HAKUJADEN (1958, Taiji Yabushita, Movie)

JPN: Hakujaden, "The White Snake" / AKA: Legend of the White Serpent; The White Snake Enchantress; Panda and the Magic Serpent / DIR: Taiji Yabushita / SCR: Sochi Yashiro, Taiji Yabushita / DES: Akira Okuwara; Yasuji Mori / ART: Kazuo Kusano; Koiji Maeba / ANI: Yasuo Otsuka; Gisaburo Sugii; Kazuko Nakamura; Reiko Okuyama / MUS: Masayoshi Ikeda / PRD: Toei Dôga. 1h 15m

This was the first color Animation Feature of Japan and the first japanese animation to be released in USA. It bringed Toei Dôga some fame on the West, and probed that producing animation for theater release was commercially viable. It is loosely based on a Chinese legend: The legend of the White Snake; but really there are multiple versions of this core myth in all asian cultures. Here, a young boy, Xu-Xian pets a White Snake, but his parents force them to separate. The Snake is really a Yôkai, the haunted spirit of a woman named Bai Suzhen. She has fallen in love for the boy and will continue to search for him. The years past and finally, the handsome Xu-Xian and the beautiful Bai Suzhen - yes...in human form - meet again. But a priest (a bonzo monk) named Fa Hai in charged of expelting all the bad spirits from the Earth will try to kill the snake Yôkai... ///

As a teenager, Hayao Miyazaki watched this movie; and once said that the innocence and simplicity of it, produced such a profound impression on him, that made him want to become an animator. And the animation is very simple indeed, but beautiful: flawless artisanic handicraft. The background art is a little bit exotic (because we are in China) and the character design looks like it has been inspired from ancient Chinese painting stamps. The influence of the american cartoon it is also felt, specially with the design of the little cute animals. In the climatic duel, Bai Suzhen and the priest, both literally float in the sky, throwing each other supernatural lightning atacks: a scene that seems like one of the fights in many contemporary anime Shônen pieces. Eventually the priest will erase Bai Suzhen, sending her to the spirits world. She will fly through space and time over the milky way geting in front of Kamisama, trading him her inmortality for a human body and a mortal life near Xu-Xian. So, this fantasy piece, esentially is a romantic story; Love can overcome anything, even death. (by pelida77)

Basado en una leyenda China. Un jovencito, Xu-Xian, compra una serpiente blanca como mascota, pero sus padres le obligan a devolverla. La serpiente es una mujer (una Yōkai en realidad), la bella Bai-Nyang; se ha enamorado de su amo y no cesará de buscarle. Años después se produce el ansiado reencuentro. Pero un fanático monje encargado de expulsar los malos espíritus que pueblan la Tierra, quiere matar a la serpiente.  ///  Este fue el primer film de animación japonesa a color. Hayao Miyazaki conoció esta película de joven; y alguna vez aseguró que su inocencia y simpleza, produjeron tan fuerte impresión en él, que lo decidieron finalmente a convertirse en animador. El duelo entre el sacerdote y la Yōkai es bien japonés y hasta parece tomado de un animé moderno. La calidad de la animación es de primera (trabajo artesanal impecable); el diseño de los escenarios tiene algún toque exótico por ubicarse la historia en China (el diseño de los personajes, parece tomado de estampas chinas). Aunque la influencia del cartoon también es clara (especialmente en los animalitos). Le atrajo a Toei Dōga algo de fama en Occidente. Además de ser una muy bella película, comprobó que la animación local para ser estrenada en teatros era comercialmente viable. (by pelida77)

4/4 RAR Parts

MKV / 696 MB / 1h 15m / Audio: Jap / Sub: Eng - Ita
Video: MPEG-4 / 640x480 (4:3) / 1198 Kbps / 23.976 fps / 0.156 Qf
Audio: MP3 / 48.0 KHz / 64.0 Kbps

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