Taro the Dragon Boy

Title:Taro the Dragon Boy
Taro der Drachenjunge (German)
Taro der kleine Drachenjunge (German)
Taro el Niño Dragon (Spanish)
Taro the Dragon's Son
Tatsu no Ko Tarou (Japanese)
الولد التنين (Arabic)
龍の子太郎 (Japanese)
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: R1 License - Discotek
Lazy and selfish Taro loves to eat and sleep and wrestle with the animals. With no direction in his life, a wizard appears that gives him a special potion. With this potion, he gains the strength of a hundred men - but he can only use it when he is helping others.
(Summary Courtesy of Anime News Network)


1979 anime film that runs for 75 minutes.
Animated by Toei Animation
Licensed by Discotek


Based on a classic Japanese folk tale and the novel of the same name written by Miyoko Matsutani.
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 6 6 6 5 6 Ggultra2764 [series:1986#1552]
Taro the Dragon Boy seems geared towards children considering how simple and frequent the movie's fantasy elements take effect. Being based on an old Japanese folk tale, this movie appears to place a strong moral focus on exploring the Japanese traditional mentality of thinking about the group before the individual. This is shown through Taro acquiring his super strength through a tengu which comes with a catch, he needs to cut it with his laziness and help others out, in particular his fellow villagers struggling with growing crops. The movie comes across as mostly focused on advancing its simple plot and rubbing its moral lesson in the face of its viewer. Characters tend to be around only if it serves to help push along two said elements, particularly Taro's later journey to seek out his mother as he comes across villages and characters that make him aware of the movie's lesson if said villages and characters either need help or behave selfishly. But considering Taro knows of the lesson rather well before setting off on his journey, it makes expression of this lesson seem kind of pointless to me and very repetitious to see it brought up enough times. It is what leads to the movie's simplicity also being a major issue for it.

While I am normally a sap for Japanese feudal era titles, Taro the Dragon Boy is too bogged down by its simplicity and moral preaching for me to get any kind of enjoyment from it. It's far from the worst anime series I've seen as it did have something it wanted to tell. But it isn't a movie I would be willing to watch again anytime soon, if ever.

Last updated Friday, June 03 2011. Created Friday, June 03 2011.

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