Japan Synopsis
鹿の王 ユナと約束の旅
“Fight to survive.”
Following a brutal war, former soldier Van toils in a mine controlled by the ruling empire. One day, his solitary existence is upended when a pack of wild dogs carrying a deadly and incurable disease attack, leaving only Van and a young girl named Yuna as survivors. Finally free, the pair seek out a simple existence in the countryside but are pursued by nefarious forces. Intent on protecting Yuna at all costs, Van must uncover the true cause of the plague ravaging the kingdom—and its possible cure.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with The Deer King. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
3 sharedDemon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train
★ 8.3 · Japan
3 sharedBattle Royale
★ 7.3 · Japan
3 sharedSword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night
★ 7.8 · Japan
3 sharedThe Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes
★ 7.8 · Japan
3 sharedUgetsu
★ 8.0 · Japan
3 sharedRascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl
★ 8.2 · Japan
Other Titles From Production I.G
Animation + Drama in Japan
730 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Animation and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding The Deer King itself).
The 2020–2022 Japan Window
In the crowded 2020-2022 Japan release window, The Deer King sits at #352 of 452. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.
The 2020s Japan Landscape
2021 was the decade’s peak output year for Japan — 170 titles released, including The Deer King. Bars below show how the 2020s stacked up year by year (539 total).
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 169 other Japan films in 2021.
The 4348th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
44 audience reviews — more than 61% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 73th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on The Deer King, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- medieval · 5
- disease · 3
- fictious world · 1
- survival · 28
- feudal japan · 26
- slavery · 7
- epidemic · 7
- anime · 711
- based on novel or book · 288
- tragedy · 33
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #2,947 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (36th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.3 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Animation productions specifically: #1,900 of 2,532 (top 75%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Production I.G, KADOKAWA, Nippon Television Network Corporation, TOHO |
| Runtime | 1h 53m |
| Release Date | October 28, 2021 |
| IMDb | tt11417856 |
| Official Site | gkids.com |