Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons, at Fantasia 2024

Item: Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons, at Fantasia 2024
Author: Joe Bendel

by Joe Bendel

In the fan-favorite anime film, Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, the simian warrior Hanuman steals the show, because who doesn’t love a big talking monkey? The classic Japanese-Indian co-production directed by Ram Mohan, Koichi Sasaki, and Yugo Sako presents a reasonably faithful adaptation, from an Indian perspective.

Over the centuries, the archetypal epic travelled across Southeast Asian, taking on different Buddhist and Jainist variations. Fittingly, Bangkok-based RiFF Animation Studio retells the Ramayana (or Ramakien) from a Thai perspective. It is a much looser adaptation, but there is still a Hanuman—sort of—in Veerapatra Jinanavin & Manassavin Malevong’s Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons, which had its North American premiere at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival.

According to the English subtitles, the opening preamble places the film: “In a galaxy far, far away.” It then quickly adds: “In another dimension,” so hopefully Disney cannot sue them, even though that is only the start of the Star Wars “echoes” viewers will pick up on throughout Mantra Warrior. Once again, the heroic Prince Ram and his beautiful Princess Sita were unjustly exiled from Planet Ayodia. For years, they lived happily, with only Ram’s earnest but clumsy brother Luxshaman and a flock of cute little floating aliens for company.

© 2023 RiFF Studio, ASAP Corp. All rights reserved.

Everything changes when Tossakaan, the evil emperor with the intimidating-looking mask, kidnaps Sita. Does that sound familiar to science fiction fans, beyond the Ramayana? To rescue to Sita, General Sucreep must battle through the forces of Tossakaan’s ally, King Palee. Fortunately, the Ayodia loyalist has two highly placed spies undercover in Palee’s army, Wela and Budsaba. He also has Vayu, an inexperienced but enthusiastic warrior, who pilots a distinctively simian-looking mecha suit. If the eight moons align, Vayu could even unleash the power of his Hanumaan mantra.

If you want a faithful adaptation, the 1992 anime feature is still probably your best bet, while those looking for a subversive feminist riff should check out Nina Paley’s Sita Sings the Blues. However, screenwriter Sornperes Subsermsri deserves credit for rather cleverly “borrowing” elements from both the traditional Ramayana and Star Wars lore, in almost equal measure, and combining them in a mecha context. As fans know, George Lucas took great inspiration for Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, so it rather makes sense these seemingly dissimilar sources would be so compatible.

Arguably, most of the film’s problems involve characterization instead. To put it simply, many are shallow cliches. As you might expect, Vayu is reckless and undisciplined. However, the tragically high cost of his rash decisions could still surprise many longtime science fiction fans. Gen. Sucreep certainly represents a familiar grizzled and barrel-chested stock character—but he is still a reassuring and appealing presence.

Frankly, Prince Ram spends so much time chanting mantras and astral projecting, he has almost no tangible personality to speak. As for poor Sita, we hardly have the chance to get to know her. Perhaps some viewers might be troubled the weirdly “flamboyant” [and somewhat sexually-suggestive] depiction of Luxshaman, but he certainly helps distinguish Mantra Warriors from other Ramayana adaptations.

On the other hand, the design of the alien worlds and science fiction hardware pop off the screen. The coolest creation might be the giant elephant-shaped space warships, which nicely infuse a Thai flavor to the “far, far away” setting. Arguably, the best realized battle sequence comes early, when Sucreep and Vayu beat a hasty, super-kinetic retreat from an ambush on an arid planetary outpost. The later mecha-space battles lack the same level of energy and agile animation.

Mantra Warriors presents good versus evil on a galactic scale. That is always compelling. Plus, it has a monkey mecha-suit and flying space elephants. Consequently, much of the film’s appeal is rooted in its fusion of novelties or soothingly recognizable epic tropes. It all adds up to reasonable but not overwhelming amount of fun. Recommended for fans of the Ramayana in all its forms, Mantra Warrior: The Legend of the Eight Moons will likely appear at further genre and animation festivals, following its screening at this year’s Fantasia.