Princess Iron Fan is a 1941 Chinese animated film. It is an adaptation of a sequence from Journey to the West.
Xuanjang and his compatriots arrive in a village with unusual heat problem, caused by a nearby mountain of fire. Even worse, said mountain is right in the middle of their path to India.
However, they know a way to extinguish the fire, a magical fan owned owned the titular Princess Iron Fan. Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing all go to her palace in attempt to ask to borrow the fan. After she refuses, the three try to divise a way to steal from her.
Notable for several reasons: 1) It was China's first animated feature film, and help kick-start the Asian animated film industry in general. 2) A young Osamu Tezuka saw it and is part of what inspiried him to get into comics and animation.
This film provides examples of the following tropes:
- Antagonist Title: Princess Iron Fan is a bad guy.
- Big Eater: While shapeshited into the Bull King, Zhu Bajie eats a masive feast prepared for him.
- Carnivore Confusion: When Zhu Bajie enters Princess Iron Fan's house disguised as the Bull King, she serves him pork. While he did eat plenty of food, it's unknown if he specifically ate any pork.
- Furry Reminder: Zhu Bajie squeals when he sleeps.
- I Have Your Wife: A heroic example: Xuanjang's disciples and the villagers trap the Bull King in a tree. Princess Iron Fan shows up and begs to release him. They only do so when she hands over the fan.
- Noodle People: Sun Wukong is designed this way.
- One-Winged Angel: After getting his ass handed to him in human form, the Bull King turns into his much stronger bull form.
- Rotoscoping: Most of the movie is animated this way.
- Shapeshifting Seducer: During his turn to try and get the fan, Zhu Bajie shapeshifts into the Bull King and seduces Princess Iron Fan. It almost works until the real Bull King shows up to steal it back, himself shapeshifted into Sun Wukong.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and the Bull King all do this.
- Wartime Cartoon: The film isn't explicitly about the war, but the message about banding together to overthrow an oppressive force is definitely relevant to China's occupation by Japan at the time.
