The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

After five films trying to imitate the whirlwind success of Disney for Japanese audiences that disappointed my expectations in one way or another, TOEI doga finally find their footing and discover a unique identity that would lay the seeds for modern anime, dramatic and complex battle choreography and perhaps most modern Kaiju movies. Susanoo and the Yamato no Orochi sets its sights on portraying the creation story at the center of Japanese myth itself - Susanoo's search for his mother, the female creator of the Island Nation, Izanami, who departed into heaven. Susanoo is a herculean individual who fails to comprehend the vastness of his ownphysical strength and how it puts him at odds with the relatively fragile world around him. At the same time, a veil of innocence shields his mind from the deeper truths of the world and bolsters his bull headed optimism. The writers of this movie finally managed to crack the code of the perfect balance in narrative progression and the need to water down the ideas for younger audience. The Disney inspired background characters that have been a forceful addition to most of the previous TOEI doga films take a backseat and Susanoo ends up with just a single animal companion, whose presence does not interfere with the broader narrative focus of the film. The story is constantly fixtured on Susanoo himself, and the journey of his increasing collection of companions until he encounters the titular Yamata no Orochi - a Japanese mythological demon with some physiological similarities to the hydra. The reveal of this particular demon itself, was one of the most amazing sequences ever brought to realization in Japanese animation. A long sequence in poorly lit dusk lingers on the vast shadows of the eight gigantic serpent heads as the battle music reminiscent of world War 2 propaganda films slowly builds tension and emphasizes the sheer scale of this tyrannical opponent.