is a 1997
epicAn epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...
Japanese animatedis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
historical fantasyHistorical fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy and related to historical fiction, which makes use of specific elements of real world history. It is used as an umbrella term for the sword and sorcery genre and sometimes, if fantasy is involved, the sword-and-sandal genre too...
feature film
writtenScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and
directedA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by
Hayao Miyazakiis a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
of
Studio Ghibliis a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
. is not a name, but a general term in the
Japanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
for a spirit or monster. The film was first released in Japan on July 12, 1997, and in the United States on October 29, 1999.
Princess Mononoke is a
period dramais a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...
set specifically in the late
Muromachi periodThe is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...
of Japan but with numerous fantastical elements. The story concentrates on involvement of the outsider Ashitaka in the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans of the Iron Town who consume its resources. There can be no clear victory, and the hope is that relationship between humans and nature can be cyclical.
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
placed the movie sixth on his top ten movies of 1999.
Mononoke also became the highest grossing movie in Japan until
TitanicTitanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
took over the spot several months later.
Plot
A giant
boarWild boar, also wild pig, is a species of the pig genus Sus, part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely hybridises...
-
demoncall - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
attacks an
EmishiThe constituted a group of people who lived in northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region. They are referred to as in contemporary sources. Some Emishi tribes resisted the rule of the Japanese Emperors during the late Nara and early Heian periods...
village and the protagonist, Ashitaka (
Yōji Matsudais a Japanese actor and seiyū from Tokyo.-Film:*Ayano Asuka Gumi *Blue Christmas *Doctor Magura *The Hidden Blade *Kaabee *Kappa...
), is forced to fight and kill him. In the struggle, Ashitaka receives a
curseA curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
which grants him superhuman strength but will eventually kill him. Under the advice of the village wisewoman (
Mitsuko Mori, real name , is a Japanese actress. In May 2009, she became the first actor in Japan to have performed 2,000 times. She was born in Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.On May 11, 2009, Takeo Kawamura announced that Mori would be awarded the People's Honour Award....
), he leaves to travel to the west in search of a cure. After some traveling, he meets Jigo (
Kaoru Kobayashiis a Japanese actor born in Kyoto. He won the award for best actor at the 30th Yokohama Film Festival and the award for best supporting actor at the 8th Yokohama Film Festival for Sorobanzuku.- Films:Kobayashi has appeared in a vast number of films among them:...
), a wandering monk who tells Ashitaka that he might find help from the forest spirit of a mountain range populated by giant animal-gods. Iron Town, located in that range, continually clears the nearby forests to make charcoal to smelt
ironsandIronsand is a type of sand with heavy concentrations of the metal iron. It is typically dark grey or blackish in colour.It comprises mainly magnetite, Fe3O4, and as such is attracted to magnets....
and produces advanced
firearmA firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s, leading to battles with the giant forest beasts. Among these animals are giant wolves, who are accompanied by San (
Yuriko Ishidais a Japanese actress and essayist from Nagoya. She was the Japanese voice of "San" in Princess Mononoke. She is older sister of Hikari Ishida, also an actress...
), a human girl adopted by the wolves, whom the villagers of Iron Town call "Princess Mononoke." Ashitaka finds two villagers injured by the wolves near a river, whom he returns to Iron Town, passing through the forest, where he catches a glimpse of the forest spirit, a
kirinThe Qilin is a mythical hooved Chinese chimerical creature known throughout various East Asian cultures, and is said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a wise sage or an illustrious ruler. It is a good omen that brings rui . It is often depicted with what looks like fire all over...
-like creature by day and a towering "night-walker" by night.
In Iron Town, Ashitaka learns from Lady Eboshi (
Yūko Tanaka), the manager of the settlement, that she created the boar-demon by shooting it. Though upset, Ashitaka also finds out that Iron Town is also a refuge for ancient Japan's social outcasts, including prostitutes and
lepersAs of 2009, 2600 former leprosy patients were living in 13 national sanatoriums and two private hospitals in Japan. Their mean age is 80. There were no newly diagnosed Japanese leprosy patients in 2005, but one in 2006, and one in 2007.- Ancient and Medieval Ages :...
, and thus finds himself unable to condemn Eboshi. That night, San infiltrates Iron Town to kill Eboshi. Ashitaka intervenes, using his curse's power to stop the fighting between Eboshi and San. While leaving the town with San, he is shot through the chest and later dies of his injuries. San takes Ashitaka to the Forest Spirit, who revives him, but does not remove the curse. San starts to develop feelings for Ashitaka. Boars, led by the boar god Okkoto (
Hisaya Morishigewas a Japanese actor and comedian. Born in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, he graduated from what was known under the old education system as Kitano Middle School , and subsequently attended Waseda University. He began his career as a stage actor, then became an announcer for NHK, working in Manchuria...
), arrive to attack Iron Town, and San joins them. Eboshi prepares for the assault and sets out to destroy the Forest Spirit. Jigo, now revealed to be a mercenary-hunter, intends to give the head to the emperor, who in turn promises to give Iron Town legal protection from local
daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
s.
The Imperial hunters devastate the boars, and Okkoto is corrupted by a gunshot wound. The Forest Spirit comes and kills Okkoto, but Eboshi appears and shoots off the Forest Spirit's head. Jigo collects the head as the Forest Spirit's body transforms into a "mindless god of death" that begins destroying everything in its vicinity in search of its head. Ashitaka and San chase down and take back the head from Jigo, returning it to the Forest Spirit. It collapses into the lake, turning the land green and healing all the lepers and accursed, including Ashitaka and San. Ashitaka and San part to resume the lives they are used to, but promise to meet again; Ashitaka decides to stay and help rebuild Iron Town, which a reformed Eboshi vows to remake as "a better" village. The film ends with a
KodamaA is a spirit from Japanese folklore, which is believed to live in certain trees .Cutting down a tree which houses a kodama is thought to bring misfortune, and such trees are often marked with shimenawa rope....
appearing in the rejuvenated forest.
Cast
- Ashitaka -
- San -
- Moro -
- Lady Eboshi -
- Jigo/Jiko Bou -
- Toki -
- Okkoto/Okkotonushi -
- Gonza -
- Kohroku -
- Kaya -
- Hii-Sama -
- Iron Town Women -
- Tatara's Women Song - Jennifer Cihi
Jennifer Cihi is a singer who performed several songs for animated series and films. For instance, the main theme of City Hunter as the best known animation among Asia countries is Without You....
, Leslie Ishii, and Mary Elizabeth McGlynnMary Elizabeth McGlynn is an American voice actress, ADR director, writer, and singer best known for her extensive English-language dubbing of various anime, and her singing in multiple games from the Silent Hill series, as well as the movie adaptation and Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME. She has...
(English)
Production
It took Miyazaki 16 years to fully develop the story and characters of
Princess Mononoke. Familiar themes and visuals can be found in his 1983 manga,
The Journey of Shuna. The story and characters changed drastically several times during the planning stage.
Princess Mononoke finally came together after Miyazaki visited the ancient forests of
Yakushima, one of the Ōsumi Islands, is an island of about 500 km² and roughly 15,000 islanders to the south of Kyūshū in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Vincennes Strait separates it from Tanegashima. The highest point on the island is Miyanoura-dake at 1,935 metres...
island, but he didn't fully complete it until well into production. The final
storyboardStoryboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
s of the film's ending were finished only months before the Japanese premiere date.
Princess Mononoke is mostly hand-drawn, but incorporates some use of
computer animationComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
during five minutes of footage throughout the film. The computer animated parts are designed to blend in and support the traditional
celA cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
animation, and are mainly used in images consisting of a mixture of computer generated graphics and traditional drawing. A further 10 minutes uses digital paint, a technique used in all subsequent Studio Ghibli films. Most of the film is colored with traditional paint. However, producers agreed on the installation of computers in order to successfully complete the film prior to the Japanese premiere date.
Miyazaki personally checked each of the 144,000
celA cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
s in the film, and is estimated to have redrawn parts of 80,000 of them. This is one of few films directed by him that does not feature a flying sequence, his well-known trademark.
When released,
Mononoke was the most expensive anime film ever made, with production of the film costing ¥2.35 billion (approximately US$23.5 million).
Miyazaki did not want Ashitaka to be a typical hero: He stated that Lady Eboshi was supposed to have a traumatic past, although it is not specifically mentioned in the film. She had a strong and secure personality, evident in the fact that she let Ashitaka move freely through the settlement unescorted, despite his unclear motives. She also almost never acknowledged the Emperor's authority in Irontown, a revolutionary view for the time, and displayed an atypical attitude for a woman of that era in that she wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice herself or those around her for her dreams. Miyazaki has said that Lady Eboshi "looks like a
shirabyōshiwere female dancers, prominent in the Japanese Imperial Court, who performed traditional Japanese dances dressed as men. The profession of shirabyōshi developed in the 12th century...
".
When director Miyazaki was creating the Jigo character, he was unsure whether to make him a government spy, a
ninjaA or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
, a member of a religious group or "a very good guy." In the end he decided to give Jigo elements of all of the above groups.
The landscapes which appear in
Princess Mononoke have been inspired by the ancient forests of
Yakushima, one of the Ōsumi Islands, is an island of about 500 km² and roughly 15,000 islanders to the south of Kyūshū in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Vincennes Strait separates it from Tanegashima. The highest point on the island is Miyanoura-dake at 1,935 metres...
, of
Kyūshūis the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, and the mountains of
Shirakami-Sanchiis a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Honshū, Japan. This mountainous, unspoiled expanse of virgin forest straddles both Akita and Aomori Prefectures. Of the entire 1,300 km², a tract covering 169.7 km² was included in the list of World Heritage Sites in 1993...
in northern
Honshūis the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
. However, the time period is a
neverwhen, meaning that it had no specific time period.
Release
The film was extremely successful in
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and with both anime fans and arthouse moviegoers in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking countries. In those countries, it was widely interpreted as a film about the
environmentThe biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...
told in the form of
Japanese mythologyJapanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...
.
Disney'sThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
MiramaxMiramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
subsidiary purchased U.S. distribution rights, but wanted to cut the film for American audiences (and for a PG-rating). However, Miyazaki balked at this, and the film was instead released uncut with a rating of PG-13. Miramax also chose to put a lot of money into creating the English dub of
Princess Mononoke with famous actors and actresses, yet when they released it in theatres there was little or no advertising and it was given a very limited run, showing in only a few theatres and for a very short time. Disney later complained about the fact that the movie did not do well at the box office. In September 2000, the film was announced for release on DVD in North America exclusively with the English dub. In response to fans' requests to add the Japanese track as well as threats of poor sales, Miramax hired translators for the Japanese version. This plan delayed the DVD release back by almost three months, but it sold well when it was finally released.
Localization
The US and UK DVD releases have both the English and Japanese
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s, together with subtitles for both the English dub and a more literal translation.
At Miyazaki's insistence, the film was uncut for the English release, so that only the soundtrack was altered. The English dub of
Princess Mononoke is a translation with some adaptation by
Neil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
, author of
The Sandman. The main changes from the Japanese version are to provide a cultural context for phrases and actions which those outside of Asia may not be familiar with. Such alterations include references to mythology and specific names for groups, such as Jibashiri and Shishigami, that appear in the Japanese version, which are changed to more general terms, such as Mercenary and Forest Spirit, in the English version. The rationale for such changes is that the majority of non-Japanese viewers would not understand the mythological references (compare Fenrir,
Herne the HunterIn English folklore, Herne the Hunter is a ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire. His appearance is notable in the fact that he has antlers upon his head....
or Yeehaw) and that the English language simply has no words for the Jibashiri, Shishigami and other terms. However, some critics (Michael Atkinson, Mr. Showbiz) have said that the translation from Japanese to English and the alterations in which it has resulted have weakened the film somewhat.
The film has also been dubbed in
MandarinStandard Chinese or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, Cantonese,
CzechCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
,
FrenchFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
,
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
,
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
,
KoreanKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
,
NorwegianNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
,
DanishDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, Farsi and
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.
Reception
Princess Mononoke was the number one film on the Japanese market in 1997, earning ¥11.3 billion in distribution receipts. It was chosen as the Japanese submission for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmThe Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
for that year.
Princess Mononoke also received critical acclaim. Leonard Klady of
VarietyVariety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote a positive review of an early release of the picture. On
Roger Ebert & The Movies, the film received two thumbs up from
Harry KnowlesHarry Knowles is known for his website called Ain't It Cool News. Knowles is a member of the Austin Film Critics Association.-Biography:...
and
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
. Ebert also gave the film four out of four stars in his print review and has added it to his 10 best movies of the year list. While most of the critical response to the film's dub was positive, others criticized the dub for most of its casting choices, notably
Billy Bob ThorntonBilly Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
as Jigo and
Claire DanesClaire Catherine Danes is an American actress of television, stage and film. She has appeared in roles as diverse as Angela Chase in My So-Called Life, as Juliet in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, as Kate Brewster in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as Yvaine in Stardust and as Temple Grandin in...
as San, claiming that they detracted from the experience. Despite this love-hate atmosphere, the dub has been hailed as one of the best ever done alongside
Spirited Awayis a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood and after her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba,...
, which has been met with the same criticism. As of June 2011, review aggregator
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 93% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 83 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10 and the consensus: "With its epic story and breathtaking visuals, Princess Mononoke is a landmark in the world of animation".
Princess Mononoke ranks 488th on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.
It's also on
Terry GilliamTerrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
's top 50 animated movie list
It's also number 26 on
Total FilmTotal Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
's 50 animated movie ranking.
In January 2001, it was the top-selling anime in America, but despite this the film did not fare well financially in the United States. It grossed $2,298,191 the first eight weeks.
Awards
- Best Picture; The 21st Japanese Academy Awards
The , often called the Japan Academy Awards or the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Nippon Academy-shō Association for excellence in Japanese film...
- Best Japanese Movie, Best Animation, and Japanese Movie Fans' Choice; The 52nd Mainichi Film Award
- 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
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
(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 Film Award
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by the Nikkan Sports.- Categories :*Best Picture*Best Director*Best Foreign Picture*Best Actor*Best Actress*Best Supporting Actor*Best Supporting Actress*New Artist Award*Special Award...
- Special Achievement Award; The Movie's Day
- Special Award; Hochi Film Award
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by the Hochi Shimbun.- Categories :*Best Picture*Best International Picture*Best Actor*Best Actress*Best Supporting Actor*Best Supporting Actress*Best New Artist*Special Award*Best Director- Winner :...
- Special Award; Blue Ribbon Awards
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
- Special Award; Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
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
, commonly called , is a Japanese film magazine which began publication in July 1919. The magazine was founded by a group of four students, including Saburō Tanaka, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology . In that first month, it was published three times on days with a "1" in them. These first three...
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
was a prominent Japanese film critic, film historian, and television personality. Members of both the Japanese and foreign press have referred to him as the "giant of film critiques", a "cultural institution", as well as "Japan's most famous movie critic"....
Award; RoadShow
- Best Composer and Best Album Production; 39th Japan Record Award
- Excellent Award; Yomiuri Award for Film/Theater Advertisement
External links