The earliest animated films in japan were created using a Blackboard, white paper without any background, and cutouts. These were shorts like "Naughty Boy"(1915), and three that were made in 1917, including "Hare and Tortoise", and "Tokyo Pack".
Many more animated films appeared in the 1920's, mostly in traditional japanese styles, including shadow puppetry. these titles include Earthquake(1923) and Mt. Ubasute(1924).
Most of the early Japanese animators worked in small house studios, which were eventually financed by Theatrical companies who wantedthe distribution rights.
the late 1920's began the age of film sound and talking fish(Octopus Bone1927). Films like Monkey Island(1930), and Record and Projector(1931)soon followed. Technological advances improved the animation in the early 1930s. The Use of Cels improved the quality of the animation,but these films also tended to mimic western films. The first animated work in japan that synchronized sound and film was Hurrah the black Cat(1933), a Felix the cat clone. I would say that Ohishi's Fox and Racoon((1934) was probably on par with most western black and white cartoons of the 1930's.
during the next decade, Japan went to war, and the government censors who were appointed preferred to give approval to military propaganda. this was truly evident in 1943, when films like Submarine and Sei's The Naval Fighters depicted the destruction of US forces. However, not all animation produced during wartime was military propaganda. a 1940 version of Madame Butterfly was produced using silhouettes.
In 1942, Kuwata Ryo, Kumakawa Masao, Kenzo Masaoka, and others animated Spider and Tulip, using real flowers as a background, and a cartoon spider and ladybug. This piece could be interpreted as a reaffirmation of the life of the people in Japan vs the US, showing that the restrained, tied tulip stayed where it was, while the free spider was blown away by a storm. It may have been a political protest, with the Spider, like Japan, restraining flowers(conquering parts of asia), and being blown away by the storm. Maybe it was just a simple story of a bully spider getting what he deserved.

Here I will present the history of japanese animation, or japanimation on this page more to come

1952 Tar River Monster
yokoyama Ryuichi-studio-1957-a big headed dwarf
Hiroshokawa Toeicreated a "cartoon plant" in 1956
1957 "black cat's scribbling"-Toei
1958 "dreaming child"-Fukiya
1958 "snake enchantment"-Toei-feature
1953 NHK TV commercial animation
1952 Atom Boy-Mushi productions
yoji Kuri 1961-Human zoo

this information primarily taken from the film The History of Japanese Animation and from Fred Patten's "Capsule history of Anime" in Animation World Magazine, issue 1.5.

back to animation page
for more on anime, check my links page back to Guido_anchovi's Home base

Tell me what you think, and what you'd like to see
this page ŠNRG created 8/1/99, last modified 8/6/99