The Deer King

• Directed by Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji
• February 4, 2022
• Based on The Deer King (“King of Deer“) fantasy novel series written by Nahoko Uehashi

Voice Cast

• Makokan-Luis Bermudez
• Van-Ray Chase
• Van’s Son, Yoki’s Son-Michael Deaner
• Utalu-Doug Erholtz
• Van’s wife, Kiya-Larissa Gallagher
• Yotaru-Chris Hackney
• King Akafa-Neil Kaplan
• Ohma-Steve Kramer
• Ohma’s Wife-Erna Larsen
• Tohma-Stefan Martello
• Shikan-Xander Mobus
• Hohsalle-Griffin Puatu           
• Sae-Erica Schroeder
• Yoki’s Wife, Kazan Woman-Stephanie Sheh
• Ohfan-Keith Silverstein
• Tohlim-Doug Stone
• Yoki-Marc Thompson
• Kenoi-Frank Todaro
• Yuna-Luciana VanDette

The last survivor of a band of warriors with the help of a gifted physician searches for the cure to a mysterious disease.

The first thing I noticed about The Deer King is that it is a quiet film in relation to what one might expect. It’s not action heavy but does its best to focus on character development and world building. At the center of it all is what appears to be a mostly if not entirely magical disease spread by a group of supernatural wolves.

Despite being called The Deer King supernatural dogs are significantly more important to the story. Aside from the character of Van riding them much like you would a horse, the animal itself is not that big of a deal to the story. Nobody even becomes the king of anything connected to deer. I also expected the deer to somehow have some mystical presence in the overall narrative, but not really.

Our hero of Van escapes a salt mine with young Yuna after a pack of wolves carrying the deadly Black Wolf Fever kill everyone else there. In the story they make it clear that Van’s wife and son died of the same disease that is at the center of the story but as the narrative goes on I’m left believing that this girl is actually his biological daughter and not somebody he simply calls his daughter. Either that or he genuinely believes it.

This film takes on elements of a medical procedure as a doctor named Hohsalle joins Van. He’s trying to figure out a cure and quite honestly though medical science is not my thing I do see how it fits together ultimately. I give them points for doing something interesting with the ultimate cure not being some magic spell.

Exposition is minimal here. Unlike much Japanese animation they show rather than tell to keep the story moving. There is no handing of the plot to the audience. This forces you to pay attention. If you leave this running to use the restroom or to grab a snack you could become a little lost. It’s a slow but steady burn whose elements force you to watch.

The dialogue is pretty good. And the presentation of the movie overall is very cinematic. And despite being an animated feature, it is most certainly not for kids. There is a heavy amount of blood and the presentation of the disease might be upsetting to small kids. And who can forget the number of corpses that they have in this movie?

But truthfully the weirdest thing that might give children nightmares is when we meet the Dog King. This is a character that’s trapped inside of a tree and controls the wolves. I just found that disturbing. Something about it made me uneasy.

The Deer King is not action heavy and it’s not simplistic either. If you’re looking for something with a little bit of sophistication this is for you.