Princess Mononoke | Limited Edition Steelbook | Blu-ray+DVD

The poetic high point of Hayao Miyazake's many great works. It's probably not fair to say an entire industry 'peaked' especially not one as large and varied as anime, but the late 90s feel like the peak of the anime industry. Whether it's Princess Mononoke, Perfect Blue, Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebob, or Berserk, this era saw some of the greatest art the industry has ever produced.

Like many of Miyazake's films, Princess Mononoke is especially focused on themes of environmental impact and man's relationship with the natural world. In this case, the deforestation caused by strip mining and the ways in which destroying our world not only harms plants and animals, but robs us of our humanity.

Not the happiest tale, but a truly powerful and impactful work from Miyazake. The first of the director's works to be released in the US, on the back of a new distribution deal between Studio Ghibli's parent company and Disney, Princess Mononoke turned Japan's most revered animator into an international sensation.