. It's proven that Miyazaki is a master story-teller!

I simply adore this movie and it's definitely a must-watch!