Publisher: Eastern Star (Discotek, USA)Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 108 mins
Production Date: 1981
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
Story Outline: The goddess of fire and the god of water were a brother and sister living happily together creating warm mist. However Algorac, god of the winds grew jealous of their relationship and began spreading rumours in order to split them apart. His tactic works, and both are separated. A civil war soon breaks out, but cool heads prevail, but brother and sister live separately from each other, with their subjects barred from entering the enemy’s kingdom. Some years later, Prince Sirius becomes heir to the Sea Kingdom on his sixteenth birthday. After venturing into the forbidden Fire Kingdom, he meets Princess Malta, heir to the Fire Kingdom. Malta is intrigued with Sirius, and soon love blossoms between the two. Inevitability they are found out and are both punished by their parents. However there is a glimmer of hope for the couple as a once in 90 year event is about to take place.
Mini Review: A lot of children’s animated Japanese films are a cut above what is produced in the west. Here’s another example. While very little of note was being produced in Hollywood in terms of animated films in the early 1980’s, this film really stands out. Produced by Sanrio, who are most famous for Hello Kitty and the animated versions of Tezuka’s “Unico”, this film is clearly heavily influenced by Disney. The animation and attention to detail almost surpasses a lot of Disney’s animation of the time period. The key difference however is how the realities of life, in particular death, is portrayed. Whereas a typical western children’s film often treats it’s intended audience as drooling idiots, Japanese film makers generally don’t talk down to their audience. As I was watching the film I really wondered why this and similar films weren’t given more attention in the west. When I saw the fate of some of the characters, I then realised why. The major downside to this film is its length. I think maybe 10 minutes could have been trimmed. Also some of the secondary and background characters seem really out of place and way too childish compared to others in the film (a lot seemed there for one off gags). However the story (yeah, it’s “Romeo and Juliet”, but it exceptionally well done), the characters and beautifully choreographed animation won me over. That was something I didn’t really expect. This film deserves a respectable 7.5 out of 10.
Remaining Backlog: 19 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).
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