Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke

 

While I still find myself trying to get through the anime series I have on the go right now, I decided that I would still try to watch a movie or OVA each week so that I would have something new to write about. Earlier this week I managed to get my hands on a copy of Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke. This is an anime movie dating back to 1959.

I have to say that so far, this is probably the oldest anime that I have seen. I will admit that I was surprised by the art more than anything. The drawing was beautiful in this film. The color selection and detail was really well executed. The soundtrack was exactly what I would expect from a film of this age. I stopped counting after about 5 times of hearing the same theme song play over and over.

The story follows Sasuke and his need to learn magic in order to defeat the evil princess of the forest. Sasuke leaves home to train with an old magician in the mountains for a number of years. When he returns home, he finds that his house has been burned to the ground by bandits who are after his sister. Sasuke is aided by Prince Yakumo. Once Sasuke returns, he and the evil princess settle their score in a fight.

I was really impressed with this film. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in checking out some vintage anime. Although I was a little skeptical that I would be bored with the story, I found it did not have the same message deliverance that you would see in a Disney film. Certainly the audience that this was designed for is a somewhat mature child audience since there are scenes with killing (without the blood and graphic nature of course). After watching Shonen Sarutobi Sasuke my interest in vintage anime has certainly been peaked.