Princess Mononoke

Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human woman fighting to protect the forest, and Lady Eboshi, who is trying to destroy it. Ashitaka must find a way to bring balance to this conflict.

Princess Mononoke was embraced by critics in Japan and the United States for its visual grandeur and thematic ambition, though its refusal to soften violence or offer easy moral resolutions made it a genuinely polarizing experience for Western audiences expecting family animation. The sharpest fault lines were cultural: American critics debated how much was gained or lost in translation, while British critics largely dismissed the film at a time when anime carried significant stigma in the UK.