Synopsis
Long long time ago, in 356 B.C., a boy is born on a stormy night. He is Alexander, born to Macedonian King Philip II and his Queen Olympias who is also a priest of a secret religion. Eighteen years later, as King Philip II is thinking about conquering Persia for the rehabilitation of the Greek Empire, then quite-grown Alexander leaves to quell the revolt of Athens. Rumors have it that the young man would take the whole world under his control and a member of the Pythagorean cult, a group practicing sorcery for over 200 years, attempts to assassinate him. King Philip II is warned by his subjects about the possible hazard his son may cause him. Alexander becomes extremely popular as he bravely and wisely relinquishes the enemy. Philip II, fearing his son's rising popularity, divorces Olympias in order to keep Alexander from the throne. However, immediately after such an action, Philip II gets assassinated at his daughter's wedding...
History and myth are expressed differently as the time and place change. It's true of Alexander. Alexander, his mentor Aristotle, Cleitus and Ptolemy, all these people whom viewers had met in textbooks or storybooks appear in different features in this film. The viewers will ponder on a couple of things. First, they will think about the combination of producers Masao Maruyama and Rintaro, director Yoshinori Kanemori, character designer Peter Chung and the animation production company Mad House and Screenmusic Studios for post-production. Will their combination remain as a simple physical grouping, will it be a chemical composition that produces a much better result, or will it only hurt those involved? Second, where do we stand as we read this "Alexander?" Between the past, present and future, and between the United States, Japan and Korea, where do we stand in terms of time and space?
This "Alexander" has been made by newly editing for cinema showing the completed parts among the total 13 episodes each of which lasts 30 minutes.
Supervising Director Kanemori is not very well-know in Korea although he created the characters and key animation for "Astro Boy," "Kimba the White Lion," and "Diary of Anne." His directorial credits include "Galaxy Express 999," "Download," "Final Fantasy," and many more. Producers Masao Maruyama and Rintaro have done together such classics as Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy," "Kimba the White Lion," and "Phoenix." Other representative works include, "Final Fantasy," "Galaxy Express 999," "Dagger of Kamui," "Barefoot gen," and "Wicked City." They have over four decades of experiences in all genres and types of animation, including TV series and feature animation.
Mad House is headed by Masao Maruyama. Founded in 1972, it became prominent in 1989 by winning the 6th Japan Animation Grand Prize for Original Video Animation Contribution. It is familiar with the Korean animation fans as the producer of "Memories" and "Perfect Blue" which were shown at Puchon Festival last year, "Wicked City," "Neo Tokyo," and "Ninja Scroll." Also on this celebrity list is Peter Chung, the creator of Aeon Flux for MTV, who did character and concept designs for "Phantom 2040," "Transformers," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." He has directed major commercials for Nike, including "Nike-Michael Jordan," and "Levi's." "Alexander" shows Chung's trademark character design of expressionless faces and bodily movements that resemble those of arthropods and mollusks. In this film, however, Chung seems to have narrowed the amplitude of his roller coaster camera work.