Clan and character notes donated by Jessi.
The shoujou are ape-like forest people who keep the woods alive by planting. They are guardians in the slow sense: they put trees back. They want humans gone. In the film they talk of eating humans to take their strength. The picture never names a leader for them.
The wolf clan and the boar clan fight in the open. The shoujou are shown as a group of planters. They argue among themselves. They fear the humans who cut and burn, and they fear the gods when the forest turns deadly.
They are still part of the same war. Iron Town's charcoal and clear-cuts are what they are trying to undo, one tree at a time.
The shrine note is blunt: they wish to be rid of humans by eating them, hoping to gain their power. That matches what they say on screen. The film does not show them eating anyone. Treat it as their talk and their wish, not a hunt we watch.
When Ashitaka is in the forest, they are among the spirits who have to decide what a human is worth. They do not become his allies the way the kodama quietly guide him.
Moro has a name. Okkoto has a name. The shoujou do not. Do not hang this page on a made-up ape lord. They speak as a band.
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