Taiyō no Ōji: Horusu no Daibōken

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Anime movie
title Taiyō no Ōji: Horusu no Daibōken
Original title 太陽 の 王子 ホ ル ス の 大 冒 険
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
Publishing year 1968
Studio Tōei animation
length 82 minutes
Rod
Director Isao Takahata
script Masajirō Seki
production Hiroshi Ōkawa
music Michio Mamiya
synchronization

Taiyō no Ōji: Horusu no Daibōken ( Japanese 太陽 の 王子 ホ ル ス の 大 冒 険 ) is an anime film from 1968. It was the directorial debut of Isao Takahata , who later became famous for his films produced by Studio Ghibli . As Hols: Prince of the Sun , Little Norse Prince Valiant or under other titles, the anime was also one of the first to reach a larger audience in North America and Europe.

action

The boy Horus grows up as a fisherman's son with his father. One day when he was fighting wolves with an ax, he was saved by a giant rock. Horus pulls out a sword that was stuck deep in his shoulder. It is the magic sword of the sun. With this Horus can call the giant, should he need him again.

On his deathbed, Horus' father tells that they once fled from another village that was attacked by King Grunwald. At the last request of his father, Horus makes his way to his place of birth. He was attacked by Grunwald while he was traveling and almost died. By luck, Horus survived and was able to help a village that was suppressed by Grundwald. Now the king sends his sister Hilda to dissuade Horus from his journey. Grunwald's subordinate Drago also tries in vain to defeat Horus with a ruse. But Horus continues his journey and finally realizes Hilda's identity. Finally she turns against her brother and together with her, the village and the sword of the sun, Grunwald can be defeated.

production

The film was made at Studio Tōei Animation under the direction of Isao Takahata . Production began in 1965, with Yasuo Ōtsuka as animation director, Kazuo Fukazawa as scriptwriter and Masajirō Seki as screenwriter. Hayao Miyazaki created the designs, which were implemented by Yōichi Kotabe as the artistic director for the backgrounds and Mataji Urata as the character designer. Hiroshi Ōkawa was responsible as producer, Michio Mamiya composed the music .

For Isao Takahata, the film was his first directorial work; Yasuo Ōtsuka had been his mentor until then. In the Toei Animators Union, Takahata met Hayao Miyazaki, who now wanted to support him with his first project. Since the mid-1960s was increasingly producing in low quality for the emerging television, the three had decided to take as much time for the film as was necessary in order to achieve the highest possible quality. As a result, production took three years and the costs were well above the budget.

As usual with anime, the film is produced as a limited animation . This is also used as a stylistic device through the quick assembly of still images in action scenes or the tracking shot over the drawing of a landscape to establish a scene.

synchronization

role Japanese voice actors ( seiyū )
Horus Hisako Okata
Hilda Etsuko Ichihara
Grunwald Mikijiro Hira
Piria Asako Akazawa
Ganko Eijirō Tōno

publication

The film was released in Japanese cinemas on July 21, 1968 and could be viewed over ten days. The box office income was small, especially less than the cost of the film. In an English adaptation by Fred Ladd , the film was shown several times on American television in the 1970s and became known there. There were also French, Spanish, Italian and Russian translations, some of which were shown several times on television and appeared on DVD or VHS. So the film was also known under the titles Hols: Prince of the Sun , The Little Norse Prince , Little Norse Prince Valiant and similar. Despite the name Valiant in some titles, there is no reference to Prince Ironheart . However, some licensees wanted to benefit from the popularity of the comic series with this title.

Reception and impact

Because of the film's low commercial success in Japanese cinemas, Isao Takahata, Yasuo Ōtsuka and Hayao Miyazaki should not take on any responsible duties at Toei. Ōtsuka then switched to Studio A-Pro , followed by the other two in 1971.

Thanks to its translations, the film is one of the first animes to gain more international attention and awareness. Julia Nieder calls the film a complete success, a classic and "one of the first real anime" . Thomas Lamarre praises the use of limited animation techniques as a "beautiful, dense and inexpensive way" to create and convey moods. In the Anime Encyclopedia be "smooth animation, well-cut action scenes and charming character designs" praised. In his style, he also had a great influence on the later works of Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, especially at Studio Ghibli . The English translation was very respectful of the work for its time. Changing the plot does not remove the death of an important character.

Patrick Drazen also mentions the high quality of the film and sees the reason for the lack of success at the box office in the short season. This was deliberately set by Toei to prevent the unionists Takahata and Miyazaki from being successful. The reason for the rejection of the film by the studio management could also be the complex plot structure for the time with a multi-layered, important female supporting character, as well as the topic of the fight of a hero and the villagers against an oppressor. This shows references to the Japanese student movement at the time and the labor disputes that had also occurred at Toei some time before and in which the management of the union faced Takahata and Miyazaki.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Patrick Drazen: Anime Explosion! - The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation . Stone Bridge Press, 2003, pp. 255 f.
  2. ↑ a b c German Film Institute - DIF / German Film Museum & Museum of Applied Arts (ed.): Ga-netchû! The Manga Anime Syndrome . Henschel Verlag, 2008, p. 97 f.
  3. ↑ a b German Film Institute - DIF / German Film Museum & Museum of Applied Arts (ed.): Ga-netchû! The Manga Anime Syndrome . Henschel Verlag, 2008, p. 111.
  4. ↑ a b Fred Patten: Watching Anime, Reading Manga - 25 Years of Essays and Reviews . Stone Bridge Press, 2004, pp. 23, 53.
  5. ↑ Information on publications on commercial media at nausicaa.net.
  6. ↑ a b Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy: The Anime Encyclopedia. Revised & Expanded Edition . Berkeley 2006, Stone Bridge Press, p. 371.

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