Horus, Prince of the Sun

[Alderis]

Horus, Prince of the Sun

[html]

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am thrilled to announce we’re returning to the classic films of Toei Doga, and what’s more, we’ll be watching the film that’s generally considered the pinnacle of the era: Isao Takahata’s directorial debut, Horus, Prince of the Sun.

Though even the earliest films of Toei Doga demonstrate the talent of mainstays like Yasuji Mori and Yasuo Otsuka, it was Horus where a new generation of talents really came into their own, including Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. Bonded all the closer by the ongoing labor protests, Horus’ team would create a high water mark in animation that simultaneously served as a broadening of animation’s potential. As Miyazaki would describe it, Horus embodied the world of animation shifting from one of farce to “Chishu Ryu’s world,” widening the medium’s dramatic priorities and opening the door to thoughtful, meditative works that went beyond energetic escapism.

So basically, that strain of inquisitive melancholy that so fascinates me in anime was in many ways forged in the production of Horus, owing largely to Isao Takahata’s unique and far-seeing perspective. It’s the same thoughtful approach that would lend such gravity to his later Ghibli films, that would migrate out to inform generations of future animators, that would ring through to the modern era through the works of artists like Naoko Yamada. Otsuka would happily admit that this turning point was the moment anime as a medium stretched beyond his own ambitions, and that he’d rather “let the director direct, and have fun doing my own thing.” Miyazaki’s description of this change was humble as well, as he admitted that “only Yasuji Mori” understood the essence of Horus was the melancholy girl Hilda, not the adventures of Horus himself.

Even today, anime for the most part constrains itself to stories of adolescent adventure, indulgence, and bravado. But for the productions that reach beyond such topics, that struggle to depict ordinary happiness and everyday melancholy, the substance of lives as they are lived – for those stories, Horus was a guiding star, and a triumph of animation by any standard. Let’s get to it!

Horus, Prince of the Sun

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Oh wow, dynamic action both in the boarding and the animation right from the start. We open on a scene inherently laden with momentum and discord, as the camera pans out from a cliff face towards roiling water, with a flock of birds calling and rising to echo the sense of commotion. From here, wolves and a boy’s feet swiftly rush across the foreground, further amplifying the energy of the scene, as well as creating a distinct sense of depth. Earlier Toei Doga films often seem ornately staged, and can trend towards a flatness of characters in the middle distance against a painted backdrop. Horus immediately pushes against this instinct, creating a sense of cinematic depth in the composition right from the start, and refusing to immediately center characters in the frame such that it feels like the camera is actually struggling to catch up with them – like we’re witnessing hastily documented action that the camera just happened to witness, not a show put on for us specifically

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Horus races across the rocks, slaying one after another of the wolves chasing him. No fanciful, exaggerated action here, just brutal connections of ax and body. Both Horus’ and these wolves’ designs also feel a touch more realistic than the prior standard, further enhancing the immediacy of the action

I believe both Miyazaki and Otsuka worked on this wolf sequence, alongside several of their fellows. The team at Toei Doga had expanded a fair amount at this point, and this film also falls in their two simultaneous productions era

Yeah, I love the rough, thick linework for these wolves, as well as the bold three-tone shading. Everything really pops off the screen

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Also a great clarity of action in the faceoff between Horus and this white wolf – his unique coloration and distinctive expression make it clear that he is the pack’s leader

And as the rope attached to Horus’ ax snaps, the tenor of battle immediately changes, the wolves now swarming to take advantage of this chance. The action feels much like a great martial arts film, with a clarity of narrative progression expressed through the physical actions of the characters

What a tricky signature weapon they’ve given him, too! Animating Horus swinging, releasing, and regaining this ax demands a precise understanding of physical action fundamentals – it’s a perpetual articulation of the “raise and strike with an ax” animation tests these studios employed, except with the added constraint of conveying the sense of momentum inherent in the ax’s trajectory, as well as the force that momentum exerts on Horus’ body

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Holy shit, the scale of this great rock monster! God, every moment of this film is a feast of animation and triumph of ambition – you can really feel the new generation just firing out the gates with everything to prove

The rock golem introduces itself as Maug, the Man of Stone

Love his goofy overall proportions, with a long ovular body and stocky limbs. This guy feels like a Miyazaki design, though he could also be Otsuka. Really, it’s trickier to tell with this film who animated what, as the overall art design is quite different from the modernist aesthetic of Little Prince and Gulliver

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Upon hearing of the “silver wolves,” Maug reflects that “Grunwald has unleashed his henchmen once again.” With animated films so far removed from our own era, there’s a natural tendency to think the drama will feel slow or stiff for modern audiences, but Horus isn’t wasting a single second in establishing its engaging fantasy conflict. And the animation is so goddamn impressive! The peaks of anime are a scattered and eclectic bunch, with shining jewels like Baron Omatsuri or Rainbow Fireflies proving the power of committed teams in a hostile commercial climate

This creature’s design is so playful – its head is basically a large bush with a boulder attached to it

Horus successfully pulls the “splinter” that is a great sword out of Maug’s shoulder

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The sword is the “Sword of the Sun.” Horus was initially based on an Ainu legend, but was transposed to Scandinavia to avoid controversy. Though Takahata’s films are already bristling with social and political commentary, the films he just avoided making were even more incendiary. His followup to Grave of the Fireflies was initially intended to be Border 1939, a film about Japan’s invasion of mainland Asia

Unsurprisingly, Takahata was the one who also convinced Miyazaki that art should serve a greater purpose beyond indulgence and escapism. Both of their careers would stray beyond the playground of animation for its own sake that Otsuka inhabited, as they strove to create art that would teach and inspire, not just entertain. Like Gainax’s founders during the Royal Space Force era, they strove to elevate the medium – a noble but perhaps impossible task, given the inherent market constraints of commercial animation. There will always be artists who strive to make animation that’s thoughtful and transformative in its perspective, but they will likely always be outliers, too

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Horus attempts to swing the sword and immediately eats shit. Simple pleasures, too

Maug tells him that if he can reforge and master the sword, Maug himself will bow before him, and dub him “Prince of the Sun”

He’s even got his own theme song! Horus’ running during this opening sequence again shows careful attention paid to weight and momentum, as he grapples the oversized sword and rests it on his shoulder

A little bear informs Horus that his father is dying. Apparently we’ve still got talking animal companions, though I’m not sure if they’re still handled by Yasuji Mori, considering Mori was also animating Hilda for this film

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I can already sort of sense the tension Miyazaki described, between Takahata’s somber intentions for this narrative’s tone and the bounding energy of the animation itself

Horus’ dying father explains how a devil once tricked humans into fighting amongst themselves and destroying their homes. The depiction of this event seems to once again call back to Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia

The threat is unsurprisingly more nuanced than prior antagonists, with destruction ultimately stemming from man’s cruelty to man

His father says he must join forces with his fellow men, and that if he fights with them he will never have to fear anything

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Horus’ angry expressions remind me of Otsuka’s one critique of the final film: that Horus was always scowling, never smiling. Otsuka’s a pretty funny guy

Great overhead layout with Horus’ tiny hut centered within a vast darkness, emphasizing the isolation and loneliness of this moment. Takahata’s direction feels like a step up for Toei on the whole, and I can sorta guess why – Takahata’s not actually an animator, so he’s directing with an eye for overall cinematic effect first, not simply prioritizing clarity of the animated objects in frame

Horus burns the hut after his father passes. Otsuka’s a deft hand with fire animation, and is actually seen correcting the flames of new animation students in his documentary

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Horus sets off to find his people with his bear companion Koro

Coming ashore on a great beach, the two are attacked by a giant, malevolent crow

Koro’s entrapment in quicksand is impressively animated; whether it’s sand, fire, or water, the effects animation of this film is consistently remarkable

Horus is carried away into a beautifully painted mountain range 

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More impressive layouts as Horus slides down a mountainside, with the camera fixed above him so he’s actually moving into depth as he plummets “away” from us. A difficult trick to accomplish, but the benefits are clear, as we in the audience feel the tension of the distant ground laid out beneath him. A flat profile shot wouldn’t create anything close to the same vertigo-like effect

As Horus throws his ax to drag himself back up the cliff, it is caught by none other than Grunwald himself, flanked by his white wolves! He proposes that Horus become his brother

Cuts between reactions and long profile shots emphasize the danger, how Grunwald literally holds Horus’ life in his hands

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Excellent character acting as Horus refuses his offer. There’s a gritty fury in his eyes that feels unlike the expressiveness of prior Toei Doga heroes; these rounded yet sharper-edged character designs have a real vitality to them

And so Horus plummets from the mountain peak, only to be discovered by a young boy as he floats down a river

Clever trick of shifting perspective versus a static background here, as the river turns in the foreground and Horus begins to diminish in size as he approaches a village in the background

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And he wakes into another layout with a strong sense of place and depth; his resting spot and the wall to his right form a sort of looking glass in the foreground, leading the eye towards the smith in the background. You feel like you could really fall into these compositions in a way that wasn’t true of the more flat (sometimes deliberately so, as in the modernist era) aesthetics of prior Toei films

The fire in the center of the composition further amplifies the sense of depth through the rings of shadows it casts on the various objects within the scene

Horus’ saviors are apparently living under some form of duress, but are certain the strong and courageous Molas will save them

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They state a monstrous pike has settled downstream. Oh shit, we’re getting there! We’re approaching Otsuka’s masterpiece!

A tragic scene as we learn Molas has died in battle. Here the layouts carry the weight of the drama, through still blue-hued shots of the whole town in mourning. Takahata really understands seeking a holistic intent across a full composition, imbuing the whole shot with a clear emotional tone

Followed by a composition that emphasizes Horus’ imposition into this new world, with him and the blacksmith framed as silhouettes overseeing this sad display

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This time, the composition creates a sense of depth through the layered tiers of villagers, who are themselves granted distinct spacing via the different blue and purple hues used to signify each layer in turn

“Don’t do this! Don’t waste your lives!” This woman is animated with the gentle, flowing movements that are Mori’s signature, and possesses the tapering design sensibilities of a large core and smaller limbs that Otsuka defined as Mori’s preferred style

Even the base conflict is more complex here, with both those who wish to kill the beast and those who wish to preserve the villagers’ lives having reasonable points

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God, such a sense of anticipation as Horus approaches the pike. Love this shot that pans up over Horus’ shoulder and down towards the pike’s lair, once again situating us alongside the characters in this moment. Creating horror in animation is a difficult feat, but Takahata’s rigorous alignment of the audience and Horus’ perspective is doing a great job of conjuring it

Getting more acquainted with individual animators also makes moments of anticipation like this all the sweeter. Once you move past the initial illusion of the film or episode as a single holistic object, you can start to appreciate the marvelous voices that ring out in their own tones through each individual setpiece. Watching through the end of One Piece’s Wano arc was like watching a chorus of my favorite singers all trading off verses in one anthemic song

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It’s such a huge, ungainly fish. I believe Otsuka animated it with more frames per second than Horus as well, creating a further sense of otherworldly power and movement

Yeah, its movements are genuinely horrifying. You feel such a sense of vulnerability as Horus grapples with this monster, his own movements seeming stiff and slow compared to its terrible flailing

The frantic death rattles of a desperate and violent animal, all captured with more vibrant intensity than even live action could attempt. God, what a scene

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When Horus returns to the village, he is confronted by the teary-eyed son of the dead warrior, who claims he’s lying and shouts “you didn’t have the right!” Violence is never glorious in Takahata’s world, but it is frequently inevitable. In a medium all too often dedicated to violence as the ultimate form of spectacle, Takahata never lets his audience forget that every life stolen leaves a mournful village in its wake

Horus apologizes to the young boy Flip, showing tender understanding as well as strength

Dear lord, an utterly preposterous cut as the entire village rushes to catch the returning fish, featuring at least fifty different characters all acting out their own forms of celebration. How does this movie exist

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It’s a flex Miyazaki is well fond of, though; you see similar sequences in films like Kiki or Porco Rosso, and even his Sherlock Hound episodes manage a few similar moments

Another boy named Potom congratulates Horus for his efforts, while a song of busy labor plays in the background. Takahata always comes back to venerating the natural rhythms of life lived alongside and in harmony with nature, whether it’s the country getaway of Only Yesterday or the longed-for provincial life of Princess Kaguya

The animators seem to maintain the trick of animating fish with more frames, such as to convey their frantic out-of-water movements

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It’s funny, you can always see the tension in Miyazaki’s films regarding his love of technology versus his veneration of nature, but no similar tension exists for Takahata – he sees technology and modernization as pretty much inherently suspect, as films like Pom Poko demonstrate

Koro arrives at last, and is tearfully greeted by Horus

Grunwald is not pleased to learn Horus is alive, and has furthermore killed his beloved fish. Excellent, convincing slinking animation for his subservient canine accomplice

“If he attacks, we will all fight and chase him away together!” Solidarity is consistently framed as the only bulwark against oppression, a sentiment that surely resonated with this protest-bonded crew of animators

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Horus is given new clothes, and participates in a musical celebration with the whole village. Not just the glory of battle, but the splendor and warmth of peace are also celebrated

In spite of Otsuka’s complaints, we’re actually getting a lot of kindly, happy expressions from Horus throughout this sequence

And more preposterously fluid crowd shots, though at least now they’re relenting and only havin