Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai

As promised (or threatened), Orphan is releasing more of the early Toei Douga anime movies; in this case, the 1967 tenth anniversary release, Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai (translated for its US release as Jack and the Witch). This is a lively comedy adventure, loosely (very loosely) inspired by the Old English saga Beowulf, read and despised by generations of put-upon English literature students.

The movie opens with a brief nod to its source: a portentous voice talks of a hero's valorous defeat of Grendel and the great feast that followed.

This is promptly forgotten, and action cuts to Jack, a young boy of indeterminate age, maybe a teenager, maybe a bit younger. Stocky and pimpled, he lives in a rambling house with his animal companions: a mouse named Squeaky, a bear named Pooh, a fox (unnamed), and a dog (also unnamed). 

Cruising around one day in his steam-driven car, which he also rides inside the house, Jack encounters a mysterious girl named Kiki, who is piloting a sort-of helicopter. She offers him a ride. 

He accepts, and she whisks him and Sqeuaky off to the castle of the evil witch Grendel and her crow familiar. 

Kiki, it turns out, is a demon and Grendel's servant. She and the other demons, including her brother Shibari, a rope master, are tasked with kidnapping humans and animals and bringing them to the castle to be turned into demons. 

Squeaky is caught, but Jack manages to escape and return to his house.

The next day, to avenge the humiliation of Jack's escape, Kiki comes back in her copter and kidnaps Jack's house, with Jack and his companions inside. They cut themselves loose, bring down Kiki's copter, and are about to finish her off when Jack has second thoughts (she's a girl, after all). 

He hesitates long enough for Kiki to escape. Jack and his friends return to the demon castle to liberate Squeaky, but Kiki, who claims she now wants to help, has set a trap for them. Slapstick mayhem, preposterous adventures, and narrow escapes ensue,

until the villainous witch is defeated, and Kiki, Shibari, and the other demons are returned to their human form. 

This summary can't convey how looseand funny the movie is. Toei's animation style had evolved substantially since the rounded, smooth, Disney-esque days of Hakujaden and Saiyuuki. Shounen Jack is more angular, abrupt, and, well cartoonish. Jack doesn't look like a typical shounen hero; he looks like a young adolescent, bad complexion and all. The movie is visually inventive, fast paced, and very engaging. Except for the saccharine ending song to accompany the happy-ever-after ending, the songs are bright, comical, and functionally integrated with the slapstick story. It even has a sly wink for the adults seeing the movie: Kiki's brother's name, Shibari, means rope bondage.

The voice cast is from another era:

• Yamaoka Hisano (Witch Grendel) was an actress. She had no other anime credits.
• Nakamura Meiko (Kiki, Young Jack) played the title roles in Henbe and Uchuujin Pipi. She voiced all the roles in Koneko no Studio, an Orphan release.
• Kuri Chiharu (Kiki's brother Shibari) appeared in several Toei anime movies, including Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji, Andersen Monogatari, and Chibikko Remi to Meiken Kapi.
• Ootake Hiroshi (Fox) played Tezuka-sensei in Fushigi na Melmo, Michael in the What's Michael? OVAs, Hamegg in Tezuka Osamu Ga Kieta?! 20 Seiki Saigo no Kaijiken, and the principal in Don Dracula. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Kumakura Kazuo (Pooh) appeared in both the 1963 and 1980 versions of Astro Boy. He played Papa Panda in Panda Gopanda, Oz in The Wizard of Oz movie, Thomas R. Manx Cat in Manxmouse, Sima Hui in Sangokushi, Pew in Shin Takarajima, and Inspector Unmei in Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru. The last four are Orphan releases.
• Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (Squeaky) is the daughter of Kuroyanagi Cho. She was a prominent character in Chocchan Monogatari and the main character in Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window. She played Petronella van Daan in The Diary of Ann Frank, an Orphan release.
• Mizugaki Youko (Dog) played Uran in the original Astro Boy, Touch in Hustle Punch, and Mauni in Taiyou no Ouji: Horus no Daibouken, an Orphan release.

The director, Yabushita Taiji, also directed Hyokkori Hyoutanjima, Hito no Kurashi no Hyakumannen: Mani Mani March, and Nihon Manga Eiga Hattatsushi: Anime Shingajou. None of them have available raws.

Perevodildo translated and timed. Yume translation checked. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw is a web rip from heponeko. It is the best available; the movie has never been released on Blu-ray or broadcast in high-definition.

Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai was licensed in the US by American International Pictures (AIP), best known for the Roger Corman horror films and the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach party pictures, and released as Jack and the Witch. Unlike 1960's Saiyuuki, which was butchered for its American release as Alakazam the Great, the video of Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai  was left more or less intact. This would allow the dub, taken from ARR's release, to be used. However, the dub is a completely rewritten script and is not even remotely a translation of the Japanese. Accordingly, I've left it out. You can download a patch to create a dual audio version, with a signs only subtitle track, from here.

Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai is a rollicking good time, one of the better Toei Douga cartoons from the 1960s. It has laughs, thrills, and chills for audiences of all ages, and the mandatory happy ending seems properly earned. You can get the movie from the usual torrent site.