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Moshi Moshi ...
This is da' article about A brief history of anime, good for you whom wanna
know, from where who what or how the anime is and bit about manga too. Don't
forget it !! this article is copyrighted by Wes
and I didin't make change of these words and sentence ( beside I changed about
da' fonts and da' colour ) So, any mistyping or wrong information not my
fault.
nb : click the hyperlink for more information 'bout the author ^_^ !!
A Brief History of Anime
Early Days
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Japanese graphic
artists began to feel the influence of two very powerful Western inventions: the
newspaper comic strip and the motion picture. With its word balloons and linear
story-line, the comic strip provided Japanese story-tellers with a structure
that was readily accessible to the masses. Soon, popular cartoonists like
Rakuten Kitazawa and Ippei Okamoto were producing their own serialized newspaper
strips. These would eventually contribute to the on-going development of the
modern Japanese comic book or "manga."
In 1914, cartoonists were among the first Japanese artists to
experiment with animated motion pictures. Japan's first world-wide success was
Kitayama Seitaro's short film Momotaro (1918). Although the Japanese animation
industry continued to grow slowly, it's one, last pre-war milestone was Chikara
To Onna No Yononaka. Appearing in 1932, the short-film was the first animated
“talkie” in Japanese.
Elsewhere in the world, the animation industry was not only
thriving but breaking new ground. The undisputed leaders in the field were Walt
Disney and the Fleisher Brothers. People now forget what a shock it was for
Disney to even consider producing a full-length animated feature. But, when Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs opened in 1937 to overwhelming popular acclaim,
Disney demonstrated that animation could be just as expressive and viable a
medium as live-action film.
The popularity and influence of Disney and the Fleishers’
animated films were not limited to the United States. Before World War II, much
of their work was seen by receptive audiences in Europe and Asia. These works
also inspired the dreams of a young man who would go on to alter the direction
of Japanese graphic story-telling forever.
The God
As unbelievable as it may seem, the success of both the anime
and manga industries in Japan rests firmly on the shoulders of one man: Osamu
Tezuka.
Originally an aspiring animator, Tezuka became a cartoonist
after World War II. He was only 20 years old when his first significant work,
the novel-length Shintakarajima or “New Treasure Island,” appeared in 1947.
In just a few years, he became Japan’s most popular manga artist, eventually
earning the title “God of Manga.”
Tezuka’s approach was completely different from anything
that had come before. Whereas, most contemporary manga stories were told in a
straight-forward, stage-like fashion, Tezuka’s illustrations exploded with
action and emotion. Borrowing techniques from French and German cinema, he
stretched his stories out for hundreds of pages. To lend poignancy to a single
emotional moment, a scene might unfold slowly over several pages. What Tezuka
was doing was telling stories in the manner of a filmmaker. In the process, he
was also teaching an entire generation of artists how to visualize and compose a
story kinetically.
For manga and anime fans, Tezuka’s most obvious
contribution came in the design of his characters. The artist needed a vast
emotion template to tell his often complex stories. Seeking inspiration, he
returned to the pre-war Disney cartoons that he loved as a child. Just like
Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Tezuka’s animal and human characters sported
round heads with huge, expressive eyes. Although these features appeared simple
and cartoonish, they actually allowed a character to express a wide range of
emotions, from adulation to seething hatred.
Successive generations of manga and anime artists discovered
the flexibility of Tezuka’s character designs and adapted them into their own
diverse works. This, in turn, led to today’s typical “manga-style”
character with his or her simplified facial features and frisbee-sized eyeballs.
Sailor Moon, Speed Racer, and even Ash Ketchum can all thank Tezuka for their
dashing good looks. Eventually, Tezuka’s great success as a manga artist led
to a more direct impact on the post-war animation industry.
From Film to TV
In the mid 1950s, Hiroshi Okowa was the president of the
Japanese film company Toei. Okowa’s dream was to create an Asian film studio
that would produce animated features similar to those put out by Walt Disney
Studios in America. In 1956, Toei Animation was founded and, two years later,
the company released its first full-length feature, The Tale of the White
Serpent.
Based on a Chinese legend, The Tale of the White Serpent was
considerably darker in tone than your typical Disney feature. It and Toei’s
follow-up films The Mischievous Prince Slays the Giant Serpent (1963); The
Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (1966); and Puss in Boots (1967) paved the
way for a more serious and adult approach to animation than had previously been
seen. These latter three films were the work of influential director Yasuji
Mori. They also featured some of the earliest work of two later giants in the
anime field: Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyasaki.
Tezuka, the undisputed giant of manga, formally entered the
anime field in 1958 when he started working on the storyboards, screenplay, and
character designs for a Toei feature based on Wu Cheng-en’s The Pilgrimage to
the West. (For those not familiar with the source material, this is the monkey
king legend which would later serve as the inspiration for dragonball.) Around
the time that the film premiered in 1961 as Alakazam the Great, Tezuka founded
the Osamu Tezuka Production Animation Department or, as it was eventually
called, Mushi Productions. His goal was to produce animated theatrical features
as well as episodic series for the fledgling Japanese television industry.
Mushi Productions premiere series, Tetsuwan Atom (US: Atom
Boy) missed out on being the first domestically-produced animated television
show by only a few months. That honor fell to Otogi Manga Calander or “Manga
Stories Calendar,” which featured short, historical cartoons. But, in all
it’s black-and-white glory, Tetsuwan Atom followed the amazing adventures of a
robot boy as he fights crime and protects his friends. The show became so
popular that it was even distributed worldwide.
With the success of Mushi Productions’ first series
assured, Tezuka quickly adapted another of his popular manga works into an
animated program. Jungle Taitei (US: Kimba the White Lion) was the first
Japanese animated program to appear in color and the first to have an American
co-producer. NBC Television helped to finance the series as well as distribute
it stateside. Unfortunately, the network also exercised a degree of creative
control on the series which limited the scope of Tezuka’s adaptation. The
original story saw the main character Kimba grow to adulthood, but the
television series kept him as an adolescent. Later, Tezuka was able to redress
this affront in the animated sequel Jungle Taitei Susume Leo! (US: Leo the
Lion.)
Mushi continued to create new programs and even the
occasional animated feature film like 1969’s Senya Ichiya Monogatari.
Eventually, though, the production company would go bankrupt. Tezuka did not
just “go back to drawing comics” because he had never really stopped.
Throughout his animation career, he continued to feed the every growing demand
for his manga stories with new and exciting titles. He now left the work of
animating his manga, such as Black Jack and Ambassador Magma, to other artists.
The Sophisticated ‘70s
As new and exciting as Japanese animated television seemed in
the 1960s, you could not escape the fact that most series were created strictly
for children. Notable exceptions did exist. Jungle Taitei frequently ventured
into complex, multi-part storylines. Another early show, 8-Man (US: 8th Man)
featured a main character who was murdered by criminals and resurrected as a
robot. Mach Go Go Go (US: Speed Racer) could be downright moody, at times, even
with its goofy monkey sidekick. By and large, though, animated television
programs followed the tried and true good guy vs. bad guy formula.
Equally as influential was the work of artist Masamume Shirow.
Through the adaptation of his original manga Appleseed and his own direction of
Black Magic M-66, he presented a future where the lines between technology and
humanity began to blur. Although Shirow’s energetic video series Dominion Tank
Police can best be described as a police-mecha-comedy, his recent masterpiece,
the 1995 film Kokaku Kidoutai (US: Ghost in the Shell,) once again took on the
man versus machine interface.
Not all new anime was as outlandish as Shirow or Otomo’s.
In fact some of it was quite serious. Keiji Nakazawa wrote of his experiences as
a Hiroshima survivor in the heartrending manga saga Barefoot Gen. With Director
Masaki Mori, Nakazawa adapted his novels into a frank and powerful 1983 film.
Exploring similar territory, Hotaru No Haka (US: Grave of the Fireflies)
followed the struggle of two orphans who survived the fire-bombing of Tokyo. Few
live-action films have ever come as close to capturing the true horrors of war
as this animated film did.
Audiences were now becoming more receptive to animation that
wasn’t strictly action or comedy oriented. In response, anime producers turned
to Japanese literature for inspiration. Based on the classic novel by Murasaki
Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (US: The Tale of Genji) was a fascinating study in
palace intrige. A novel by 20th century philosopher and children’s write Kenji
Miyazawa inspired the delightful Ginga Tetsudo No Yoru (US: Night on the
Galactic Railroad.) The success of such films showed that anime had finally
broken free from the restraints of its earlier “kids-only” label to enter
the realm of high-brow acceptance.
The New Studios
Out of the ‘80s anime explosion, two production
companies emerged that would lead the industry into the 21st century: Gainax and
Studio Ghibli.
Founded by Toshio Okada, Gainax brought together a group of
creators who were part of the first generation raised on Japanese animation.
Driven by their shared-enthusiasm for the medium, Gainax’s staff produced some
of the most significant and popular works of the ‘80s and ‘90s. The
company’s first video Otaku No Video held a mirror up to the bizarre world of
anime fandom. This lighthearted semi-autobiographical romp didn’t even hint at
the greatness that would suddenly appear in the company’s next release, the
science fiction masterpiece Oneamisu No Tsubasa Oritsu Uchu Gun (US: The Wings
of Honneamise.) The video series Top O Nerael Gunbuster (US: Gunbuster) and TV
show No Umi No Nadia (US: Nadia The Secret of Blue Water) verified the
company’s skill at presenting exciting adventures, both futuristic and
historical. Finally, Gainax established itself as the current leader of episodic
science-fiction by producing the beautifully rendered TV show Shinseiki
Evangelion (US: Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Studio Ghibli grew out of the association of two long-time
anime creators Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyasaki. Both worked on various Toei TV
and film projects during the 1960’s. In 1971, the two men served as directors
on the original Lupin Sansei TV show and later collaborated on the children’s
adventure series Mirai no Shonen Conan (Eng. Trans.: Future Boy Conan.)
Miyasaki’s first significant directing job came with the 1978 theatrical
release Cagliostro No Shiro (US: Castle of Cagliostro.) Once again delightfully
portraying the antics of the Lupin character, this successful feature was
followed by a string of landmark films: Kaze no Tani No Nausicaa (US: Nausicaa
of the Valley of the Wind) Tenku No Shiro rapyuto (US: Laputa: Castle in the
Sky) Tonari No Totoro (US: My Neighbor Totoro,) Majoo No Takkyubin (US: Kiki’s
Delivery Service,) Kurenai No Tuta/Porco Rosso (US: Crimson Pig,) Heisei Tanuki
Gassen Ponpoko (US: Present-Day Great Raccoon War Ponpoko,) and Mononoke Hime
(US: Princess Mononoke.)
Although Takahata filled various behind-the-scenes roles in
Miyasaki’s projects, from producer to musical director, he also displayed a
considerable gift for direction and screenwriting in his own right. As already
mentioned, he was the creative genius behind the gripping Hotaru No Haka. His
moving animated film Omoide Poro Poro (US: Only Yesterday) was the simple story
of a woman coming to grips with the memories of her youth. This ability to tell
the small, human story against the backdrop of greater events was a hallmark of
Takahata and Miyasaki’s considerable talents. Coupled with flawless hand-drawn
animation, it was a formula that placed Studio Ghibli firmly at the top of the
Japanese film industry.
Future
As the ‘90s wind down, optimism comes easily to the anime
fan. In Japan, Gundam celebrates its 20th anniversary with a whole new TV show,
while Akira Toriyama’s wacky Dr. Slump returns to the small screen with a new
series of his own. Osamu Tezuka’s influence is still being felt as two recent
films based on his earlier manga works, Black Jack and Jungle Taitaei,
demonstrate. Meanwhile, older audiences have been treated to the imaginative X:
The Motion Picture and Katsuhiro Otomo’s anthology film Memories.
International audiences are also enjoying a growing influx of
popular anime. Pokmon, Sailor Moon, and Dragonball have delighted children
wherever they’ve been shown. Most significantly is the deal that Disney
Studios and Studio Ghibli inked to bring all of Miyasaki’s filmed masterpieces
to American audiences. Entertainment Weekly picked the first release under this
agreement, Kiki’s Delivery Service, as its 1998 video of the year. Later this
year, look for Mononoke Hime to appear in theaters across the country.
Anime’s success can be credited to the unswerving
dedication of many japanese artists to fully exploit the possibilities of
animation as a creative medium. These gifted artists understood that they could
do more with moving pictures than just entertain children. They could explore
the boundaries of space and examine the complexities of the human condition.
It’s this willingness to experiment that has mad anime so dynamic and
appealing. This same quality promises to keep anime a vital artistic option for
filmmakers in the 21st Century.
Notes from the author (Wes)
"I’d like to thank Michael
O'Connell, without who’s presentation at Otakon ’99 I would have never been
able to compose such a thing…Saki, for OtakuGamerz, Wedge, for…being
wedge…and some such nonsense…and above all Cid and Nick, for introducing me
to Anime…I hope you enjoyed!", Wes says.
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