This past weekend, I was able to attend another showing of a Ghibli movie in my local theater as part of Ghibli Fest happening this year. This time, it was Princess Mononoke. Due to my schedule, I was attending on a day where the English dub was screening.
One thing that really struck me watching it on the big screen was the soundtrack. It had been years since I last watched Mononoke, and even then, I had watched it at a Ghibli themed party that was full of other people milling about, chatting, eating, etc. So, the soundtrack was not really shown in the best light at my previous viewing. This time though, the soundtrack was really great and was definitely the most impactful thing on me from watching it on the big screen.
Another thing I noticed this time was how much effort went into animating some of the sequences. I can't even imagine all the work put into animating all the little squiggly, wormy bits of the demons, or how much effort went into animating the transparency portions of the forest spirit.
Something I had a question about when I left the theater was the importance of the crystal dagger. I talked to a friend afterwards and did a little research and found out that the crystal daggers symbolism was impacted by the localization from Japanese to English. Story spoiler below for more:
Overall, it was a great experience. I don't know what the next movie in the list I will be able to do (I think probably Kiki, but it isn't set in stone yet).
