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Hols: Prince of the Sun Movie Review

Hols: Prince of the Sun is a 1968 anime fantasy film directed by Isao Takahata in his feature debut. This is one of the best anime films of the sixties.

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“Sure, you can make use of her…

if only to ruin yourself“

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To honor his father’s last wish, Hols travels to his village to protect the inhabitants from the evil Grunwald. Armed with the Sword of the Sun, Horus decides to confront the devil. This movie was released during the decade when anime was just starting to become more serious and this is by far one of the most sophisticated productions back then. It also signaled the arrival of the great Isa Takahata to the scene and you can instantly see his signature style ranging from the great heroine to a strongly utilized setting to excellent fantastical elements.

Set in a Northern European location, this exotic location differentiated it from other animated films of the period. And it’s so well utilized with the culture of the people being well explored and the aesthetic being superb. Yes, the animation is polished, artistic and surprisingly modern for 1968. It aged like fine wine and it looks like something released in the 1980s instead. The facial expressions are so lively and the voice acting is terrific and these two made the movie immediately watchable and enjoyable even today.

The movie is called Hols, but it should have been called Hilda. It’s her story after all and she is much better developed than our somewhat bland hero. He did not get much of an arc and was a standard fantasy hero archetype. But Hilda is much more complex as she plays on both sides at multiple points in the story and her conflict is very well explored. She’s a powerful, very well written female character, a rarity for the time.

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Grunwald is another memorable character as this very cool and tough villain. The fight scenes were so good and a whole lot of fun to watch. I would have liked to have seen even more world building as some of it that we got was so good, but ultimately a bit underwritten. The story is quite epic and ambitious to be crammed in such a short film, resulting in a rushed nature and an abrupt conclusion. The dialogue also could have been stronger. But the themes of the story are quite well explored, the fantasy side of it really worked and the score is terrific, making this one worth seeking for all animation fans. It’s an important movie in anime history after all.