Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon

Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Takao Okawara
Screenplay by	Wataru Mimura[1]
Based on	Kojiki and Nihon Shoki The Three Treasures by Hiroshi Inagaki
Produced by	Shogo Tomiyama[1]
Starring	Masahiro Takashima Yasuko Sawaguchi Akaji Maro Yūki Meguro Saburo Shinoda
Cinematography	Yoshinori Sekiguchi[1]
Music by	Kiyoko Ogino[1]
Production company	Toho Pictures[1]
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	9 July 1994 (1994-07-09) (Japan)
Running time	105 minutes[2]
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	¥800 million[3]

Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon^[2] (Japanese: ヤマトタケル, Hepburn: Yamato Takeru) is a 1994 Japanese epic religious fantasy film directed by Takao Okawara and produced by Shogo Tomiyama, with a screenplay by Wataru Mimura. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, the film is based on Japanese mythology, specifically the birth of Shinto.^[1] It stars Masahiro Takashima, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Akaji Maro, Yūki Meguro and Saburo Shinoda.

The song "RAIN" by Glay, which previously used as the ending theme of TBS anime series Yamato Takeru, serves as the ending theme song of the film.

In the ancient times, the moon god Tsukuyomi, who jealous of his sister and sun goddess, Amaterasu, transforms into the eight-headed serpent named Orochi and intends to destroy the Earth. Fortunately, the sea god Susanoo defeats Orochi and seals Tsukuyomi's power inside the enchanted Sword of Dark Clouds. Tsukuyomi's father, Izanagi, fears of his son causing chaos again, seals him inside the ice prison and sends it far away from the Earth.

Many years has passed, emperor Keiko of Yamato feels a great loathing for one of his twin sons, Ousu, after their births. Being convinced that this feeling is a premonition, Keiko orders the mysterious shaman Tsukinowa to kill Ousu, yet his efforts are spoiled by Amano Shiratori, the phoenix and the White Bird of the Heavens. Keiko's sister, seeing this as a clear sign of divine intervention, takes it upon herself to raise Ousu.

10 years later, Ousu is stopped by his aunt's servants Genbu and Seiryu who prevent him from enter the mysterious cave. At night, Ousu finds a mysterious comma-shaped gemstone, which teleports him to mysterious realm where he meets King Bullhead, who tells his prophecy that Ousu will become a warrior of the gods once he possessed three lights. When Ousu has matured into adult, he is given pardon by Keiko and allowed to return to the castle. However, not long after, Ousu's mother empress Inahi dies from her mysterious illness. This sends Ousu's brother into a rage and causes him to attack Ousu, who defends himself and accidentally kills his brother with his gemstone in the process.

Keiko, furious at these events, orders Ousu to leave the castle and not return until the barbarians living in the Kumaso domain are dealt with. Ousu makes haste to complete this task, stopping off at a shrine on his way where, after a quick battle, he befriends a young priestess named Oto Tachibana who joins him on his journey. They, along with Genbu and Seiryu, raid the castle, killing king Kumaso Takeru, who attempts to sacrifice Oto to Kumaso's god Kumasogami, which Ousu kills him with his gemstone, and receives the shrine mirror from Amano.

Following this defeat, Ousu gains the title "Yamato Takeru", yet fails to win the acceptance of Keiko. His aunt, though, warns him of a great threat looming overhead, as Tsukuyomi is poised to return, endangering the Earth. Ousu must prepare to halt this from occurring. She tells him to bring the Sword of Dark Clouds to her for safekeeping as it holds a good deal of Tsukuyomi's power. He secures the sword but is tricked by Tsukinowa, who summoned Kaishin Muba, disguised as Inahi and revealed himself to be one of Tsukuyomi's fangs, into surrendering it, thus inadvertently restoring Tsukuyomi to full power. Tsukinowa also reveals that it was him who killed Inahi and Ousu's brother to frame Ousu, who mortally wounds Tsukinowa.

The solar eclipse falls over Earth as Tsukuyomi blots out the sunlight and reclaims the Sword of Dark Clouds from Tsukinowa, who reverts into his fang form after he died, unleashes chaos to the Earth. Ousu is told by King Bullhead, who reveals himself to be Susanoo that his divinely ordained destiny is to destroy Tsukuyomi with the aid of Oto, who revealed to be the incarnation of Amaterasu. Susanoo tests Ousu by having him pull the Sword of Karasai from a stone, and tells him that it is the only weapon that can kill Tsukuyomi. Together, Ousu and Oto are transported to the moon to face Tsukuyomi, who transforms himself into Orochi once again. Ousu and Oto are aided by Amano to launch an aerial attack on Orochi, but Orochi overpowers them.

As they have both lost their lives, Oto sacrifices herself to gives Ousu her life energy. Ousu realizes that Susanoo's prophecy has come true, as he now has the shrine mirror, the Sword of Karasai, and Oto's spirit. Ousu transforms into a gigantic warrior named Utsuno Ikusagami, who fights and defeats Orochi, who reverts into Tsukuyomi after defeated.

With Tsukuyomi's defeat, Oto is restored to life. Susanoo telepathically tells Ousu to seal Tsukuyomi's spirit into his gemstone, then cast it into the outer space, causing the eclipse ends and the sun again shines on Earth. As Ousu and Oto mount Amano to fly home to Earth, Keiko says he wants to see Ousu. In the end, Ousu and Oto reluctantly part ways as Ousu returns the Sword of Dark Clouds at Yamato.

Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon was distributed theatrically by Toho in Japan on 9 July 1994.^[1]

The film was released in the United States as Orochi the Eight-Headed Dragon directly to home video by ADV Films with an English dub on June 13, 1999.^[1] The film was reissued in Japanese with English subtitles in 2003.^[1]

Robert Firsching of AllMovie awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of five, stating that "the film is firmly in the province of magical fantasy, and is quite a good example of the form [...] Many films attempt to capture the look and feel of 1960s fantasy, but most fall prey to '90s cynicism and can't quite pull off the necessarily naïve belief in heroism and the power of goodness and purity to save mankind, or even that the belief that mankind is worth saving. This film does, and that alone makes it a refreshing throwback, and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon."^[4]

• The Three Treasures
• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
• Rebirth of Mothra III

• Yamato Takeru at IMDb