Benny_ said:
Mononoke is supposedly a remake of sorts to Nausicaa. An inferior remake if I may say so myself.
Not so much a remake as a continuation of the man vs. nature conflict in Nausicaa. Miyazaki felt unsatisfied with the optimistic ending of Nausicaa, (despite the fact the revival sequence is probably the prettiest thing ever committed to acetate cel), he wanted something darker. Surprisingly, the same man who spawned cute and optimistic movies like
Totoro and
Kiki's is also one of the biggest sad sacks in the world of anime. According to what I've read, he thinks that the man vs. nature conflict should be more about the ideological conflict between humanism and environmentalism, in which case there never can be a real truce between man and nature, which is what the end to Nausicaa implies. Miyazaki's pessimismistic outlook is more obvious in Mononoke than Nausicaa, but personally I think that gave it a depth and, for lack of a better term, "meatiness" to it that Nausicaa didn't develop as thoroughly. But hey, Nausicaa is also a great film, and life'd be dull if we all read anime the same way. :3
