The White Snake Enchantress

is the first color anime feature film and Toei Animation's first theatrical feature film, released in 1958. It was one of the first three anime films to be released in America, under the title Panda and the Magic Serpent, premiering in 1961, the month after Magic Boy."Magic Boy (1959)". IMDbPro. Retrieved 13 January 2014. It is also known variously as The Great White Snake and The Tale of the White Serpent. In April 2019, a restored version of the film was selected to be shown in the Cannes Classics section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
==Plot==
Xu-Xian, a young boy, once owned a pet snake in West Lake until his parents forced him to give her up. Years pass and during a violent storm, the snake magically transforms into the beautiful princess Bai-Niang. Bai-Niang finds Xu-Xian, but the lovers are separated by a local monk, Fa-Hai, who believes that Bai-Niang is an evil spirit. Xu-Xian's two panda pets, Panda and Mimi, try to find Xu-Xian. In the end, Bai-Niang gives up her magical powers and remains in human form to prove that her love for Xu-Xian is genuine.
==Cast==
Character 	Japanese voice actor	English dubbing actor
Xu Xian 	Hisaya Morishige 	George Matsui
Panda 	Hisaya Morishige 	Fernando Tejeda
Fahai 	Hisaya Morishige 	Mel Welles
Dragon King 	Hisaya Morishige 	Bob Neuman
Catfish King	Hisaya Morishige 	Unknown
Narrator 	Hisaya Morishige 	Marvin Miller
Bai Niang 	Mariko Miyagi 	Lisa Lu
Xiaoqing 	Mariko Miyagi 	Miiko Taka
Mimi 	Mariko Miyagi 	Virginia Blackman
Duck 	Mariko Miyagi 	Jodie McDowell
Weasel 	Mariko Miyagi 	Sara Meric
==Production==
The film is essentially an adaptation of the Song Dynasty Chinese folktale Legend of the White Snake (白蛇傳)."Chinese Mythology." Bilingual Book Explanation of Legend of the White Snake. Retrieved on 2006-12-08. Shin Uehara adapted the folktale and kept the Chinese-style characters and names. The decision of a Chinese story being used as the concept blueprint came from Toei Doga president Hiroshi Ōkawa, who wanted to strike a tone of reconciliation with the Asian neighbors."Anipages Daily." Anipages Daily. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.
Given the point in time, the film pushed Japanese animation technology to the limit. The film was a large scale major project, involving a total of 13,590 staff; surprisingly, it only took eight months to finish."Masterpiece of last 50 years ." Japanese Animated Film Festival. Retrieved on 2006-12-08. And while the film received honors at the Venice Children's Film Festival in Italy in 1959, it was regarded as a disappointment when released to the United States on July 8, 1961 by Global Pictures. Historically, this film marked Tōei Dōga's first attempt to follow the example of American feature animation studios and become the so-called "Disney of the east."
The US version made changes to the film such as interpreting the small red panda, Mimi, as a cat.Clements, Jonathan. McCarthy Helen. [2006] (2006). The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised & Expanded Edition. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. In addition, all traces of the Japanese production teams were removed from the credits.
Rintaro, who would later go on to become a well known and respected director of Japanese animation, had his first job in the animation industry (at age 17) as an in-between animator on this film.
==See also==
*History of anime
*The Legend of the White Serpent (1956 film)
==References==
==Bibliography==
* Panda and the Magic Serpent, DVD, Cartoon Craze.
==External links==
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Category:1958 films
Category:1958 anime films
Category:1950s fantasy films
Category:Chinese mythology in anime and manga
Category:Films based on the Legend of the White Snake
Category:Japanese animated fantasy films
Category:Japanese fantasy adventure films
Category:Toei Animation films