"Shônen Sarutobi Sasuke" (known as "Magic Boy" in English) was the first anime feature film to be released in the United States, and was handled by a major Hollywood studio on these shores. Those facts alone make the movie interesting, but the movie itself has other attributes that make it worth a look. It's clear that there was some influence from the Disney studio, most notably with the design of some of the animal characters, and how these animals are used for comic relief. But for the most part, the movie does its own thing, and in a very professional manner. The animation is generally smooth, and there is some animation that is surprisingly detailed even by today's standards. The art design of the backgrounds and various characters is also eye-catching. The movie definitely looks good. However, when it comes to the writing, there are some notable weaknesses. The basic story itself has nothing wrong with it. In fact, the ancient Japan setting and use of Japanese mythology gives it some freshness compared to American animated production. Where the writing goes wrong is with the characters. The characters are pretty weak. We learn little about the hero before he goes out on his quest to become a magician. He is trained by a wizard that we hardly learn anything about, such as why he decides to train the boy. The witch, the chief villain of the movie, doesn't have much dialogue and it's hard to determine what is motivating her.Despite these weak characters, the movie still can be enjoyed. Kids will probably be captivated by the color, action, and child protagonist. Adults will appreciate the animation and the insight into a foreign culture. It's worth a look.

This was the first anime I watched and the detail, the story writing and lessons learned by "Magic Boy" were inspiring. Take any martial arts master teaching young student and multiply it a thousand fold and you have an inkling of what you can behold with this movie... okay I'm exaggerating. If I remember correctly, the art was somehow reminded me of those Chinese paintings of mist/cloud shrouded mountains since that is where he is trained by the old master. I particularly remember magic boy having to get pails of water two at a time and carry them from a stream down hill over craggy mountain boulders and winding paths, in rain, sleet, snow. I recommend this movie for those with kids... it can teach them of determination and perseverance. I know there are some sort of moral lessons in there somewhere... I wish I could watch it again!

I saw this on first release, on the big screen. Released by MGM (Japan).It has since been shown on UK satellite tv, but a long fight sequence seems to have been cut short. The transformation fight has some similarities to the later transformation fight in Disney's The Sword in the Stone - if you can watch the two back to back, the differences in style and tone are quite interesting.Magic Boy is relatively primitive compared to modern anime, however you can still see the attention to detail, and the importance of the story telling. The sheer determination of our little hero is quite something to behold.Worth checking out if you can find it and like modern anime.

I saw this movie several times around 1963 (in the Philipines) when I was about 5 years old. The movie theater was just across the street from our house and I went there everyday (for free) and I was able to see a lot of movies even at such a young age. I have forgotten many of the movies that I saw then but this one remained etched in my mind. There was something enchanting about this movie and it really mesmerized me. I remember it was about a young boy on some kind of a mission and that he had magical powers. And that's all I remember about this movie!That's why I have not voted on this movie (yet!). I would really like to see it again but this is a very hard to find movie. Perhaps somebody out there can tell me where I can find or buy a copy. Any help is highly appreciated.