Wanpaku Ōji No Orochi Taiji
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is a 1963 Japanese animated
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...
directed by Yūgo Serikawa and scripted by Ichirō Ikeda and Takashi Iijima. It is the sixth feature produced by
Toei Animation is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including '' Sally the Witch'', '' GeGeGe no Kitarō'', '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...
(then Tōei Dōga), and was released in Japan on March 24, 1963. Multiple notable individuals worked on the film, including supervising animator Yasuji Mori, animators Yasuo Ōtsuka and Yōichi Kotabe (who made his debut as a key animator on the film, though he is inaccurately credited on screen an in between artist) and
assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...
s Isao Takahata and Kimio Yabuki. The score was composed by Akira Ifukube. It features distinctively
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
, abstracted character, background and color design. The film was well received and is considered one of the very best of the early Tōei Animation features, with praise for its music and visuals. It placed 10th in the list of the 150 best animated films and series of all time compiled by
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
's Laputa Animation Festival from an international survey of animation staff and critics in 2003.


Plot

The film tells the story of the deity Susanoo (as a cute boy), whose mother,
Izanami , formally referred to with the honorific , is the creator deity of both creation and death in Japanese mythology, as well as the Shinto mother goddess. She and her brother-husband Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of primordial ...
, has died. He is deeply hurt by the loss of his mother but his father,
Izanagi Izanagi (イザナギ/伊邪那岐/伊弉諾) or Izanaki (イザナキ), formally referred to with a divine honorific as , is the creator deity (''kami'') of both creation and life in Japanese mythology. He and his sister-wife Izanami are the ...
, tells him that his mother is now in heaven. Despite Izanagi's warnings, Susanoo eventually sets off to find her. Along with his companions, Akahana (a little talking
rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...
) and Titanbō (a strong but friendly giant from the Land of Fire), Susanoo overcomes all obstacles in his long voyage. He eventually comes to the
Izumo Province was an Old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province is in the Chūgoku region. History During the early Kofun period (3rd century) this reg ...
, where he meets Princess Kushinada, a little girl whom he becomes friends with (he also thinks that she is so beautiful that she looks like his mother). Kushinada's family tells Susanoo that their other seven daughters were sacrificed to the fearsome eight-headed serpent, the
Yamata no Orochi Yamata no Orochi (ヤマタノオロチ, also written as 八岐大蛇, 八俣遠呂智 or 八俣遠呂知) is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed serpent that appears in Japanese mythology. Both the ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki'' record the ...
. Susanoo is so infatuated with Kushinada that he decides to help her family protect her and slay the Orochi once and for all and he, Akahana, and Bō prepare for the showdown.


Cast

* Morio Kazama as Susanoo * Yukiko Okada as Princess Kushinada * Chiharu Kuri as Akahana * Masato Yamanouchi as Wadatsumi, Kushinada-hime's father *
Kiyoshi Kawakubo was a Japanese voice actor. He was from Yokohama, Japan. Kiyoshi was part of 81 Produce. __TOC__ Notable roles TV drama *''Tokugawa Ieyasu'' (1983) ( Torii Mototada) *''Dokuganryū Masamune'' (1987) (Sirakawa Yoshichika) Anime television * ...
as Titan-bô * Hideo Kinoshita as Tarô / Tsukuyomi * Kinshirô Iwao as Hi no kami (God of Fire)


Production

This film eschewed the soft, rounded look of previous Toei animated features for a more stylized one. It is also one of the few animated films to have music by famed composer Akira Ifukube (the other being the posthumously released '' Tetsujin 28'' film ''Hakuchū no Zangetsu'').


Soundtrack

A symphonic suite of five movements based on the score's cues was created by Ifukube in 2003, the first recording of which was performed by the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Tetsuji Honna and released on
Compact Disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...
by King Records within the same year. Some of the film's music was also reused in the 1st and 32nd episodes, first broadcast in 1972 and 1973 respectively, of the Toei Animation television series '' Mazinger Z''. The film's theme song, , is also composed by Ifukube, with lyrics by Takashi Morishima, and is sung by Setsuko Watanabe. The original,
monaural Monaural sound or monophonic sound (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce so ...
soundtrack recording has been released three times on
Compact Disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...
. The first was a two disc set released by Futureland in 1992, which paired it with a disc of alternate takes and Ifukube's score for
Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...
's
Expo '70 The or Expo '70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, between 15 March and 13 September 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...
exhibit. The second release was part of a ten-disc collection of Toei Animation soundtracks released by
Nippon Columbia , often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK C ...
in 1996; it featured better audio quality but lacked the alternate takes. On May 23, 2018, Japanese record label Cinema-kan released the score for a third time as a remastered, two-disc set, titled The Naughty Prince's Orochi Slaying Original Soundtrack (CINK-51-52). The first disc contains the complete score while the second disc contains alternate takes, sound effects, and trailer music.


Release

The film was distributed in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, under the title ''The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon'', as a matinee feature by
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
, opening January 1, 1964. Its Japanese origin was downplayed, as was standard practice at the time, with William Ross, the director of the English dubbing, credited as director and
Fujifilm , trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...
and Toei's color and widescreen processes rebranded as "MagiColor" and "WonderScope" respectively. The English-dubbed version was also released under several other titles, including ''Prince in Wonderland'' and ''Rainbow Bridge''. The film's plot is based on the
Shintō , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes ...
myth of the storm god Susanoo's battle with the
Yamata no Orochi Yamata no Orochi (ヤマタノオロチ, also written as 八岐大蛇, 八俣遠呂智 or 八俣遠呂知) is a legendary eight-headed and eight-tailed serpent that appears in Japanese mythology. Both the ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki'' record the ...
. Though still highly regarded in animation circles, the film is now little-known outside of them. The film was released 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 ki ...
in Japan in 2002 and reissued in limited quantity in 2008. In 2019, a cropped transfer of the English-dubbed version was released in the United States by Mill Creek Entertainment (under licensed from
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
) as part of the "Pop Culture Bento Box" compilation set, though early copies of the set accidentally omitted the film. On February 5, 2020, Toei released the film on
Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...
in Japan.


Reception

Accolades received by ''The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon'' at the time of its release including being honoured with a Bronze Osella at the
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
and the Ōfuji Noburō Award at the 1963 Mainichi Film Awards and making it into the official recommendations of the Japanese
Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
and the Ministry of Health's Central Child Welfare Council.


Legacy

Genndy Tartakovsky Gennady Borisovich "Genndy" Tartakovsky (; born January 17, 1970) is a Soviet-born American animation, animator, screenwriter, film producer, and film director, director. He is best known as the creator of various animated television series on ...
watched the film and identifies it as a primary influence on the direction and design of his TV series '' Samurai Jack''. Tomm Moore, the director of the Oscar-nominated films '' The Secret of Kells'', '' Song of the Sea'', and '' Wolfwalkers'', has identified the film as a major influence.


See also

*
Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of years of contac ...
* List of animated feature films * List of Japanese films of 1963


References


External links

*
''Wanpaku Ōji no Orochi Taiji''
at the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon, The 1960s adventure films 1960s fantasy films 1963 anime films 1963 films Adventure anime and manga Japanese animated adventure films 1960s children's fantasy films Films scored by Akira Ifukube Animated films based on Japanese myths and legends Japanese animated fantasy films Japanese mythology in anime and manga Japanese fantasy adventure films Toei Animation films Films with screenplays by Ichirô Ikeda Columbia Pictures animated films Columbia Pictures films Animated films about dragons Films directed by Yûgo Serikawa Anime films with original screenplays