Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon (1963)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Prince Susano's mother dies; when his father tells him she has gone to another place, he sets off in search of her. He builds a boat and goes to see, first, his brother, in his crystal palace in the land of night (where he causes much damage to the palace, but his brother still gives him a magic ice crystal). Next, he fights the fire god, who gives him a magic bird after Susano (voices of John Armstrong / Morio Kazama) defeats him, with help from the magic crystal and his little rabbit sidekick. Susano also picks up another traveling companion, a large but dim villager. Next, he goes to his sister, in the land of light. As with his brother, though, he causes much unintentional damage; his sister, who also happens to be the sun, goes off to hide in a cave. The frantic villagers stage a party (in the original legend, an orgy) outside the cave and trick her into coming outside again. Finally, Susano finds a little princess whose land is being threatened by an 8-headed dragon. With the help of a flying horse (who we later learn was sent by his sister) and his sidekicks, they get the dragon a bit drunk and take out one head at a time (mostly, though two of the last three take each other out). - Directors:
- Yûgo Serikawa
- Producers:
- Takashi Iijima, Hiroshi Ohkawa, Isamu Takahashi, Sanae Yamamoto, Shin Yoshida
- Voiced By:
- Morio Kazama, Yukiko Okada, Chiharu Kuri, Masato Yamanouchi, Kiyoshi Kawakubo, Hideo Kinoshita, Kinshirô Iwao, John Armstrong, Cliff Harrington, Patricia Kobayashi, William Ross, Dick Wieand, Shûichi Kazamatsuri, Noriko Shindô, Setsuo Shinoda
- Writers:
- Ichirô Ikeda, Takashi Iijima
- Aka:
- Wanpaku ôji no Orochi taiji
- Genres:
- Anime & Animation
- Countries:
- Japan
More like Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon
Reviews (1) of Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon
Venom in the Scroll - Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon review by griggs
There's something charming about animation that looks both ancient and brand new. The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon has that quality: bold shapes, clean lines, and a story drawn from Shinto myth rather than the usual fairy-tale shelf. At its best, it feels like a picture scroll that someone's spiked with rocket fuel.
The trouble is that charm and momentum don't always arrive together. The design consistently outpaces the drama — the eye stays engaged while the heart idles. Simple storytelling can be elegant restraint; here it reads more like emotional gears that never quite catch.
Still, the Orochi — the eight-headed serpent — is properly menacing, coiled and multi-eyed with real storybook menace. The film's visual confidence makes it worthwhile for anyone tracing animation history. More fascinating than fully satisfying, but this mythic oddity has genuine venom in the bite.