Storytime

Since I'm too swamped with work to produce some nice artwork for ya to look at, I thought I thought I'd totally steal a great stalling tactic from Lambey, and post some pics from a favorite art book straight from my personal library: Hiyao Miyazki's MONONOKE HIME. No, not a book of the 1997 film, but a story treatment from 1980, published in 1993 as an oversized hardcover storybook. You'll find that instead of the eco-fable of the '97 film, here Miyazaki presents a more familiar tale, this time set in feudal Japan....


A Duke, sperated from his army during battle,
wanders the forest, lost.
He comes across a cave...
... and seeks shelter by the warm fire.
But the cave's occupant returns...
... and prepares to cook the Duke for dinner.
The Duke tells the beast (Mononke) that if he lets him go,
he will give him one of his 3 daughters to take as his wife.
He accepts, and drops the Duke at his castle,
telling him he will return at the next full moon.
The Duke's wife is not happy when she hears of this.
But the Duke had become possessed by an evil spirit,
and his youngest daughter knew this, so he chose her
to go with the beast in order to keep his secret.
The beast returns to claim his bride.


The daugther is obviously not into her new marriage.
The beast tells her if she doesn't get with the program,
he's going to cook her for dinner.
He begins to prepare her for dinner,
expecting her to cry uncle.
... which she doesn't. Turns out he's a softie
and wasn't really going to cook her.
She tells him she must first save her father from the evil spirit,
and if he helps her, she will remain his wife.
A quest begins for a magical object
to fight the evil spirit.
A giant turtle leads the daughter to
the bottom of a lake...
... where a magic mirror lays.
They arrive at the castle, deciding to rest for the night
before confronting her father the next day.
While the beast sleeps, the daughter uses the magic mirror...
... and sees the wicked boy the beast once was.
... and how he awoke one morning cursed.
A friendship has developed.
The daughter wakes early and confronts her father alone.
Using the mirror, she drives the evil spirit from her father...
... but it possesses a suit of armor...
... and attacks them.
The beast, upon waking and discovering the daughter gone,
races to the castle and leaps to protect her from the evil spirit's fire.
When the smoke clears, the evil spirit has been defeated...
... but at a heavy cost.
Her tears resurrect him, or maybe giant cat-beasts
are just naturally tough.
They lived happily ever after.
I like how he stays a cat-monster rather than turn into a handsome prince. I assume that this idea was perhaps abondoned to produce NAUSICAA IN THE VALLEY OF THE WIND instead.(Can anybody out there provide some confirmation?) A great find full of beautiful art. Don't hesitate to grab it if you happen to come across a copy!


Find out more about it HERE. Ja matane!