Wanpaku ôji no Orochi taiji

Probably the best film animation of the 60s. Everything from the mythological concepts, world and characters design are reduced to it's most basic and simple form. Brilliant.

Having seen this at an animation/sci-fi group in New York over 20 years ago, mymemory may not be the best. One of the now rarely seen Japanese feature animations from the pre-anime era, Wanpaku (Little Prince) is a very enjoyable children's adventure film. The plot escapes me completely except that Little Prince ends up in an extended battle with the eight headed dragon (hence the U.S. release title).

The drawing is done in that simple geometric shape style that we never see any more. Sort of a Japanified UPA style. That's not to say that the film doesn't look good. The 16mm print I saw must not have been projected much because the colors were rich and showed the artwork off well. The animation is better then other Japanese features of the same time and the film has a brisk pace.

What really made this film different from other animations coming out of Japan at the time was the incredible classical inspired score. The print I saw had no credits at the beginning and the first clue as to who composed the score came at the very end when the orchestra suddenly breaks out in a rendition of the battle music from "The Mysterians". It's likely that this film will never see the light of day again here in the U.S. but the score by Akira Ikufube can be found in import shops and on the web occasionally. He clearly spent more time on this film then he did on any of the Godzilla or other sci-fi films he scored.

Prince Susanoo makes part of my childhood on far off 1976, this Japanese anime has an opposite style over those drawing in western countries mostly in America, The Toei studios made a near masterpiece about an old folklore tale widespread in Japan and taken to big screen becoming an instant success, send it to overseas where was critically acclaimed, a true classic Japanese anime.

Prince Susanoo is endowed for an enormous strength also he is able to talk with any kind of animals, his still mature angel face mother comes to die early, his father tells to grieving Susanoo that she went to live in distant place, after a short time bereaved and weeping Susanoo decides find out his mother, he build a small sailboat and together with the little rabbit Akahana they start an everlasting seeking to her late mother, in the middle of ocean he fights against dreaded big fish that feared all ocean, thus he enters on underneath crystal cave where he reaches at Land of the Night where his old brother rules there giving him a multifaced enchanted crystal to use at dangerous time.

Then Susanoo follows to a dry land ruled by the evil Fire God, there the humble peasants are starving due there doesn't rain anymore, Susanoo fights fiercely against the flaming god, using his Samurai's sword Susanoo will slicing the flaming opponent, however in each cut he will multiplying in countless warriors, just the enchanted crystal came to melting all them, in return the own Fire God delivers a gift to Susanoo, a flying bird, before they go away a strong villager called Titan-bo asking for Susanoo takes him together.

The next stop will in the Land of Light where his old sister governs, who knows why the untrained Susanoo has been made many damages even trying help the growers there, after so many arguing his sister closes herself in a cave, then the land enters in the darkness where all crops going to die, after a dance ritual the cave is open a little, thus all villagers pry open the rock that seals the cave opening plenty as long Susanoo is judge by bad bahavior and sentenced go away taking his sidekicks together.

Flying to a shadowed land he meets a beautiful little Princess that enchants Susanoo, nonetheless her kingdom is in jeopardy under treated by a Eight Headed Dragon, firstly they must drunken him with a lot of buckets of sake and finally to aid him fight against the powerful monster Susanoo needs a help for a white flying horse before Susanoo faces him, a fabulous Japanese tale with craftsman arty designer, in a laborious and colorful drawing in its own style, allowed for adults either.

Resume:

First watch: 1976 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8.

Here is an anime film I hadn't seen or heard of, until I had watched it online on YouTube. This colorful film retells the Shinto myth of the storm god Susanoo's battle with the eight-headed dragon, Yamata no Orochi.

But in this film, Susanoo is a young boy of a god who (despite his father's words) went on a quest to be with his beloved mother, the goddess Izanami. He had misinterpreted that she had died and gone to Heaven. So with Akahana the rabbit and Bo a strong man from the Land of Fire, Susanoo sets out. After facing trials and getting into a "little" bit of trouble, Susanoo and his friends come across a young girl, Princess Kushinada, who is in need of saving from the fearsome Yamata no Orochi who had killed her many sisters. Susanoo of course, becomes infatuated with Kushinada, and decides to help her. That is all I could tell you. You'll just have to watch and see the movie for yourself. You know, I thought Susanoo & Kushinada are a very cute child couple.

I really love the artistry that was put into this film! To me, it almost has the style of Disney personnel Mary Blair; also the musical soundtrack is beautifully done. Well, I love this film and thought it was another classic from Toei Animation.

One of the early triumphs of Anime movies, this wonderful 60s film has been restored and was released last year in Blu-Ray in Japan and it looks gorgeous. With a very different drawing style than modern Animes (kind of modernist and geometric characters and backgrounds), but sharing the early Toei Animation grandeur of other fantasies of the period ("Panda and the Magic Serpent", "Horus: Prince of the Sun"...), the film was an important landmark in Japanese animation and still holds up very well today. The long final battle against the dragon, the colors and the powerful soundtrack of (the unmistakable) Akira Ifukube are its biggest highlights.