is an
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
film released in July 1968. It is the directorial feature film debut of
Isao Takahata
was a Japanese director, screenwriter and producer. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he earned international critical acclaim for his work as a director of Japanese animated feature films. Born in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Takahata joined Toei ...
and was also worked on by
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...
. ''Horus'' marked the beginning of their partnership that would last for the next 50 years across numerous animation studios.
The core production team for ''Horus, Prince of the Sun'' included Takahata (Director),
Yasuo Otsuka
Yasuo is a masculine Japanese given name.
Possible writings
Yasuo can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples:
*安雄, "tranquil, male"
*安男, "tranquil, man"
*安夫, "tranquil, husband"
*安 ...
(Animation Director), Miyazaki (Scene Design, Key Animation),
Yasuji Mori
was an animator who worked with Toei Animation, while it was still known as Toei Doga. He was also a famous illustrator of children's books. Mori was responsible for one of the major animation styles within Toei Animation. In ''The Little Prince ...
(Key Animation),
Reiko Okuyama
, née, was a Japanese animator, notable for being one of the first female Japanese animators. She has also been credited as and .
The 2019 asadora Natsuzora is loosely based on her life and career.
Early life
Okuyama spent much of her early li ...
(Key Animation), and
Yoichi Kotabe Yoichi may refer to:
*Yōichi, Japanese given name
*, district in Shiribeshi, Hokkaidō Prefecture, Japan
*, town in Yoichi District
*, a Japanese whisky distillery in the town
*, train station in Yoichi District
* also Yoichi is a masculine Japane ...
(Key Animation). This group contributed to designs, story ideas and storyboards; all but Takahata (who is not an animator) contributed to character designs. Akemi Ota, Masatake Kita, and Sadao Kikuchi were the remaining Key Animators, but did not contribute many ideas to the film.
The movie was released straight to television in the United States by
AIP-TV
American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...
under the title ''The Little Norse Prince''.
Synopsis
Set in an unspecified northern kingdom in ancient
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, the film opens with the young Horus (aka Hols, voiced by
Hisako Ōkata
Hisako is a Japanese name for females. Although written romanized the same way, the kanji can be different.
''Hisako'' may refer to:
*Hisako Arakaki (born 1977), J-pop singer
* Hisako Hibi (born 1907), Japanese painter
*Hisako Higuchi (born 1945 ...
in Japanese and
Billie Lou Watt
Billie Lou Watt (June 20, 1924 – September 7, 2001) was an American actress. She was best known as the original English dub voice of the title characters of the 1960s anime series ''Astro Boy'' and ''Kimba the White Lion'', the character Elsi ...
in English) attempting to fight off a pack of "silver wolves," and accidentally waking up an ancient stone giant, named Mogue (or Rockoar in some editions of the film). Horus succeeds in pulling a splinter from the giant's shoulder, which transpires to be a rusty and ancient sword. The giant proclaims this to be the "Sword of the Sun," promising also that when the sword has been reforged, he will come to Horus, who will then be called "Prince of the Sun".
Horus' father, on his deathbed, reveals that their family came from a northern seaside village, which was devastated by the terrifying ice devil Grunwald, leaving them the only survivors. Before dying, Horus' father urges his son to return to the land of his birth and avenge the village.
On his journey, Horus and his companion, a bear named Koro, are soon confronted by Grunwald, who plunges the boy from a cliff when Horus refuses to serve him. Horus survives the fall and is rescued by the inhabitants of a nearby village. Horus soon becomes a heroic figure when he kills an enormous pike which had been threatening the lives and livelihoods of this fishing community.
The pike was a ploy of Grunwald's, who then sends the silver wolves to attack the village instead. In the battle that follows, Horus and Koro chase the wolves to a deserted village, where he meets a mysterious young girl named Hilda. Horus takes Hilda back to his village, where her beautiful singing is welcomed by the villagers, with the exception of the chief, who is increasingly resentful of Horus' popularity, and his deputy, Drago. Hilda, who is actually Grunwald's sister and under his evil influence, later collaborates with Drago and sends a swarm of rats to attack the village (in the original Japanese version, Grunwald wanted Horus to be his brother before he plunged Horus down the cliff; this ties in with Horus' first encounter with Hilda and her comment on how they both share the same fate that they're like twins). Drago frames Horus for his own failed attempt to assassinate the chief, and the villagers banish Horus.
Horus sets out in search of Grunwald, but is confronted by Hilda, and the owl who acts as a messenger between Hilda and Grunwald. With her true identity revealed, Hilda reluctantly attacks Horus, who falls into a chasm and becomes trapped in an enchanted wood, where he is haunted by visions of the villagers and his father. Grunwald then sends Hilda, against her wishes, to kill Horus, and makes his own attack on the village, together with his wolves and a giant ice mammoth.
Horus is able to escape from the enchanted forest when he realizes that the sword must be reforged as a collective effort and that the villagers must unite in order to defeat Grunwald. After a brief fight with Hilda, who is thoroughly remorseful about her involvement in Grunwald's plan, Horus rejoins the villagers in their battle and uses the raging fires they ignited in their defense to reforge the sword. With the "Sword of the Sun" reforged, he is soon joined by the stone giant Mogue. Together they defeat and destroy Grunwald. Hilda, who had given her magical "Medal of Life" to aid Horus, finds that she is still alive without it, and rejoins Horus and the villagers. While they Are Running, A Fallen golem can be seen.
Voice cast
Production
The story of ''Horus'' is based on the puppet play ', created by screenwriter , which in turn is a reinterpretation of an epic from
Yukar
( ain, ユカㇻ) are Ainu sagas that form a long rich tradition of oral literature. In older periods, the epics were performed by both men and women; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when Ainu culture was in decline, women were genera ...
, the oral tradition of the
Ainu people
The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...
, the indigenous people of the island of
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
. The Japanese language title of the originally Ainu epic is . For ''Horus'' the setting was changed to
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
to avoid any controversy due to depiction of the Ainu people. The story was also inspired by the intention to address an adult audience, to reflect societal changes in contemporary Japan and to portray the socialist ideals in the portrayed village community, where the protagonists not only improve their own lot in a coming of age story but where their personal growth benefits society at large as well. The film shows a place where the people are able to shake off oppressive forces and derive pleasure from their communal efforts such as subsistence fishing.
Production on ''Horus'' started in Autumn, 1965 but, due to the perfectionism of the creators, was not completed until March, 1968, at a time when other feature-length animated films at Toei were made in approximately 8–10 months and focus at the company was shifting towards production of television animation. Director Takahata and animation director Ōtsuka approached the process in an egalitarian manner and invited input from the entire team for storyboard and planning meetings, a method which opened the door for Miyazaki to contribute significantly to the development of the story and animation.
With a production budget of over or , ''Horus'' was the most expensive anime film up until it was surpassed by ''
Space Battleship Yamato
is a Japanese science fiction anime series produced and written by Yoshinobu Nishizaki, directed by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto, and produced by Academy Productions. The series aired in Yomiuri TV from October 6, 1974 to March 30, 1975, ...
'' (1977).
Reception
As quoted in ''The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture'' by
Mark Schilling
Mark Schilling (born 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, translator, and author based in Tokyo, Japan. He has written for ''The Japan Times'', ''Variety'', and ''Screen International''.
Biography
Schilling began working for ''The Japan ...
, a reviewer for
Hakubunkan
is a Japanese publisher, publishing company founded in 1887 amidst the wealth and military prosperity of the Meiji era. Hakubunkan entered the publishing arena by printing a nationalist magazine as well as expanding into printing, advertising, pa ...
's monthly magazine commented, in 1968, "In one corner of the world there now exists a commercial animation that has surpassed
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
and started to make rapid advances", after seeing ''Horus'' and ''
The Jungle Book
''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...
''.
Helen McCarthy
Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such anime reference books as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and ''Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author of ...
, in her book ''Hayao Miyazaki; Master of Japanese Animation'', notes that the film had only a brief theatrical release despite its critical and popular success. McCarthy notes that Yasuji Mori's "clean and simple character design" for ''Hilda'' "allowed for considerable emotional depth and flexibility" and she observed that this style remained a powerful influence on the works of Takahata and Miyazaki throughout their animation careers.
In 2001, the Japanese magazine ''
Animage
is a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine which Tokuma Shoten began publishing in July 1978. Hayao Miyazaki's internationally renowned manga, ''Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'', was serialized in ''Animage'' from 1982 through 1994. Oth ...
'' elected ''Horus, Prince of the Sun'' the third best anime production of all time.
In his ''
Anime Explosion'', Patrick Drazen mentions the film as a pivotal work in the evolution of animation and writes that the 10-day theatrical showing was either a sign that Toei studio executives were unable to recognise quality or a ploy to get back at Union organizers like Miyazaki and Takahata, who didn't direct for the company again. Drazen notes that the ending scenes in the film were thinly disguised rallying cries for the union and student movements of the time, by whom the film was well received.
Drazen is among the analysts who makes note of the conflicted heroine ''Hilda'', and writes that the character comes across as complex, working sometimes for good and sometimes for evil, and can be seen as the first in a long line of multidimensional heroines in the oeuvre of Takahata and Miyazaki.
The influence on Japanese cel animation of Ōtsuka's approach for ''Horus'' has been singled out.
Thomas LaMarre
Thomas Mark Lamarre (born 1959) is an American-Canadian academic, author, Japanologist and professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies.
Education
LaMarre was awarded a bachelor's degree in Biology in 1981 ...
writes, in ''The Anime Machine'', that understanding Yasuo Ōtsuka's style is especially important for an understanding of Hayao Miyazaki's work. The sequence in which ''Horus'' fights the giant fish in particular has been referenced as a pivotal moment in the evolution of the medium and as a scene which had a profound impact on the animation works later produced at
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It is best known for its animated feature films, and ha ...
.
Justin Sevakis, writing a retrospective review for
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...
, in March 2014, noted that the film was a financial flop but almost immediately gained a following among young people. Sevakis states that despite its flaws ''Horus'' is one of the few animated stories from the period that can still be recommended to an adult audience.
In 2017, Mike Toole of Anime News Network, placed the film first on his 100 Best Anime Movies of All Time list.
Home video
In 2005,
Optimum Releasing
StudioCanal Limited, operating as StudioCanal (formerly Optimum Releasing), is the official branch of StudioCanal in the British Isles. The company releases many films, including foreign, anime (mostly Studio Ghibli), independent, art, British, ...
released the film as ''The Little Norse Prince'' on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
for the UK and Ireland, under its Optimum Asia label. The DVD includes English-language subtitles but no extra features other than the 1968 Japanese trailer, and is locked to region 2. The subtitles were criticized for being incomplete, often skipping dialog and completely omitting the songs, but they do refer to the title character as "Hols", and the video presentation was criticized for the presence of ghosting artefacts as a result of being converted from 60 Hz to 50 Hz for compatibility with European TVs and players. However, this release was the first time that the film had ever been widely available with its original audio and English subtitles at all, and was for almost a decade the only way of viewing the film as such. This release is currently out of print.
In 2013, the film was released in Japan on
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
by Toei. The version of the film on this release, however, was discovered to be not sourced from a new, high-definition restoration but upscaled from the existing, standard-definition transfer that dates back to the film's release on
LaserDisc
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
by CAV and which was the source of Toei's and all other existing releases of the film on DVD. No English language subtitles are present on this release.
On December 23, 2014,
Discotek Media
Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series.
Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...
released the film as ''Horus, Prince of the Sun'' on DVD for Northern America. This release features a new English-language subtitle translation (which is more complete and more accurate than the subtitles on the Optimum release, except that they refer to the title character as "Horus"), two audio commentaries, video interviews with Isao Takahata and Yoichi Kotabe, four written essays, production galleries, and the 1968 trailer with new subtitles. It is stated to be locked to region 1 on its packaging and Discotek's website, but was discovered to be compatible with all regions. This is the first U.S. release of the movie in its original Japanese version, and the first release of its English dub on disc. Unlike the Optimum DVD release, it has not been converted to 50 Hz, so does not suffer from ghosting.
On January 21, 2015, the upscaled Blu-ray Disc edition of the movie was included in
Walt Disney Studios Japan
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...
's ''The Complete Works of Isao Takahata'' boxset, which contains ten of the director's films. This version is identical to Toei's standalone BD release.
On March 28, 2017,
Discotek Media
Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series.
Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...
released the film as ''Horus, Prince of the Sun'' on Blu-ray Disc for Northern America. This release includes the original Japanese audio and the AIP English dub as well as commentaries, interviews and trailers and is locked to region A.
The AIP library was eventually purchased by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
, which had aired the film as ''Little Norse Prince'' on U.S. television. MGM licensed out the uncut English dub made for ''Little Norse Prince'' as an audio option on the Discotek Media DVD and BD releases, and the AIP version has been available on many video streaming websites in Northern America including
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
, and
Amazon Video
Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pri ...
as of 2015.
References
External links
*
*
Listing on GhibliWiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hols Prince Of The Sun
1968 films
1968 anime films
1968 directorial debut films
1960s fantasy adventure films
Adventure anime and manga
American International Pictures films
Animated adventure films
Discotek Media
Films directed by Isao Takahata
Japanese animated fantasy films
Japanese fantasy adventure films
Toei Animation films
Toei Company films