Summary
Studio Ghibli - like any great studio - would be nothing without the incredible animators and directors who have defined it, yet when asked to name them, many can only name Hayao Miyazaki. So, while not particularly surprising, it is unfortunate that Masashi Ando, a longtime Ghibli collaborator and prolific animator besides, failed to find more success with his directorial debut,The Deer King.
Released in 2022 and based on the novel series by Nahoko Uehashi,the film was animated by Production I.Gand co-directed by Masayuki Miyaji, the assistant director of 2006’sSpirited Away. The story follows Van, an enslaved warrior who watches over a young girl named Yuna, all while a doctor searches for him, believing his blood to be the key to fighting the disease ravaging the land.
A Reputation That Should Speak For Itself
Ando is a key animator and animation director who has been active since the early 90s, and it can’t be overstated just how impressive his resume is, even beyond his work with Ghibli. Consider the following works and what they have in common:Princess Mononoke,Spirited Away,Tokyo Godfathers,Paprika, andYour Name.
These aresome of the most acclaimed anime filmsof the past three decades. They come from three of the industry’s most illustrious directors and were produced at three of the most recognizable studios in Japan. Crucially, these films are also some of the most popular among Western critics and the mainstream outside the anime community. Best of all? Ando was the animation director for every one of them.
The man has been a defining artist behind the works of Hayao Miyazaki at Ghibli, the late Satoshi Kon at Madhouse,and Makoto Shinkai at CoMix Wave. Even just one of these credits would have been tantalizing enough as an invitation to audiences, but laid out in full, a film fully directed by Ando feels like a recipe for certain success.
It’s not as if this was lost on the marketing team at GKIDS, who took great care to emphasize Ando’s contributions to the medium. And yet, despite all of that, there wasn’t much buzz forThe Deer Kingwhenit got a limited release in 2022. What buzz that did exist, while not without some praise, was mixed.
As Great As It Is,The Deer KingIs A Rushed Epic
The aforementioned logline at the beginning of this piece is the emotional crux upon which most of the audience’s investment rests, but it’s only a fraction of the story’s larger scope. Being an adaptation of a four-volume novel series,The Deer Kingdoesn’t lend itself easily to a film version, at least not in the way it was told here. It opens on a title crawl that throws far too much information at the audience too quickly.
In the aftermath of a war, the Empire of Zol has emerged victorious and now controls the land of rival nation Aquafa, save for a contingent that is keen on rebelling. At the same time, a mysterious plague known as the mittsual has swept the land, carried by ossam dogs. Strangely, only those of Zolean descent appear to be affected by the disease,stoking tensions between the nationsonce again, as it is suspected to be a curse placed by a defeated foe.
While all of that sounds very succinct, it is a learned comprehension accumulated over a runtime wrought with moments of intense confusion. There is so much essential context that is lost, and for a film that excels in visual storytelling, a rushed text scroll simply doesn’t cut it. It makes it hard to figure out which characters are on which side, turning what should be clear into a mystery - one that distracts from the stronger parts of this story.
The film truly begins in a salt mine, where former soldier Van has been imprisoned and fights off one of the ossam to rescue a young girl, getting bit in the process. However, he does not become sick but rather gains strange powers connecting him to nature. It’s a strong introduction with almost no dialog.This tale of father and daughteris the very heart of this story.
Enter, Hossam Yugraul, a well-respected doctor searching for Van in hopes of synthesizing his blood to produce a cure. Hossal’s story is one of the more compelling threads in the film, centered around solving the mystery of the mittsual. Despite the virus being presented as magical, Hossal goes to great lengths to prove that it isn’t a curse and that there is a medical solution. It’s a clever plot that would have been even more so if there was more time to tell it.
Meanwhile, the conspirators of the rebellion seek to reach Van first to prevent their plan from being thwarted. They send forth Sae, a skilled tracker who comes to be an unlikely ally to Van and Hossam, rounding out the adventuring party. Unfortunately,because the political conflict is the glue connecting theseinterpersonal narratives, the expedient introduction wounds this narrative before it can even start.
The flaws are at their most apparent as the film reaches its climax, where the political narrative dominates the story to such a degree that it’s hard to become as invested. There is a rich lore that one can feel beneath the surface, but there’s hardly enough time to unearth it. In the end, it keeps Van’s story from feeling complete, because the destination of his journey was never earned. Despite this, the film somehowfeels worth watching and revisiting.
Why It’s Worth Checking Out
The animation ofThe Deer Kingis magnificent, but it is magnificent in subtle ways that speak to the underlying appeal of a lot of Ghibli films and other huge mainstream anime successes. Scenes are directed in such a way that there’s almost always something moving, be it a grand gesture or a subtle twitch, and certain scenes go above and beyond to achieve this.
When Hossal and his companion Makoukan arrive at the salt mine early on, great care is put into every movement. How they dismount their horses, how Hossal ducks beneath the reins as he passes them to an attendant, and how Makoukan cranes his neck and ushers someone over to take his horse. It’s arguably “extra,” but the feel of how characters move is something only seen ina particular kind of anime filmthat’s becoming exceedingly rare.
Of course, good animation can’t fix the flaws with this story, but it lends undeniable credence to the parts of the story thatdowork. For instance, the section of the story where Van and Yuna live among a group of villagers in the woods. So much detail is put into breathing life into this community, creating an escapist fantasy as therapeutic to observe as Ghibli’s.
With The Boy and the Heron having been released, audiences will no doubt be revisiting Ghibli’s greatest hits, but perhapsThe Deer Kingis worthy of being added to those watchlists. While not a Ghibli film, Masashi Ando’s impeccable directing carries the spirit of that studio with confidence. Even if this film is destined to fade into obscurity, it would be a shame if Ando weren’t given another chance to helm another, because he’s certainly proved that he deserves to.
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