Would it be one reasonable thread of the story after the end of the film to suggest Ashitaka marries her?

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

i can't imagine San in a wedding dress....

Think of Doris Day in Calamity Jane

The feeling that I got from the film was that Ashitaka would have gone through too many changes in his life to return to the simple village life of his youth. I felt that he would stay in the region he was now in and continue an on-again, off-again relationship with San...

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Originally posted by captain george
i can't imagine San in a wedding dress....

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

I thought that they said he was never allowed to return to his village? I don't think it reflects at all badly on Ashitaka that he would give up hope of marrying her and look for someone else... If they did meet again it would have to be because she left to find him, but given how protective their group seemed to be of their dwindling population, I don't know how likely that is. And she didn't seem to imply that she would follow him.

(Although he stands out enough that he probably wouldn't have been very difficult to track down).

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I wasn't referring to San!

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Who were you referring to? Lady Eboshi? Imagine being married to her, coming home late from work would be a nightmare, she seems like the type that would rip you a new one before asking why your late, which would be awful if you were a fireman.....

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I felt that he would stay in the region he was now in and continue an on-again, off-again relationship with San...

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This. Haven't we already established that Ashitaka is a man whore?

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given how protective their group seemed to be of their dwindling population, I don't know how likely that is.

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Good point. Even though they pretty much accepted he would die it would be hard to rule out them searching for him to save their community..... And he'd love a request like that..... Filthy man whore that he is.....

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Filthy man whore that he is.....

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Oi! Them's fightin' words.

B|

I don't understand this terrible slandering of poor Ashitaka.

I don't understannnnnd...

Q~Q

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He seems like a pretty normal guy to me. Apart from slicing off Samurai's heads with arrows from 50 yards. Which is way cool.

The wedding thing was referring to his promised childhood bride back at the village, you know, the person this whole thread was about

Why couldn't he go back to his village? Is it because of the taint of that demon he slew?

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

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Originally posted by Saddletank
He seems like a pretty normal guy to me. Apart from slicing off Samurai's heads with arrows from 50 yards. Which is way cool.

The wedding thing was referring to his promised childhood bride back at the village, you know, the person this whole thread was about

Why couldn't he go back to his village? Is it because of the taint of that demon he slew?

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Originally posted by Nausicaa_Cat

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Originally posted by Saddletank
He seems like a pretty normal guy to me. Apart from slicing off Samurai's heads with arrows from 50 yards. Which is way cool.

The wedding thing was referring to his promised childhood bride back at the village, you know, the person this whole thread was about

Why couldn't he go back to his village? Is it because of the taint of that demon he slew?

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Hnng I can't remember exactly, he had to cut his hair right which symbolically cut his ties with the village? I checked the script but it didn't exactly explain that clearly why he cannot return - though it does explain why he must go (in order to try to remove his curse). My guess would be that it's due to some sort of laws of village - as previously stated they're clearly protective of their numbers, maybe there was a rule stating those who left cannot return in order to discourage people from leaving.

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Ah yes, I'd forgotten the symbolic cutting of ties by cutting the hair.

That makes the parting gift from his childhood bride all the more touching - she knows she'll never see him again.

I need to read up more on old Japanese social customs.

And watch the film again - been ages since I watched it.

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"An old man like me stands no chance fighting against a high school girl in her underwear" - Oshino Meme, Nekomonogatari (Kuro)

OK, we can safely say that the arrowhead or whatever that is, is a plot hole. It was a good try by all those who tried to find an explanation, but it all seems rather esoteric

However, nobody has tried to explain to me whether the forest spirit is dumb... It does look that way, though.
Recently I was listening to a radio documentary on Shinto, they were trying to explain what a "kami" is, so I wonder whether the forest spirit could be just that, a being totally unconcerned with what goes on in "our" world, but with unimaginable powers to control it, but, at the end of the day, oblivious to what our desires might be. That might explain why he doesn't "notice" that he got shot.
This could be just a lot of drivel, so I apologise in advance.

In any case, on this subject there is another question: if the forest spirit is the super-god, then we have the likes of Moro, Atokko (sp?) and the boar at the beginning (whose name escapes me) who are b-class gods. Then we have the other wolves and boars who are... c-class? Then the kodama... some sort of tree living spirits?
Anyone who can enlighten me on this point as well?

This is all IMHO...

The Kodama appear when the forest in general is healthy and thriving, more as an indicator than a force...

Moro and the others like her are the spiritual heads of their individual clans, some powers, as to heal in some cases but subject to injury in others... Except for the spiritual powers, I think Lady Eboshi would fit in this category...

The rest of the wolves and boars, etc are the general population, the hoi polloi, so to speak... (ie, you and me)...

The Deer God is the Supreme being that has the power of life and death, but usually doesn't interfere in the everyday scheme of things. He lets the world continue on in its own way, neither helping nor hindering, leaving 'Nature' to balance out on its own... Being shot meant nothing to him, other than a momentary lapse, so to speak, considering his power... However, the be-heading was quite different, resulting in a loss of 'Balance' that it tried to correct by becoming whole again...

These are the thoughts that I have on the story...

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Shinto (and Taoist) gods are somewhat similar to the greek gods in that they aren't considered omnipotent. There are quite literally thousands of them, but more considered as guardians than the definition of "god" that we know of.

Writing this, I still remember a joke in Dragonball when Krillin was praying to god for help, and Piccolo dryly said, "God's just Dende."

EDIT: Just discovered that Hirano Aya, who voiced Haruhi, also voiced Dende. What the heck.

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Originally posted by fenkashi
Screw your opinions, they are not relevant ^^.

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I don't think anyone said the arrowhead is a plot hole. It was a gift to Ashitaka to remember his would-be wife, since he would never see her again; he gave it to San when she was going to battle, since he might never see her again. I think that's sweet and thoughtful, not disrespectful. Obviously the girl at the beginning wouldn't want Ashitaka to be alone forever.

Yeah I agree with Roar; I think the Kami are best considered a manifestation of, for example, the spirit/essence of wolves, of apes, of boars, or of abstract concepts like life and death. The emperor was, I think, sometimes considered to be a living human Kami, or at least a descendent of the Kami. I think that in Shintoism there are major and minor Kami as well, where some are much more respected and central than others.

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Originally posted by husky51
However, the be-heading was quite different, resulting in a loss of 'Balance' that it tried to correct by becoming whole again...

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At night it turns into the Nightwalker, and without its head, it was brainless and unable to change back into its daytime form. According to Jigo, the Nightwalker would vanish exposure to the the sun. So their plan was to keep its head in a box until daybreak... Which turned out to be a difficult gambit.

(And also delivering the head to the emperor, since he thought it would grant immortality).

As for why the forest god was "dumb" enough to get killed, I guess it's hard to say. It seems to have only put up a token resistance, and wasn't interested at all in helping the animals defend the forest. I might be over-analyzing like I usually do, but I think this is one of the movies that merits a deep analysis, because like Nausicaa, Miyazaki definitely meant to deliver a message with it. So, here's my take...

I think the humans and animals both cast each other as an enemy to be conquered. They both thought, if only one can beat the other into submission, life will be good for the winning side. And maybe it's especially easy to think that way when your opponent is powerful, and then all you can think about is how to get an advantage. There ceases to be any question of, "maybe these aren't actually our enemies, and maybe we shouldn't be fighting?", which was what Ashitaka tried to get across.

The forest spirit didn't fight back or even defend itself. When your opponent doesn't fight back, doesn't it become a lot harder to think of them as an enemy? It's easy to win, but for some reason, you can't help but wonder in the process whether you're doing the right thing.

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