The Deer King (R)
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This is based on a series of books that I haven't read. There's also a manga that I haven't read. And I feel like this would work better as a series than as a movie, because there's kind of a lot going on, with various characters and the history of the land in which it's set. In the past, there was a war between Zol and Aquafa, but now almost all of Aquafa is ruled by Zol. There's a mine full of slaves who get attacked by dogs that carry Black Wolf Fever, which also goes by another name that I've forgotten. The only survivors are a former soldier named Van, and a little girl named Yuna (who I would guess is about three or four years old, so I have no idea what she was even doing in the mine). But anyway, Van takes Yuna out of the mine, and they soon settle in a small village where Van helps wrangle some kind of deer called pyuika. Meanwhile, the Zolian emperor is en route to the mining town for some kind of official visit. The town's ruler dies and is replaced by a younger man whose name I never caught, but he has advisors who are Aquafaese, and secretly planning a rebellion against Zol. And a doctor named Hohsalle comes to the town, along with a swordsman whose name I don't know. Hohsalle examines the bodies of people who have died from the disease, and then goes searching for Van, believing he must be immune and therefore his blood might provide a cure. Which is kind of odd because supposedly all Aquafaese people are immune, so I'm not sure why Hohsalle was so fixated on this one guy, except maybe his having already been bitten by one of the dogs was important. Anyway, someone for Zol sends a tracker woman to find Van, and she sends word to her superiors, who send troops to the village where Van and Yuna have settled, so Van leaves. But eventually Hohsalle finds him and makes a deal with Van. And the tracker joins them for awhile. And um, the Aquafaese conspirators want to eliminate Van so his blood can't be used to protect Zolians from the disease, which they are planning on using as part of their rebellion. Van and Hohsalle go to an independent Aquafaese village called Fire Horse, or something. At one point Hohsalle makes a discovery about the disease that I figured out awhile before he did. And... I dunno, lots of other stuff happens. I'm already forgetting lots of details and getting things mixed up. And I don't want to spoil how it all ends, anyway.

So... I liked the animation. And I guess I liked Van and Yuna. I'm not sure what else I can say that's positive. The story was complicated and hard to follow, and I'm not sure how much sense any of it made. It really would have been better as a series... and probably the books are a lot better than the movie.