Yuriko Ishida

Inflicted with a deadly curse, the young warrior Ashitaka heads west in search of a cure. There, he stumbles into a bitter conflict between Lady Eboshi, the proud people of Iron Town, and the enigmatic Princess Mononoke, a young girl raised by wolves, who will stop at nothing to prevent the humans from destroying her home and the forest spirits and animal gods who live there.

From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and The Secret World of Arrietty, comes another animated triumph. Yokohama, 1963. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the Olympics. Against this backdrop of hope and change, a friendship begins to blossom between high school students Umi and Shun -- but a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart. From a screenplay by Academy Award winner Hayao Miyazaki.

The tanuki spend their days playing idly in the hillsides and squabbling over food -- until the construction of a huge new Tokyo suburb clears the nearby forest and threatens their way of life. In an effort to defend their home, the tanuki learn to transform into humans and start playing tricks to make the workers think the construction site is haunted, ending in a spectacular night-time spirit parade, with thousands of ghosts, dragons and other magical creatures descending on the city -- in an abundance of fantastical characters that would not be matched on screen by Studio Ghibli until Spirited Away.