Legend of the Millennium Dragon (鬼神伝)

Directed by Hirotsugu Kawasaki (川﨑博嗣), 2011, 98 minutes

Review by Susan Meehan

This anime opens with scenes of verdant ancient Japan. Amidst scenes of temples, shrines, mountains, paddy fields and old towns samurai, representing humanity, are fighting huge monsters with blazing red eyes otherwise known as “oni.” One is enormous, rivalling Godzilla in terms of size. A monk by the name of Gen’un strikes down the “oni” with supernatural strength as they attempt to destroy his temple.

We are then transported back to the present and to school boys playing computer games. One is no ordinary school boy; Jun Tendo, singled out by his birth mark, turns out to be a Harry Potter-esque saviour destined to bring peace to warring Japan which we’ve just had a glimpse of, and is sent back to Gen’un’s era.

Time travelling Jun, quite a shy boy really, turns out to be a descendant of the Magatama clan. As preordained he wakes up the Orochi, or flying dragon. Orochi will respond to Jun’s desires and Jun has to decide which side to join in this perennial battle of good and evil without being swayed by the monk on the one side or the girl he falls in love with on the other. It is a treacherous decision which Jun has to take.

The occasional flashback to present day Japan shows Jun’s father as a school boy, having to stand up to bullies and later on as a teacher, dying in an attempt to save a boy at a railway crossing. It is this valiant and noble lineage that has formed Jun.

The animated characters themselves looked similar to those of the superior Studio Ghibli but the similarity ends there. The film failed to capture my interest or imagination and didn’t develop the characters sufficiently. It seemed lacking; the plot was rather weak. Admittedly I was not the target demographic and the children in the cinema seem to have loved it.

This film was shown at the Premiere Japan 2011 event at the Barbican.