The Tale of the White Serpent
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| The Tale of the White Serpent | |
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| 白蛇伝 (Hakujaden) |
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| Genre | Fantasy |
| Movie | |
| Directed by | Taiji Yabushita |
| Studio | Toei Doga |
| Released | Japan: October 22, 1958 US: March 15, 1961 |
| Runtime | 78 mins |
The Tale of the White Serpent (Japanese: 白蛇伝) was the first colored Japanese anime aired in 1958. It was also the first known Japanese anime shown on American soil under the name "Panda and the Magic Serpent". It is also referred to as "Legend of the White Snake", "The Great White Snake", "The White Snake Enchantress".
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[edit] Background
The film is essentially an adapted version of China's Song dynasty folklore (白蛇傳) Madame White Snake[1]. The writer Shin Uehara made the adaptation, and kept the oriental styled characters and names. The decision of a Chinese story being used as the concept blueprint came from Toei president Hiroshi Ôkawa, who wanted to strike a tone of reconciliation with the Asian neighbors[2]. Given the point in time, this film pushed Japanese animation technology to the limit, making this a large scale major project involving a total of 13,590 staff during the 2 year production period. [3] And while the film received honors at the Venice Children's Film Festival in Italy in 1959, it was regarded as a disappointment when released to the US in March 15, 1961 by Global Pictures. The US version made changes such as interpreting the small red panda, Mimi, as a cat[4]. In addition all traces of the Japanese production teams were removed from the US version. Time wise, Tale of the White Serpent was Toei Doga's first attempt at becoming the Disney of the east.
[edit] Story
Xu-Xian, a young boy, once owned a pet snake in West Lake. His parents force him to put the pet back in the fields. Years would pass and the snake magically transformed to a beautiful princess Bai-Niang. She would search for her long lost love until local monk Fa-Hai discovered the ordeal thinking Bai-Niang was a vampire. He would banish Xu-Xian from the village, while Xu-Xian's two Panda pets, Panda and Mimi try to bring him back. In the end, Bia-Niang gave up her magical powers and remained in human form to prove that their love was genuine.
[edit] Staff
Director: Taiji Yabushita, Kazuhiko Okabe
Producer: Hiroshi Ôkawa
Script: Taiji Yabushita
Screenwriter: Shin Uehara
Music: Chûji Kishita, Hajime Kabura, Masayoshi Ikeda
Art director: Kazuhiko Okabe, Kiyoshi Hashimoto Voices: Hisaya Morishige, Mariko Miyagi
Key Animation: Akira Daikubara, Yasuji Mori
Animators: Akemi ôta, Akira Sekiai, Chieko Ichihori, Chikao Tera, Daikichirou Kusube, Fumiko Motofuji, Gisaburô Sugii, Gun'yuki Torimaru, Haruko Kasai, Junko Ichimura, Katsuya Oda, Kazuko Nakamura, Kazuo Nozawa, Keiko Ishino, Kenzô Takao, Machiko Dazai, Makoto Nagasawa, Masako Sekiguchi, Masao Yamamuro, Masatake Kita, Michihiko Yoshida, Motoaki Ishii, Nobuyuki Fukushima, Norio Fujita, Reiko Okuyama, Shinpachirô Takamatsu, Shôji Etô, Shûji Konno, Sumiko Naganuma, Susumu Akasaka, Takeshi Fujii, Taku Sugiyama, Tamae Matsuguma, Tatsuo Shimamura, Tetsuta Ikuya, Toyohei Horigawa, Toyohei Horikawa, Yasuo Otsuka, Yasusaburô Watanabe, Yôko Katô, Yoshio Aiso, Yukiko Nakatani, Yurio Sakurai, Yûsaku Sakamoto
Backgrounds: Kazuo Kusano, Koichi Maeba
Cinematography: Takamitsu Tsukahara
Editing: Shinataro Miyamoto
In-Between Animation: Rintaro
Music Composition: Chuji Kinoshita
Photography: Mitsuaki Ishikawa
Planning: Hideyuki Takahashi, Sanae Yamamoto
Recording: Takeshi Mori
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Chinese Mythology." Bilingual Book Explanation of Legend of the White Snake. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.
- ^ "Anipages Daily." Anipages Daily. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.
- ^ "Masterpiece of last 50 years." Japanese Animated Film Festival. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.
- ^ Clements, Jonathan. McCarthy Helen. [2006] (2006). The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised & Expanded Edition. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5
