Every Studio Ghibli Movie Ranked Worst To Best
5. Princess Mononoke (1997)
How do we relate to nature? What is our purpose within the natural world? What is the cost of fighting?
These questions and more characterise Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki's surprisingly violent assessment of humankind's relationship with nature, and nature's ability to sustain and outlive us no matter how much we hurt it.
One of Ghibli's more narratively complex fables, the fantasy action-adventure is both bloody and shocking, but also thoughtful and vital, elegantly capturing the idea that we need to take care of the world so it can take care of us.
Harrowing because it needs to be, violent because it sells the message, Princess Mononoke is Miyazaki holding nothing back, telling an epic story that's at once bleak and hopeful. Ghibli would never go so big again, but after this they didn't need to.