Miyazaki combines the stark realism and action-packed pace of Japanese samurai epics; a cast of equally strong male and female characters fighting for what they believe; and a mystical journey through animist mythology into something rarely experienced in filmmaking: a wholly original world of complex, adult drama forged through animation. Miyazaki put his targeted audience for PRINCESS MONONOKE at “anyone older than 5th grade.” Still, he painted his world with a truthful brush, revealing with frank details the brutality of war and intense hatred between peoples.