The Tale of the White Serpent

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The Tale of the White Serpent

白蛇伝 (Hakujaden)
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 color Japanese anime, released in 1958. It was also the first known Japanese anime released in America, under the title Panda and the Magic Serpent. It has also been released under the titles "Legend of the White Snake", "The Great White Snake", "The White Snake Enchantress".

1 Background
2 Story
3 Staff
4 See also
5 References
6 External Links

[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 until his parents forced him to give her up. Years pass and during a violent storm, the snake magically transforms into the beautiful princess Bai-Niang. Bai-Niang finds Xu-Xian, but the lovers are separated by a local monk, Fa-Hai, who believes that Bai-Niang is an evil spirit. Xu-Xian's two Panda pets, Panda and Mimi, try to find Xu-Xian. In the end, Bia-Niang gives up her magical powers and remains in human form to prove that her love for Xu-Xian is 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