Animation is one of those filmmaking specialties where you do work yourself up from the ranks. An animation director will tell the story of working for a company or directors in a job of drawing the in-between hand motions or even just washing paint off botched cells as they learned the ropes before being trusted with a feature film. Masashi Ando worked his way up with several of the greats in Japanese animation. He was accepted at Studio Ghibli after taking an exam. This led to an in-between job on Only Yesterday. But he wasn’t stuck in that gig for long. He became a favorite of Hayao Miyazaki. This led to him performing character design and chief animation on Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. He had a falling out with Miyazaki and ended up working for the legendary Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue) on Toyko Godfathers and Paprika. He returned to Studio Ghibili for The Tale of Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There (he co-wrote the script). He contributed to the box office sensation Your Name by Makoto Niitsu. After nearly 30 years working on memorable films, it was time for Ando to step up and direct. He teamed up with Masayuki Miyaji to adapt Nahoko Uehashi’s novel The Deer King. The duo had worked together at Studio Ghibli on Spirited Away. This time they were both in charge and not merely working their way up.
Van (Shinichi Tsutsumi) is forced to serve in a mining camp after being part of a group of elite warriors that took on the invading Zol empire. He gets into trouble with his captors and ends up in a cell deep inside the ground. This is almost a good thing as the camp is attacked by a pack of infected wolves. Everyone in the camp gets bitten, infected and dies except one. A little girl Yuna (Hisui Kimura) is unharmed. Van is bitten, but instead of death, he’s given a supernatural strength. This comes in handy as him and Yuna flee the wolves and look for a safe place to live. This isn’t an easy thing to do since the Zol and wolves seems to be lurking everywhere. There are even people on his trail trying to figure out how he survived the Black Wolf Plague that is spreading swiftly around the area.
The Deer King is an epic yet intimate tale of this world with invading armies and a deadly disease. Even when things zoom out to show major confrontations between armies, the story comes back to Van and Yuna’s relationship. He is a man who has lost his own wife and child and has a chance to protect his adopted daughter against so much.
Ando and Miyaji have brought so much they’ve learned over the years to the creation of their first feature as directors. It’s a beautiful film that maintains show they are worthy of moving up to the top.
There is a bit of surprise that the MPAA rated The Deer King with an R. Somehow the animated violence was too much for their tender eyeballs. Nothing in the film feels more graphic than a PG-13 movie. The film was in production before the COVID-19 Pandemic. Yet it addressed the outbreak with a debate within the film in how to deal with the Black Wolf Fever. There are characters that see it as God’s will to choose the true survivors. They see no point in man trying to come up with a cure. They could easily have been pundits on certain cable news networks. The Deer King is a story for these times.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The 1080p image shows the care that went into the animation. The audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix in both the original Japanese and the English dub. The movie is subtitled in English and Spanish.
Bringing the English Dub to Life (13:57) introduces us to the English language cast and how they approach their roles. They discuss how making the new soundtrack during the pandemic struck home since there’s a plague in the home. One actor recorded his lines at home in his closet.
Interview with Director Masashi Ando (7:43) goes into how in animation, you are always creating from a blank slate. The filmmakers have to create every detail that appears on the screen. Ando goes into how his previous projects made him ready to be the director. His inflluences in creating the world of The Deer King included movies by George Miller, Ang Lee and Kevin Costner.
Introduction by Masashi Ando (2:01) includes him discussing how he adapted the novel and brough in a few new elements. He talks about the plague element in the film.
Design Gallery (3:47) has the various character model sheets used in the making of the movie.
Trailers (5:13) has the early the teaser trailers and more.
Shout! Factory and GKIDS present The Deer King. Directed by Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji. Screenplay by Taku Kishimoto. Starring Shin’ichi Tsutsumi, Ryoma Takeuchi, Anne Watanabe, Hisui Kimura, Yoshito Yasuhara & Tesshô Genda. Rating: Rated R. Running Time: 114 minutes. Release Date: October 18, 2022.
