San puts a knife to his throat while he's down, but she can't quite bring herself to make the final push. He gets her out of Irontown and faints from his wounds. Ashitaka sacrifices his own health and well-being to see San safe and ultimately understand her. Every moment is significant between San and Ashitaka, and their scenes together are often fight scenes.Īshitaka's first contact with San comes when he stops a battle between her and Lady Eboshi. That dynamic sets up one of the best and most convincing enemies-to-lovers romances to date, from anime to novels. San gives up all humans as lost causes but Ashitaka shows her that there can be accord, that to throw away humanity entirely is to throw away herself, and he cannot abide that. Humans have done inhumane things over and over-to nature, to the gods, to San as an infant, and to each other. Ashitaka doesn't take her animosity personally and rather seeks to reach her through softness, by showing his humanity. She sees any human as a threat, including Ashitaka. She does not relent in trying to protect the living beings and the home that the forest creates. San is entirely justified in her sense of urgency when it comes to protecting her family and neighbors.
