History Headscratchers / PrincessMononoke

** It appears that he can't. Cutting off his topknot signifies the finality of his exile.

*** This is very much in line with natural wolf behavior. Wolves are matriarchal with an alpha pair and seniority usually passing to the eldest daughter. San's "brothers" would instinctively defer to her, especially if she's older than them and her place reinforced by discipline from their mother.

* Why doesn't Ashitaka go back home when he's healed, if he's the last prince of his tribe. Then doesn't he have a duty to be with them and such?

** Considering how close San and the others all were to getting engulfed by the Forest God's Ooze; San was probably right to send them off. That rock wouldn't have held them all.

* San and Ashitaka are riding wolves to confront Jigo and get the Great Forest Spirit's head back. They get off the wolves and San tells the wolves to run away. Why does she say that? You're trying to save the world here; don't you want all the help you can get? Those wolves could've eaten Jigo or whatever.

*** It could be said that Moro (and Ottoko, and their siblings) were actually "minor spirits", different from the Shishigami (Who, in turn, shows actual godly powers). That's because the word "kami" can be used either to name spirits or to name gods.

* San actually means "Three" in japanese, so I go with the idea that they are named "Ichi" and "Nii" or "Yon" an "Go" if they're younger.

** Well, to be fair, his tribe does seem to know a bit about that sort of esoteric knowledge. Hiding for 500 years will do that.

* While San is... um, incapacitated on Okkoto; It is ultimately Moro, San's mother, who saves her, not Ashitaka. All he succeeds in doing is... giving her a bath. Now, during that scene the crystal dagger is highlighted. We all know what the dagger means, so what is Miyazaki saying here? A mother's love is more powerful than a husband's/lover's? FamilyUnfriendlyAesop!
** Doesn't the water partially ward off the effects of the curse though? Just saying Ashitaka deserves a little bit more credit.
** Yes, it looked like the closest Shinto equivalent to Holy Water - the pool was "sanctified" by the Shishigami, and thus it worked against the unnatural curse.
** Two things. First, I saw it as being equal love: It was Moro's love for San, her daughter, that gave her the strength to reach San and save her from Okkoto; and it was Ashitaka's love for San, his love interest, that gave him the strength to finish the rescue. If either of them had failed, San would have died. Both of them, together, saved her.\\
Second, I am very concerned by your [[UnfortunateImplications insinuation]] that a mother's love is/should be ''less'' powerful than a lover's. A different kind of love doesn't mean a less powerful love. The strength of a mother's love can certainly be matched, whether by the love of a sibling or a friend or a lover, but it's not possible to ''surpass'' something that is unconditional and limitless, the way a mother's love for her child(ren) should be.
* Is there anyone who likes the Japanese version better than the English dub? I saw both and I feel the dub is superior. Perhaps I shall write a review.
** I actually I think the best Dub is the French one. I watched the original, the English, the French and the Mandarin dub; the English one is okay, the Chinese one is the closest to the original but the voice acting sucks and the French version has a good voice acting and a good translation.
** I personally prefer the English dub of anything because I don't speak Japanese and would rather watch the screen than have to read. You can miss a lot of visual clues if you're stuck reading the text on the bottom of the screen.
** While the dub is indeed masterful, this troper still prefers the original Japanese version, since he doesn't need the extra explanations that the dub provides, isn't a native Anglophone to begin with, and has grown up with subtitles since early childhood as per his country's conventions, and can read them almost subconsciously without losing anything of the visuals. Knowing rudimentary Japanese also helps in holding this opinion.
** I prefer the Japanese version due to its more natural dialogue flow (well, with English subtitles). But watching the English dub (which I did first) didn't ruin any of the experience for me. Claire Danes is a bit of a miscast and can sound more like a complaining teen than a fierce warrior. And Billy Thornton's voice (to be fair, he got the character down, a cynic) just doesn't match the appearance. But it doesn't detract from much.
** I'm actually not a huge fan of the dub. Billy Bob Thornton phones in his performance too much, and I wasn't a fan of Claire Danes as San either. Add in the male soprano singer of the theme song in the Japanese version (seriously, a male soprano!) and I'll pick it any day of the week.

*** Um, pretty sure they weren't talking about that. Are you forgetting that they [[spoiler:killed the wolf]]?

** [[IJustKnew He Just Knew]].

** First: thank you for making me laugh. Second: I'm assuming that he just kind of went with the idea that because human hands took the head, human hands had to return it to calm the spirit down, as an apology and a symbol that they realized that they had done wrong and wanted to make up for it. Maybe it was necessary, maybe it wasn't, but it seems like a probable assumption and the end of the world isn't something you want to take chances with.

* First: thank you for making me laugh. Second: I'm assuming that he just kind of went with the idea that because human hands took the head, human hands had to return it to calm the spirit down, as an apology and a symbol that they realized that they had done wrong and wanted to make up for it. Maybe it was necessary, maybe it wasn't, but it seems like a probable assumption and the end of the world isn't something you want to take chances with.

* Ashitaka shouts that the Shishigami's head "must be returned by human hands." How does he know this? Did he major in Things That Have Never Happened Before 101 at Indigenous Peoples University?

* San sees herself as a wolf, but that cape she wears and the fur on her mask look awfully like wolf fur. To her, wouldn't that be the equivalent to GenuineHumanHide?

* San sees herself as a wolf, but that cape she wears looks awfully like wolf fur. To her, wouldn't that be the equivalent to GenuineHumanHide?

** Despite the fact that it was well-developed, Irontown seemed to me to be a very young town, with little security. Note how they were constantly under the threat of invasion due to their iron supply, to say nothing of the constant attacks on their husbands by Moro and her children. There probably wasn't really much of a chance for anyone to settle down and have kids. [[spoiler: When their town gets rebuilt, perhaps...]] Of course, this may also be a case of HideYourChildren, as many children would probably inevitably have been killed by [[spoiler: the Forest Spirit's toxic ooze]], and that probably would have made the movie even darker than it already was.

* I realize that there's a whole lot of gray in this movie, but I need to know whether or not there was any one side they wanted us to root for. It wasn't like ''{{Avatar}}'' where the Na'vi were supposed to be the heroes, I just rooted for the humans of Iron Town to come out on top.

*** Close - what they DID was trap the Shishigami halfway between its normal form and the Daidarabotchi form. This turned it into a Tartarigami, who killed and destroyed everything in its path seeking out its head. Once the head was returned, the forest that sustained it was dead - killed off not by the humans, but its own rampage, and it self-destructed.

* While it is stressed that San sees herself as a wolf, an equal to her siblings, she treats them an awful lot like house dogs with all the scratching behind the ears bit. It seems like she sees herself in the dominate side of the master/pet relationship.

** YMMV, This Troper saw it more as a sign of affection, after all- it doesn't seem like they ''dislike'' the feeling, and if they like it, well... Honestly, I saw it more like when you give your friend a back rub or something. (Okay, bad example, but still...)

*** Of course, we can just say YourMileageMayVary.

* While San is... um, incapacitated on Okkoto; It is ultimately Moro, San's mother, who saves her, not Ashitaka. All he succeeds in doing is... giving her a bath. Now, during that scene the crystal dagger is highlighted. We all know what the dagger means, so what is Miyazaki saying here? A mother's love is more powerful than a husband's/lover's? WarpThatAesop!