Early Sunday
morning, the legendary artist Takashi
Yanase (やなせたかし, 1919-2013)
passed
away at the age of 94. A man of
diverse talents from poetry to illustration, Yanase is best known as the
creator of the wildly popular animation and character franchise Anpanman. As a tribute to Yanase I wanted to write
about a lovely film he made in 1969 that has been little seen in the west: The Kindly Lion (やさしいライオン / Yasashii Raion).
See also: Yanase's Top 15 Animated Films from the Laputa 2003 poll.
Background
The Kindly Lion is a “musical
animation” adapted from a children’s picture book written and illustrated by
Yanase. According to the official Tezuka website, Osamu Tezuka initially planned to create
an entire animated series from The Kindly
Lion story for Mushi Pro, but in
the end only one 27-minute film was ever completed. The website gives the theatrical release date
for the film as March 21, 1970; however, the film won the 8th
Noburo Ofuji Award for 1969 at the 24th
Mainich Film Concours, which suggests to me that the film may have screened
at festivals in 1969 before getting a theatrical release in 1970. The Concours is usually held in February (ie.1970)
honouring films that were released the previous year (ie.1969).
The Story
Yanase tells
a moving story of an orphaned baby lion called Buru-buru (ブルブル) – derived from the sound word
for shaking or trembling. He gets his
name from the fact that he is racked with tears at the beginning of the story
because he misses his parents and feels so terribly alone. A friendly rabbit brings Buru-buru together
with a friendly dog called Muku-muku (ムクムク) who is grieving the loss of her
puppy. Although it seems an unlikely
pairing, the two quickly bond with Muku-muku even nursing the needy lion
cub. Buru-buru is so convinced when he grows up that Muku-muku is his mother that he is shocked one day when he sees his reflection in a puddle and realizes that he is not a dog.
Even when
Buru-buru grows into a large lion whose size dwarfs Muku-muku, the two maintain
a close mother-child bond until one day when Buru-buru is taken from the zoo
where they live to perform in a circus.
Although he is not treated cruelly by the circus, he misses Muku-muku
dreadfully. One night, he is overcome
with a desire to see her again and bursts free from his cage. He reunites with his dog mother, only to be
shot by soldiers because of fears for public safety. The film does not end with tragedy however,
for the spirit of Buru-buru continues running up into the heavens like a
shooting star.
The Art
Buru-buru’s
tale is carefully crafted with a motif of him running repeating throughout the
film. The story is told not only
visually, but also with a voice-over dialogue between a mother and a child in
the style of a bedtime story. There is
also a chorus throughout the film that acts as both a narrator and a way of
increasing the drama. The lyrics are all
written by Yanase himself with the music composed by Toshi Ishobe and
arranged and performed by Naohiko Terajima
and his
orchestra Rhythm Chansonette + Strings. The chorus is performed by the Bonny Jacks (ボニージャックス),
a quartet who formed in 1958 and are still performing today. The actress and singer Chiharu Kuri performs the female solos including the “Lullaby of
Buru-buru”.
In my
introduction I called the film a “musical animation” because the music is an
inextricable element of the film, working in harmony from beginning to end with
the animation. Unlike the TV series Anpanman, which aims to entertain and has
a definite production line quality about it, The Kindly Lion feels more like a labour of love. Not only does the film demonstrate how one
can love an adopted child/parent just as much as a biological one, but it also
shows a love of craft by the animation artists involved in the project. There are some truly beautiful sequences in The Kindly Lion. Some of my favourites are the warmly coloured
nursing sequence, the dynamic running through the sky over the rooftops
sequence, the more roughly drawn circus sequences, and the elegiac winter
scenes towards the end. Even the end
credits – a series of still pastel crayon images – are absolutely charming in
their execution.
Like
many early classics of Japanese anime, I am really scratching my head about the
fact that this film has never to my knowledge been officially released on DVD
or for download for Western audiences. Even
in Japan the only DVDs I know of that include the film are long out of print. With not only Yanase but Tezuka being
affiliated with it, there would certainly be an audience for it online if the
current copyright holders Tezuka Productions were to release it with subtitles.
The Production Team
Executive
Producer: Osamu Tezuka
Original
story, direction, and art: Takashi Yanase
Production
Chief: Atsushi Tomioka
Assistant: Jun
Shimozaki
Planning
Cooperation: Seihoku Production
Original
picture and motion: Kanji Akabori, Kazuko Nakamura, Teruto Ueguchi, Akihiro Kanayama,
Maya Matsuyama, Yoshiko Watanabe, Takeo Uchiumi, Hiroaki Yamamori
Background: Nobuko
Ato, Kuniko Nishimura, Megumi Tanabe
Tracing: Masako
Shimano
Coloring: Mariko
Abe
Brushing: Tomoii
Hashizume
Shooting: Akihiko
Mori
Editing: Noriyoshi
Matsuura
Film
Developing: Toyo Developing Studio
Music: Toshi
Ishobe
Lyrics: Takashi
Yanase
Arranged by:
Naohiko Terajima
Performed
by: Naohiko Terajima and Rhythm Chansonette + Strings
Vocals: Bonny
Jacks, Chiharu Kuri
Sound: Atsumi
Tashiro (TAC)
Effects:
Ishida Sound Group
Recording:
Tokyo Studio Center
Catherine
Munroe Hotes 2013
This review
belongs to my series on the Noburo
Ofuji Award:
