A review of Shout! Factory’s “Princess Mononoke” booklet
Written by Matthew Long
A review of the booklet included as part of Shout! Factory' and GKIDS Blu-ray of Princess Mononoke (1997), released in 2020.
The front cover of the booklet for Princess Mononoke, the animated classic by director Hayao Miyazaki.
Professionalism and production quality
This is a high quality saddle stitch bound booklet. The images have perfect resolution and the text is readable, the layout is clean, and there are no obvious spelling or grammar errors. This booklet could be re-read over and over without affecting the binding.
Score: 10 (out of 10)
Text-to-image ratio
There is one page of image for every page of text, right down to the front and back covers of this eight page booklet. One of the three pages of text was not even able to fill the full page. I would have preferred more text, even if the visuals of this movie are incredible and worth being printed.
Score: 4 (out of 10)
Content
The booklet contains two text pieces. The first is “The Turning Point of an Era” by a Studio Ghibli producer named Toshio Suzuki, written in July 2013. There’s a note that this short text was written for a Japanese Blu-ray release. The five short paragraphs briefly explain how Princess Mononoke served as an important moment when the films and themes of Studio Ghibli’s movies changed, and how the producer came to that understanding.
The steelbook Blu-ray case and the small booklet are fine collectables, but they don’t capture the epic scale of this movie’ ideas and ambition.
The second piece is a statement by director Hayao Miyazaki from 1995 taken from the reprinted English translation of The Art of Princess Mononoke, published by VIZ Media, LLC. It’s an interesting piece that covers Miyazaki’s inspiration and thinking behind the movie, including the intentions for what kind of movie he was trying to make. But that book is readily available, and the quote was still fairly vague, especially because it was a statement from before the movie was released. How about some content that provides context into whether Miyazaki felt his goals were achieved?
Score: 10 (out of 20)
Creativity
Princess Mononoke is a beloved classic that I’m sure people involved with the production, critics, scholars, or fans would have loved to contribute writing for. This booklet felt like a missed opportunity that only filled an obligation of “increasing the value” of the physical media release. It’s fine, and I appreciated having the texts, but more information about this monumental movie would have been appreciated.
As well, if the booklet was going to be half image, maybe they could have gone all out and shown the animation as it was in-development against the final picture? That could have been an enriching use of this tree’s life.
Score: 4 (out of 10)
Final score: 28 (out of 50)
This booklet is unremarkable and relatively forgettable. It’s worth a single read but the content is not essential for the movie.
This movie is available for purchase at your local physical media store if you ask, or it can be ordered from Shout Factory, including a collector’s edition that contains a 40-page book.