Princess Mononoke: The First Story: The First Story

Got this book for a family member's birthday and they absolutely love it. An interesting story that combines a number of Western fairy-tale elements with an Eastern twist that works quite well. The book is a good read for adults and children alike, especially those who are fans of Studio Ghibli films and of course Hayao Miyazaki. Definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoy Miyazaki's works and worth sharing with friends and family.

I loved the book so much I bought the Japanese language version and Shuna's Journey, all by Myazaki, Hayao.

"Princess Monoke: The first story" is a fantastic picture book by Hayao Miyazaki. While the book shares the same title as the Miyazaki directed Studio Ghibli film the book predates the film and the two works are otherwise totally unrelated.The plot of Princess Monoke is a rather straight forward fairy tale quest. I won't go into details other than to say that it involves a samurai who has given his daughter to a cat like beast in exchange for saving his life.The book itself is an a quite large book, similar in size to ViZ's other studo ghibli art books. The illustrations are gorgeous watercolor paintings but have a real loose, almost quick study feel to them. Seeing Miyazaki's work is a real treat and it's impressive to see how much movement and emotion he conveys with just a few lines in his art.The text is minimal and the overall look of the work is that if a larger, much thicker children's book complete with dust jacket.I enjoyed the story and the art immensely. Obviously this book would appeal most to fans of Studio Ghibli. Reading through it one can see the beginning of ideas that would crop up in later films.Overall this is an easy recommendation for any Ghibli fan or those who collect picture books. Well worth the price!

I really love Miyazaki and Ghibli. Princess Mononoke is my favorite anime/movie in general ever, so I had to buy this. This story is more like a folktale than the movie, albeit a dark undisneyfied one. I can see where to movie concepts came from but they are different here. Basically A young lady needs to save her father (a samurai lord) from demonic possession, and also ends up bethrpthed to a giant cat being (the "mononoke" here.) They don't get along at first but later grow on each other. It touches on ecological themes at the end, when her posessed father has transformed their once simple abode into a dystopian military stockade, echoing Iron Town. You don't have to know the movie if you read this though, think of it as a "reboot" before the comic book movie market became saturated with them.

Some of Miyazaki's finest hand-drawn fantasy artwork is in this book. I bought it for a 6-year-old friend; he was entranced by the pictures. As noted elsewhere, the story, a simple tale of evil and redemption, bears no resemblance to the much later "Princess Mononoke" movie.For those familiar with Miyazaki's films, it's fun to spot the appearance of several archetypal characters he recreated again and again in various settings. For instance, the cat seen on the cover and in other pictures facially resembles the Cat Bus in My Neighbor Totoro.The illustrations are five-star, but I rated the book four stars for a couple of technical issues: the color reproduction on some pages is too pale, and the english text occasionally has vocabulary that will need to be interpreted by adults for children who can otherwise easily follow the story.

I love the book and illustrations. However there was damage to both the front and back cover.

I purchased this book with the idea that artwise it was going to be in the same level as a Miyasaki-san picture book called "Shuna no Tabi". To make a long story short, it wasn't. The artwork is rushed and undetailed. The story itself is dated (basically an adaptation of the classic "Beauty and the Beast". However, I'm giving it 5 stars because it is a fascinating book at Miyazaki's imagination and the way he converts it into storytelling. This book essentially portrays the first draft ever made for the "Princess Mononoke" movie that was released in 1997, and although it has nothing in common with said movie, you can see that some of the character designs made it into other pictures ( like the Mononoke creature, who eventually became Totoro). A must have for Studio Ghibli fans.

I bought this as a Christmas present for my wife since we both love Miyazaki movies. Our dog is named Noke, after Princess Mononoke, so you'd guess that we're a fan of this story.What a great buy. The book is a little expensive but it is a huge, well-made hardcover copy. It really stands out in your bookshelf and almost has that collectible feeling to it.Also, for any fans of the story, it's a great and simple read.I actually think it's a great children's book even if you haven't seen the movie. Beautifully drawn.A new feature in our bookshelf.

such a weird comment I know but seriously it smells really earthy and mossy, kinda gross not gonna lie

Excellent quality. Also absolutely nothing like the movie so any Miyazaki fans should love it.

An early draft of Princess Mononoke from 1980. This version is very different to the final film (think Beauty and the Beast in feudal Japan) but don't let that dissuade you it's a great story for any Miyazaki fan and works very well as a picture book. The physical book is a very nice and quite big, this really shows off the illustrations which have been printed in a high quality.

Bought this for my nephew for his Christmas in an attempt to get him into Studio Ghibli and Anime, he absolutely loves it. Artwork is incredible too and I've found myself reading it as well.Must buy for any Studio Ghibli fans

Daughter's birthday pressie