One of the biggest debates among anime fans is whether Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away is the better film. Created by legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, both films have legions of fans keen to argue their merits. However, close examination makes it clear that Princess Mononoke is by far the better film.
More Dynamic Characters
The lead characters in Princess Mononoke are much more dynamic than those in Spirited Away. Mononoke‘s protagonist, Ashitaka, is an exiled prince suffering from a demonic curse. He is also the film’s moral center, demonstrating quiet honour as he struggles to create balance between the forces of nature and humanity. San, a human girl raised by forest spirits with whom Ashitaka falls in love, is a fierce warrior who champions nature. Though human, she identifies with the spirits of the forest and fights for their cause with single-minded determination. Together, they can overcome the forces arrayed against them and achieve peace.
On the other hand, while Spirited Away‘s Chihiro is an endearing character, she isn’t as interesting as a person and she achieves far less. She’s an ordinary girl with no special traits, and her adventures are mostly about her reacting to different situations rather than pursuing a goal. She’s much less active in shaping the story of Spirited Away than Ashitaka and San are in shaping Princess Mononoke.
More Fitting Visuals
Released in 2001, Spirited Away benefited from better animation technology than was available for Princess Mononoke and it definitely has a cleaner aesthetic. However, this cleaner look robs it of the chance to connect its visual style with the themes of the film.
Released four years before Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke has a more rough-around-the-edges feel that connects its visual style. The look matches the setting and time period, anchoring its aesthetic in Japan’s wild past. Princess Mononoke draws heavily on Japanese mythology for its theme, and the mythic story combines excellently with the visuals to create a resonant cinematic experience.
A Better Story and Message
Spirited Away is a quintessential coming-of-age tale. It tells the story of a young girl named Chihiro who is trapped in the spirit world and forced to work in a bathhouse. However, while charmingly presented, it’s a more limiting and less ambitious narrative than the complex conflict explored in Princess Mononoke, and the film’s story lacks coherence.
At its beginning, Spirited Away is about a young girl out of her comfort zone and desperate to save her parents from a supernatural fate. Then, much like No-Face going from a fragile-looking ghost to a bloated, sloppy monster, the story transforms into a series of random events that barely connect to one another. By the film’s end Chihiro’s original mission, and the film’s narrative potential, have been consumed by ephemera.
By contrast, Princess Mononoke is a story of conflict between man and nature set in Japan’s Muromachi period that follows Prince Ashitaka’s quest to find a cure for a curse placed upon him. This quest brings him into the midst of a conflict between human settlers, led by Lady Eboshi, and spirits of the forest who are championed by the wild girl, San.
This plot is more complex right from the beginning. It has multiple sides with differing values and stakes that affect whole communities and ecosystems. It forces viewers to examine the conflict from both sides, portraying the needs of both as equally important. In this way co-existence, rather than the victory of one side over the other, is shown to be the most beneficial outcome. Spirited Away doesn’t even come close to conveying a message this big or important.
Spirited Away is a simple coming-of-age narrative that drowns beneath random plot elements, while Princess Mononoke coherently examines a complex conflict. Spirited Away concludes with Chihiro emerging from the spirit world ready to face her future as a young adult, while Princess Mononoke concludes with the restoration of balance to the human and natural worlds. These differences in scale, structure, and impact of the resolution make Princess Mononoke the superior story.
More Powerful Themes
While Spirited Away is about one girl coming of age, the story is also full of subtle commentary on economic and environmental issues affecting Japan. It weaves adult concerns into an otherwise childlike fantasy, but these messages are peripheral and the film’s overall theme is straightforward.
On the other hand, Princess Mononoke has far more powerful and morally complex themes. The theme of man versus nature is nothing new, but Princess Mononoke distinguishes itself by incorporating the Eastern philosophical concept of balance into the conflict, portraying good and evil on both sides.
The spirits of the forest are benevolent expressions of life until dark emotions twist them into horrifying demons. The darkness within them is caused by human greed, and yet the same Lady Eboshi who hungers for iron and slaughters the forest spirits cares for the least powerful within her society, the prostitutes and lepers.
It’s the same demonic curse that turns the forest spirits from good to evil that brings Ashitaka’s compassion for both sides into the conflict. The concept turns the entire story into an expression of the yin and yang: good within evil, evil within good, turning round and round in a circle. This kind of moral and thematic complexity is missing from Spirited Away.
Spirited Away is not a bad film, but it pales in comparison to Princess Mononoke. With more dynamic characters, more fitting visuals, a more complex story and a more powerful message and themes, Princess Mononoke is superior in every way.