Welcome to Anime Rants. Today we have a writing prompt taken from a discussion in r/anime: “Who was your first favorite character in any anime?” I like this prompt because it acknowledges that anime fans may have multiple favorite characters and the selection might change over time. Nevertheless, most of us can track it back to a single favorite who came before all the others.

My answer is Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. He is the male protagonist of this classic Studio Ghibli movie. Most readers probably know already, but I’ll provide some information about Ashitaka, his story, and why I love him so much.

Ashitaka is the “prince” of a small tribe of Emishi people in the forested mountains. The Emishi existed in reality, so I recommend looking them up if you like history. Within the context of the movie, the Emishi had to live in small, isolated villages to stay safe from the emperor. Thus, they lived mostly in harmony with nature. Their village was spiritually protected by a Wise Woman, who knew how to honor gods and spirits. All the youth were taught to be respectful of each other and nature – for everything is teeming with spirits.

This is the environment in which Ashitaka grew up. He was an extremely thoughtful young man who easily bonded with animals and had a natural desire to serve and honor others. As one of the main protectors of the of the village, it fell upon Ashitaka to defeat a raging forest god who had morphed into a demon. This hideous and gigantic boar risked the safety of the entire village, including Ashitaka’s little sister, who was in the fields that day. Knowing it was insolent for a human to do this, Ashitaka still decided to kill the destructive forest god.

The god, who had truly become a hateful demon, cursed Ashitaka for fighting it. The young man’s arm was infected with a demonic burn mark. According to the Wise Woman, this burn would spread over Ashitaka’s body, and he would die in great pain. Ashitaka, being extremely curious, decided to leave the village and investigate why that god became such a terrible demon. Perhaps, on the course of this adventure, he could find a way to conquer the curse.

Everything I described so far was setup for Ashitaka’s journey to the west in the first ten or fifteen minutes of Princess Mononoke. Obviously, I won’t recap the entire movie here. But even this starter information about Ashitaka should be enough to start painting a picture of his personality. The thing that sums up his character and the movie very well is what he says in the town square when San and Eboshi are fighting to the death. The quote is below.

“Look, everyone! This is what hatred looks like! This is what happens when it catches hold of you. It’s eating me alive, and very soon now, it will kill me. Fear and anger only make it grow faster.”

Prince Ashitaka

There are many reasons that come to mind when I ask myself why I love Ashitaka. But the #1 main reason is that I deeply admire his personality: his strong morals, gentle mannerisms, compassionate heart, and refusal to quit when things are painful. He finds beauty in unexpected places, always eager to find the good in others. He respects others – be they humans, animals, or gods – even when they stab him in the back or cause destruction. Ashitaka is everything that I find truly admirable in a character.

I’ll leave off with one other quote: arguably Ashitaka’s most famous line in Princess Mononoke. It happens when the young man is staying in Iron Town, the fortified area where guns and bullets are being crafted by Lady Eboshi and her followers. When Eboshi asks why Ashitaka has come to Iron Town, he replies,

“To see with eyes unclouded by hate.”

Prince Ashitaka

I will continue to strive for that in my own life. But that’s enough about me and my answer to the prompt. What about you all? Who was your first ever favorite character in anime? Also, if you’ve seen Princess Mononoke, let me know what you thought about Ashitaka.

Thanks for reading!

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