THE GREAT ADVENTURE OF HORUS, PRINCE OF THE SUN

An Anime Classic Returns to the Big Screen

Venue(s): Yujiku Asagaya
Jan. 27 (Mon), 2020: 14:30; Jan. 30 (THu): 16:15; Feb. 1 (Sat): 19:40; Feb. 4 (Tue): 18:20; Feb. 7 (Fri): 18:20; Feb. 8 (Sat): 12:10; Feb. 12 (Wed): 13:50
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Official website: https://www.yujikuasagaya.com/film/東映動画まつり2020%E3%80%80長編漫画のすばらしき世界/
Theater website: www.yujikuasagaya.com
Theater website: www.yujikuasagaya.com/ac
Tariff: General: ¥1,500, Students: ¥1,300, Senior: ¥1,100, Members: ¥1,000, Thursday special: ¥1,000

Title: 太陽の王子　ホルスの大冒険 (Taiyo no Oji Horus no Daiboken)
Director: Isao Takahata (高畑勲)
Duration: 82 min

Specialty theater Yujiku Asagaya is presenting a six-film package of hits from Toei Doga, the precursor to today’s Toei Animation Studio, which amply demonstrates why it was the Japanese animation pioneer in the formative years after the war. Unfortunately, there's only one film with English subtitles, but there are some new digital remasters having their first screenings, so they’re all worth a (re-)look.

Among the remasters are Japan’s first full-color, feature-length animated film, Tale of the White Serpent (1958), from Yasuji Mori and Akira Daikubara; and Kimio Yabuki’s action-comedy-musical The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots (1969).

The English-subtitled film is Isao Takahata’s 1968 feature debut, The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (released to US television as The Little Norse Prince), a landmark in Japanese animation. Often considered the unofficial first Ghibli film, it marked the beginning of a partnership that would last for the next 50 years across numerous animation studios. Takahata’s core production team included Yasuo Otsuka (animation director), Hayao Miyazaki (scene design, key animation), and Yasuji Mori, Reiko Okuyama and Yoichi Kotabe all contributing key animation. The team collaborated on designs, story ideas and storyboards; all but Takahata (who is not an animator) contributed to character designs. (Miyazaki and Takahata would continue to work together before founding Studio Ghibli in 1985.)

Horus is the story of a young Norwegian prince who pulls a splinter from the shoulder of an ancient stone giant named Mogue and discovers that it’s actually a rusty sword with special powers. He soon seeks revenge for the devastation wrought on his birthplace by the terrifying ice devil Grunwald and his silver wolves, and meets a young maiden who may or may not be who she says she is…

As for its place in history, Wikipedia puts it best: “Vivid, visceral and violent, yet charged with kinetic energy, Horus introduced a number of technical and stylistic innovations, and established a new paradigm of Japanese animation: adult storytelling, psychological realism, visual complexity, overt political and social themes, and stylistic violence. This is the first Japanese animated feature to successfully disrupt the Walt Disney paradigm, and it greatly expanded the possibilities of the medium beyond ‘children's cartoons.’ Unsuccessful in its original 1968 theatrical run, Horus, Prince of the Sun is today recognized as a milestone in the history of anime.”

Yujiku Asagaya

 

 

 

Japanese Title: 太陽の王子　ホルスの大冒険
(Taiyo no Oji Horus no Daiboken)
Director: Isao Takahata (高畑勲)
Japanese with English subtitles | 82 min
Venue: Yujiku Asagaya
Dates: Jan. 27 (Mon), 2020: 14:30; Jan. 30 (THu): 16:15; Feb. 1 (Sat): 19:40; Feb. 4 (Tue): 18:20; Feb. 7 (Fri): 18:20; Feb. 8 (Sat): 12:10; Feb. 12 (Wed): 13:50