Shika no Ou: Yuna to Yakusoku no Tabi

Ten years ago, the Zol Empire conquered the neighboring lands of Aquafa, forcibly merging the two nations. Though the effort was a success, the Zol invasion could not seize Fire Horse Village, where an outbreak of a mysterious deadly disease known as Black Wolf Fever occurred. Since then, the people have believed the illness has been eradicated.

At a salt mine overseen by Zol authorities, Van Gansa is a prisoner of war carrying out a forced labor sentence. One night, a pack of spirit-like wolves attack the mine; while Van and a young girl named Yuna are bitten, the two escape as the only survivors. In the official investigation following the incident, the findings indicate that the wolves were carriers of Black Wolf Fever, which led to the swift deaths of the guards and workers.

Eager to experience freedom again, Van wastes no time settling down with Yuna in a small farming village. However, Van does not know that he is being followed. Pursued both by those who wish to harvest his blood to cure Black Wolf Fever and those who want to stop those efforts at all costs, Van faces a greater issue plaguing the nation that may spread to countries beyond.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yugraul, Hossal Main

Takeuchi, Ryouma Japanese

Gansa, Van Main

Tsutsumi, Shinichi Japanese

Sae Main

Watanabe, Anne Japanese

Yuna Main

Kimura, Hisui Japanese

Oraha Supporting

Kiya Supporting

Kawakami, Hiromi Japanese

Utal Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka Japanese

Moshil Supporting

Arisa Supporting

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Ohma Supporting

Naka, Hiroshi Japanese

Morihiro, Fumi Producer

Matsushita, Keiko Producer

Andou, Masashi Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Character Design

Miyaji, Masayuki Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jul 13, 2022

ZetaZ98

Recommended

This review does NOT contain spoilers.

This film harkens back to the old Ghibli films in its look and themes but is very much its own thing with a modern approach to animation. The director has made a point to highlight how this film's plot echoes the current times and that it only adds to the impact this film has on its viewers. The story is interesting and the animation is beautiful.

If I were to give any criticisms it is that some of the side plots and minor characters go slightly underdeveloped to an extent where it is sometimes confusing if you are not paying ... very close attention. This is 100% a film that benefits from being returned to and rewatched just like the old Ghibli films. You will notice and appreciate more/different things on a rewatch. Being an adaptation of a novel, I suspect some of the minor plot points feel a bit short or unclear because the film doesn't have the same time to get into them all the way but it never harms the film overall.

Easy contender for best anime movie of the year!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 8, 2024

pocariswonk

Mixed Feelings

5.5/10
The Deer King is an unfortunate bundle of squandered potential on all fronts of its story. It would not be hyperbole to call it "Walmart Mononoke Hime"

There are WAY TOO MANY 'riding' scenes, where character are in chase/pursuit and barely anything happens, and they last too long. "Look, this guy is riding a deer! holy shit!" x5

The pacing falls apart at about the halfway mark after dragging its feet through a slow slog of unnecessary scenes as the writers clumsily try to curry your interest in the world. It just screams budget issues as the pacing ramps up while the writers scramble to ... tie up all the loose ends.

The protagonist's character development falls flat. He is established as a large, brooding, quiet warrior with a tragic past, which isn't too hard to get right, but somehow he fails to be memorable in any way as his personable is slowly revealed to be that of an archetypal anime dad.

Throughout the story there are several significant plot points with great potential for interesting conflicts, but they are all glossed over and pushed aside as the studio slowly ran out of money. There is tons of buildup as you are groomed into expecting some sort of moral, a question to be left with, or a message-- but you, as the viewer, are let down one minute at a time as nothing is elaborated on.

Visuals wise, yeah, they're decent, sometimes good in a few places, but overall it's nothing special. It almost feels like the director is doing everything in their power to make fight scenes as short and sparse as possible and then replacing them with riding scenes.

It pains me to say this since the setting and world building is unique (for modern anime), but for most people this movie is just not worth watching. It's a 2 hour nothing burger and there are loads of better things to do.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 15, 2022

Ardnaed

Not Recommended

I'm upset because this movie could have been great. However, it somehow managed to make me feel like I was watching a cheap imitation of itself.

Story: Awful pacing. They wanted to show a lot and didn't have the time. Also, this feels like someone not trying to copy other Ghibli films as much as someone who tried to learn from them and missed the mark. It was clear what every scene was trying to convey and how we were supposed to feel about the characters and that was the problem. This movie somehow managed to commit the tell not show error by showing too ... much. It was almost impressive. Additionally every scene switch felt weirdly jarring even when it was the same character just walking in one room to another to me. Reveals were misplaced and scenes used too many times, which also lent to the color by the number feel of this movie.

Art: Exquisite. We all knew that though. Without it, the cracks in this movie would be 10x clearer.

Sound: Beautiful music, however, like the story it felt awkwardly placed and sometimes too loud. It became music that said, you need to feel this now, instead of music that leant itself to the moment.

Character: I dislike Yuna almost solely based on the fact they tried so hard to get me to like her. Van was dull, they didn't quite figure out how to make him the tortured quiet heroic lead. The doctor gave me Howl vibes but ultimately seemed....unnecessary even though he most definitely was necessary. The female tracker was cool at first but also missed the mark with telling us exactly why she felt what she felt but also being vague? Her actions were at times inconsistent and not in a character growth kind of way. All in all, the characters had no room to breathe and come to life.

Enjoyment: I was angry watching this movie. I sat in the theatre lamenting on what this could have been. I was excited to see this had an R rating and even though I think they could have made it PG13 with what was shown, I appreciate the darker moments. In retrospect though, I look back and wonder if they may have not been confident in their ability to convey that darkness without showing it...

Overall, I think it was a decent movie that I won't watch again. It had the bones to be better. I think it could easily be redone by a different story teller or maybe the same person going back to the drawing board.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Shika no Ou: Yuna to Yakusoku no Tabi Episode 1 Discussion KiraYoshikage - Aug 26, 2021	25 replies	by BookBirdie »» Sep 4, 8:39 PM
	I hate the ending, and I wunna rant some where DraginZ0mbees - Feb 17	1 replies	by Yemi_Hikari »» Aug 7, 9:23 AM
	the promotional poster is more visually striking than the actual movie Nyron - Jul 16, 2022	5 replies	by Nyron »» Feb 27, 4:25 PM
	Expectations? iShambles - Dec 17, 2018	18 replies	by LeeNoriega »» Feb 19, 2022 10:17 AM
	Poll: Eastward Angry_Anime_Nerd - Aug 25, 2021	0 replies	by Angry_Anime_Nerd »» Aug 25, 2021 6:19 PM