This Week in Anime

The Deer King's Beating Heart

Nicky
Oh deer, oh my, this week we're galloping away with the wonderful film, The Deer King!

With animation helmed by Production I.G., The Deer King is a stunning historical fantasy based on author Nahoko Uehashi's novel series of the same name. Uehashi, an author known for her blend of high fantasy and realistic beliefs and conflicts, is also responsible for writing The Beast Player and Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit series novels. Uehashi's work is no stranger to anime adaptions. Still, under the reigns of directors Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji, The Deer King springs her concepts to life in beautiful feature quality.

Princess Mononoke is an appropriate comparison, given how that movie ALSO opens with some terrifying and violent imagery unsuitable for children. So yeah, listen to those warnings and avoid making the same mistake some parents did while browsing the isles of bygone Blockbusters in the streaming era.

But The Deer King strangely hits many of the same vibes as the preceding Ghibli classic in terms of tone, setting, and approach.

While I'm using my disc copy for this, it was an experience to watch this particular film fully masked in a theater (as I always do, nowadays) than in the comfort of my own home.

Though I will also note that commentary about disease and our current situation is a surface case of history repeating itself. Nahoko Uehashi's study as an ethnologist greatly informs her work. Cases of illness and war often go together. The Deer King profoundly focuses on the relationships between the imperial Zolians and the regional Aquafaesians, with the latter believing the disease to be divine retribution towards the Zolian people. The Aquafa, like Van and Yuna, seem mysteriously unaffected by it. In the middle, we have Hohsalle, a doctor working for the Zolian government who's just trying to figure it all out.

Possibly while flaunting his beautiful face and hair while doing so. Ando has been a character designer and animation director on many films. As the mentee of Ghibli's Yoshifumi Kondo, he has always had a great balance between realism and simplification regarding facial features.

Look, if you had a small baby clinging to you at all times, you definitely don't want to keep any of those annoyingly grabbable face hairs!

Having rescued her from being eaten, Van takes the young Yuna as his daughter. The two find solace together in a nearby village composed of nice Aquafaesian and Zolian folk attempting to raise deer as viable livestock.

Well, specifically, this is only the first novel, but regardless a version simplified for the film. However, it doesn't hurt the movie's pacing as most scenes are very in-the-moment and carried by the character acting. Even the very plot-heavy chess game between the king of Aquafa and his elderly right-hand man is brought into an easily-understandable emotional focus with the use of visual framing as they ponder whether it's worth sacrificing the innocent Van to further their own goals.

But this also applies to the relationship between Van and Yuna. Despite not having spent much time together and not having any blood relationship, their movement and acting feel very believable, so we don't doubt that they are each other's family.

Now that's what we call Pig Punching Power!

I think it also helps that Yuna is shown as a curious and intelligent little girl who's just happy to be loved by a parent despite being orphaned, given to a crazy lady in a slave mine, bitten by wolves, etc.

Van is not the only one who seems to have unlocked strange and mystical powers. Yuna also occasionally acts stranger than your average youngling. Van starts having strange visions of an old man. When wolves invade the village, Yuna gets possessed and taken away with the pack. Van chases her but is stalled by the tracker sent to find him. Hohsalle intervenes just in time to keep them from killing each other.

I'll also remind everyone that Hohsalle is a contracted third party and the one most adamant about Van's survival, even if he claims it's just about taking his blood and not at all a product of bromance. He's still the character I would describe with the most goodwill and probably the closest to being an "objective" viewpoint for the audience.

TFW you seduce two people to your viewpoint by giving your very touching single-dad monologue, and you all happen to be naked. Even Sai, who wanted to kill Van as a means of personal revenge against the Zolians who oppressed her, warms up to him.

It's more that Sae relates deeply to Yuna's position. Though, she could be a good mom to Yuna, given time.

Nature and religion and how those are treated under imperialism are also huge parts of this. Many Aquafaesians seemed to have been kept or alienated from their native culture until Van's old crowd stepped in and caused an uproar, leading to his imprisonment. Zolians see many aspects of nature as "unclean" or strange, and it's clear that they have a more upper-class and industrial culture, similar to historical China. Despite this, many characters don't see their cultures as something that should divide them.

The film doesn't answer what the long-term solution for the two nations should be. But, I wouldn't say that Van's previous actions didn't have any positive outcomes as it was the reason some people were able to exist in harmony at all. Besides, the current prince, who takes over after the previous lord succumbs to disease, seems to have been quite inspired by Van.

There is also the meaning of the title, The Deer King, and what deer supposedly represent. Van gives a parable about a strong buck who stood up against dangerous predators but ended up wounded. This relates to himself. He follows by stating that he's not sure if it was actual bravery or stubborn foolishness led by the situation that caused the deer to act the way it did.

Deers are key symbols of nature, but so are wolves. Deers are herbivores, yet they are often revered as symbols of quiet and unyielding strength. It's different from being passive. While Van doubts his past choices, I wouldn't say it's externally framed as wrong. The Deer King frequently utilizes images of nature to wordlessly express the characters' internal conflicts throughout the film.

I also see it as Van maturing and finding peace with his feelings inside of him and Yuna as "survivors," the subtitle of the first book. It isn't a 1:1 metaphor for the disease, but at least for Van, his experience causes him to boldly stand up for the generations to come. He embraces the children who will continue to struggle with conflicts facing them in the form of a strong, protective, but kind role model. The film has excellent execution; it's a great film to let yourself be swept by its warmth.

While it's mostly dialogue scenes, the few action moments inject thrilling energy. The end, in particular, has some very satisfying bloody retribution.

Yet somehow, the film remains refreshingly contemplative and open-hearted. There's a wide range of emotions. I was glad to be able to revisit what is a pretty dense film, and many will find it to be an emotionally satisfying and rich experience. You could many get lost in the trees a bit about what it all means as we did, but just from afar, the forest that surrounds The Deer King is awe-inspiring.