Tales from Earthsea

is a 2006 Japanese anime epic fantasy film co-written and directed by Gorō Miyazaki in his directorial debut, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, DreamWorks Pictures, Mitsubishi and Toho, and distributed by the latter company. The film is based on a combination of plot and character elements from the first four books of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series (A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, and Tehanu), as well as Hayao Miyazaki's manga series Shuna's Journey. The film's title is named from the collection of short stories Tales from Earthsea, published in 2001. The film was released in Japan on July 29, 2006 and was released in the United States by Walt Disney Studios on August 13, 2010. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its animation, music and visuals, but criticized the narrative, pacing, and overall differences from the novels. Le Guin herself stated that the plot was "entirely different" to that of her books. She told director Gorō Miyazaki, "It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie", but did, however, later express her disappointment with the final result. A film comic adaptation of the film has been published in Japan. Plot As a war galley sails through a storm, two dragons fight above the clouds, ending in one's death. In the kingdom of Enlad, the royal wizard Root proclaims the dragons to be a sign of a loss of balance in the world. The king is dealing with disease sweeping across his kingdom, and the disappearance of his son, Prince Arren. In the middle of the night, Arren kills his father, steals his father's sword, and flees the castle. Arren travels through the desert and is rescued from wolves by the archmage Sparrowhawk. Together they travel to the city of Hort Town. When Arren explores the town alone, he rescues a young girl named Therru from slavers, but is later captured by the same slave master, Hare. His sword is dumped in the sea. Sparrowhawk rescues Arren from the slave caravan and takes him to a farm run by Sparrowhawk's oldest and greatest friend Tenar, who lives with Therru.