The world of anime is truly vast, whether it be for TV or for film. While we have seen anime become very popular throughout the world, many of the releases we see are for relatively recent titles. This is unsurprising, the same principle holds true for most media, but I’d love to see more anime films from throughout anime history released over here (for clarification, I live in Ireland which uses the DVDs and Blu-Rays released by UK distributors).
The film that inspired the topic of this article, Panda and the Magic Serpent, also known as The Tale of the White Serpent, was originally released in Japan in 1958. This film was animated by Toei Animation and is based on the Chinese tale “Legend of the White Snake”. The story follows a character named Xu-Xian who falls in love with Bai-Niang. Believing Bai-Niang to be an evil spirit, a Buddhist priest called Fa-Hai separates them and Xu-Xian’s two pandas set out to find Bai-Niang.
Looking at some clips from the film, it is quite likely that many anime fans will be surprised by the animation. Panda and the Magic Serpent was heavily influenced by the animation of Disney and features more fluid movement than most anime. While quite different, the film has had an enormous influence on anime as a whole with legendary anime director Rintaro serving as an in between animator on the film and the famous Hayao Miyazaki stating that he “wound up choosing to become an animator” because of the film.
The next film I would like to see released would be the 1985 anime film, Night on the Galactic Railroad. For those of you lucky enough to be living in North America, you can already pick up a copy of this film from Discotek Media. This film is based on the book of the same name by Kenji Miyazawa and follows an anthropomorphic cat as he travels through the Milky Way.
The shots I have seen from this film look unbelievably beautiful and I have heard nothing but good things about the story of the film with Justin Sevakis of Anime News Network describing this film as “one of the most deeply moving and compelling stories ever put to animation.”
The final film that I would like to discuss was actually produced as an OVA rather than for cinema. Angel’s Egg was also released in 1985 and was a collaboration between Mamoru Oshii of Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor fame and Yoshitaka Amano, known for his art for Final Fantasy and Vampire Hunter D franchises.
The film features very little dialogue and is quite abstract with even Mamoru Oshii himself confessing that he does not know what the film is about. Nonetheless, it has been described as being an incredibly beautiful film with many interpretations and meanings and I would love to get the chance to watch it someday.
We have seen some releases lately of historically important anime films such as Momotaro Sacred Sailors by Anime Ltd as well as the Animerama Trilogy through both Third Window Films and Anime Ltd. I can only hope that this trend continues and that more of these films get released in the future. Let me know what anime films you’d like to see released and if you have seen any of the films I have discussed.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk and amazon.com for all of your needs!