In the aftermath of a brutal war, former soldier Van toils in a mine controlled by the ruling empire.
One day, his solitary existence is upended when a pack of wild dogs carrying a deadly and incurable
disease attack, leaving only Van and a young girl named Yuna as survivors. Finally free, the pair seek
out a simple existence in the countryside but are pursued by nefarious forces. Intent on protecting
Yuna at all costs, Van must uncover the true cause of the plague ravaging the kingdom—and its possible
cure.
(Source: GKIDS)
Note: The film received an early premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on
June 14, 2021.
Nahoko Uehashi is no stranger to having her work adapted into anime. For anyone not in the know, Nahoko Uehashi is a writer who's published a lot of fantasy novels in Japan, all of which have received fairly critical acclaim. In fact, two of her novel series, _Seirei no Moribito_ and _Beast Player Elin_ (or _Kemono no Souja Erin_), have both been adapted into anime, the former in 2007 and the latter in 2009. I've seen the anime for Moribito and I absolutely adore it, but I haven't seen Elin yet, even though I own the first novel in that series and haven't read it yet. But it's safe to say that Uehashi has a pretty strong pedigree, both in the literature and anime world. So when I found out another one of her works was due for an anime film, called _The Deer King_, I couldn't wait to see it, even after reviews for it started coming out that pointed out that the movie has some pretty significant flaws. Because lets face it, these days, pure fantasy stories that actually give a damn about their worlds, characters, and stories are becoming fewer and fewer in number. Thanks a lot, isekai trend. After having seen it now...I'm admittedly rather conflicted, though I do agree with a lot of the reviews for this movie on one thing: _The Deer King_ really should have been a TV series, like Moribito and Elin were. Van was once head of a group of soldiers defending his homeland from the Zol Empire, which was looking to assimilate it into their territory. But after he loses his family to an epidemic, Van falls into despair and is taken as a slave to work in a salt mine. One night, a pack of strange dogs attack the mine, and a mysterious illness, the same one that killed his family, breaks out, killing everyone except him and a young toddler, Yuna. Van manages to take the opportunity to escape and takes Yuna with him. Elsewhere, the Kingdom of Aquafa is working tirelessly to study the Black Wolf Fever and figure out some way to cure it, and the thing is, it only seems to afflict people from the Zol Empire. A priest-doctor, Hossal, decides to risk his life to search for a cure, encountering Van as Yuna gets kidnapped by the mysterious wolves. Van, Hossal, and a woman named Sae—who was sent to kill Van by her country's orders—have to work together to both save Yuna and prevent their world from falling into a war. If there's one thing I can absolutely say about _The Deer King_, is that it is DENSE. By that I mean it contains a LOT of content that's stuffed into two hours. If you thought _Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms_ was dense and full of content, then _The Deer King_ has it beat. You have a guy and a little girl becoming a family, tensions between empires, a mysterious illness, something about an emperor visiting, and so on. The movie really goes all in on trying to have as much content as possible, moving from one plot point and set of characters to the next, leaving barely any time for the audience to catch their breath. On the one hand, this means there's always something going on, so you won't find yourself bored. On the other hand, _The Deer King_ really tries to tell a huge story in the span of two hours, making its pacing fairly fast as it does so, but two hours is not enough to cover all that the movie tries to. It's incredibly hard to keep up with the various characters and plot points, and every 5 minutes, I kept asking "Wait, who's this? What's happening? Huh? What's this about the emperor's eyes? Slow down, movie!" It basically has the same problem as _The Heike Story_, in that it tries to juggle a huge amount of events and characters in a time frame that's just too small to handle the weight of its source material. This is why I say _The Deer King_ should have been a TV series, that way it would have had more time to flesh everything out and let the audience at least process what's going on. _Beast Player Elin_ had 50 episodes, and Moribito had 26 episodes (and only covered a couple volumes of the novels, at that). Because of this, most, if not all the characters, feel more like props moving the story forward rather than actual characters. Now don't get me wrong, the main three adult characters that we follow have some pretty solid characterization. Out of all of them, I found Hossal to be the most interesting, with his desire to cure the Black Wolf Fever but being so disconnected from the outside world that he can't even gather firewood properly and having to reconcile his beliefs in science with faith and religion, integrating them into his worldview in order to find answers. Plus, the movie is also pretty good at letting the characters' actions speak for themselves, rather than simply explaining who these characters are outright. One scene involving an evil Zolian prince has him deliberately squishing blood out of his infected leg and demanding an Aquafan sage lick it, an action that not only establishes his sadistic and evil personality, but the power dynamic between the imperialist Zolians and the conquered Aquafans more than any monologues could ever hope to do. Even more subtle things like Van reaching through his cage to comfort Yuna show so much more than just relying solely on dialogue, and these little touches are present throughout the entire movie, something director Masashi Ando is apparently well known for. So what the movie lacks in more overt characterization, it makes up for in its clever usage of "show, don't tell." That being said, I didn't find Yuna to be that compelling of a character. She was mainly there to be a cutesy toddler and a damsel in distress, and since she's toddler-aged, it makes sense that she can't really have a proactive role in the story, but I wish the movie could have had her be more than just a damsel. While I can definitely respect Ando for wanting to make do with the allotted time that he had, and what he's able to accomplish is definitely laudable, but it doesn't change the fact that two hours is not enough time to carry the weight of so much material, especially when taking the fast pacing into account. Plus, the final villain at the end just came out of nowhere and felt tacked on. The actual animation itself is pretty stellar for a movie. Production IG is no stranger to both making movies and Uehashi's work. They did make the anime adaptations of both Moribito and Elin, after all. Their animation is always very consistent depending on the content they're making, and honestly, _The Deer King_'s character designs are very reminiscent of Moribito. Every character has their own distinct look without looking generic or overdesigned, the backgrounds are rich and detailed, and the character motion is pretty smooth. Not KyoAni smooth, but it does its job decently well. Considering that Ando previously worked with Ghibli, there are certainly a lot of parallels in terms of the backgrounds and character designs. I do have to admit, I barely paid much attention to the soundtrack, as I was expending more energy on trying to keep up with the movie than with admiring the soundtrack. The OST is nice enough, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about it. Maybe I'll have more to say about it if I rewatch the movie once it comes out on home video or something (Which, as of this writing, just got confirmed for a BR release set for October 18th! Thanks, GKids!). So yeah, Masashi Ando's film debut, while noble and timely, couldn't quite carry the weight of its massive source material. That being said, this is a pretty solid movie on its own merits, and I'd gladly watch this over all the bland isekai anime that rehash the same premises over and over again. So for all its flaws, _The Deer King_ proves that high fantasy anime aren't dead yet. Feel free to check it out if you're looking for a fantasy with a bit more bite to it.
_The Deer King_ is a Japanese animated feature directed by Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji, both alumni of Studio Ghibli. Not surprisingly, it does provide echoes to _Princess Mononoke_, what with the protagonist being a warrior who rides a deer. This film, sadly, doesn't match up to that masterpiece, but it still has a warm, tender heart that outshines its flaws. Still, one can't help but notice the similarities between both films as well as Hayao Miyazaki's earlier _Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind_, both of which are tales of two kingdoms at war, and someone caught inbetween. In this tale, the kingdoms of Zol and Aquafa are at war, but unlike the aforementioned masterpieces, this subplot feels a bit more like an afterthought, is it does cause for some confusion. (In all fairness, part of it comes down to the fact that this is Ando's first feature as a director, and this film is based on a series of Japanese light novels. Squeezing it into one film might cause some confusion.) The real plot concerns Van, a former soldier who lost his wife and child to an epidemic years ago. In the film's opening scene we see him working in a salt mine overseen by cruel slavemasters. One evening, a pack of black wolves attacks and kills everyone, but Van and a recently orphaned baby girl named Yuna, are the only ones to survive despite being bitten. Adopting the child as his own, Van swears to keep her safe. As he ventures to start a new life, he becomes involved in another struggle. The wolves, you see, are infected with a disease called "Black Wolf Fever", which soon threatens everyone in the empire. (Easy to almost call this film a parallel to the COVID pandemic, as well as the divisive reaction to combating it. There is one scene in which a character refuses to take an effective vaccine to be cured because he "doesn't want his royal blood contaminated.") Enter Hossale, a respected and compassionate doctor (this film's Fauci), who is under the belief that Van's own blood (infected with the disease which somehow gives him power) might provide a cure. The core storyline is very interesting and compelling, as are its cast of characters. Young Yuna in particular steals every scene, but it's hard not to appreciate Van and Hossale for their honorable characteristics. A tracker from the Zol who at first tries to kill Van for vengeful purposes, named Sae, is also interesting in that she undergoes a transformational arc. That said, there is at least one villainous character who appears toward the end. (We can tell he's evil because he has a smirk on his face and he dresses in black.) Less successful, however, is the handling of the kingdoms' war. As this two-hour film progresses, new characters are rapidly introduced, to the point where it's a bit tough to keep track of which one is which. As mentioned, this is one of the challenges of squeezing a multi volume story into a full length feature. Sometimes it is done successfully and seamlessly, like _A Silent Voice_. But in this film it does cause for its story to become more and more complicated. This is one of those films you might have to view more than once to get a full grasp of the whole story. This fault hampers from _The Deer King_ from becoming the classic it aspires to be, which may disappoint viewers expecting another _Princess Mononoke_. But that's not to say that this movie isn't an enjoyable experience. On the contrary. Aside from having a compelling core story and appealing leads, the film is gorgeous to look at, with rich, pastel colors and lavishly drawn animated that does at times look like it could come from the House of Totoro. The film was actually animated at Production I.G., better known for works such as _Ghost in the Shell_, _Jin-Roh: The Last Brigade_, as well as the underrated _A Letter To Momo_. These films have been heralded for their strong production values, and this is no exception. The film is also backed by both a lovely score supplied by Harumi Fuuki, and another solid dub from the folks at NYAV Post, with Ray Chase, Erica Shroeder, and Griffin Puatu all turning in reasonably good performances. The showstealer, though, is young Luciana VanDette as Yuna. I always liked how these guys have made the effort to cast children whenever they can, adding a touch of tangibleness to their work. Be warned, though, that aside from its sometimes overcluttered plot, _The Deer King_ does have its share of gruesome violence. There are scenes in which characters get shot with arrows, dead bodies, blood spilling, and at one point toward the end, a character's arm is cut off. Thankfully, all the above are brief and not overdone. But the film still earns its R rating. (Truth be told, however, it's no more so than the PG-13 rated _Princess Mononoke_, which has a similar amount of brief violence.) So is _The Deer King_ a classic, must-see film? Probably not, but it is a fairly pleasant way to spend two hours, and being a movie that feels tied to the times we are living in, it couldn't be more fortunate. Had the story been tightened up a little bit and the confusing plot-strands smoothed out, this film would easily get my highest rating. As it is, though, it still provides solid entertainment value.