Japanese Animation Over the Decades By Gray Foster, Ethan deVries, and Spencer Campbell

The History of Anime The first known example of japanese animation was only recently found in July 2005, ‘Katsudou Shashin’ a 3 second loop depicting a young boy in a sailor's uniform which is said to have been made between 1907 and 1911. While the real first professional anime film ‘Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki’ also known as ‘The Story of the Concierge Mukuzo Imokawa’ was made in 1917. It is considered a lost film.

1920’s - 30’s Due to the Great Kanto Earthquake, the main studio where animations were produced was destroyed, forcing the animators to split up and begin their own animation studios. This caused animation in Japan to slow to a halt and Japan fell behind the rest of the world in animation. Anime in the 1930’s was highly influenced by Disney, which means the styles and way of animation were very similar in many ways. But they were having trouble matching and competing with the foreign skill and equipment. Since foreign films were making money in other countries this forced the japanese animators to have to drop the prices of their films and work for cheap Kenzou Masaoka was the first to use sound in anime, the film ‘Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka’ was released in 1933, though this film is also considered lost. *note: this video is not ‘Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka’

During World War 2 Anime at this time was being used for mostly propaganda, or other films that enforced Japanese nationalism. Military often commissioned animators to create films showing the japanese winning against their enemies. The film ‘Momotarou: Umi no Shinpei’ made in 1944, was aimed more towards children. At the end of the war it was Japan that was able to continue creating and further expanding animation instead of it’s other competitors. *watch 25:30- 26 and 1:08:00 - 9*

1940’s - 50’s In 1958 Toei Animation released the first coloured anime film, Hakujaden ‘The Tale of the White Serpent’. The film is decidedly more Disney inspired than anime is today, featuring talking animals and musical numbers. Toei continued to produce Disney inspired films from 1958 - to the mid 60’s. I could only find part 7 as an example* i also don’t really know what to write for this slide

Anime Styles in 1960-1970 1970’s Anime: 1960’s Anime: In the 1970’s, the genre evolved with more details and more and more animes being made in colour. The eyes were in flux between big and small. Some characters had bigger eyes than others and some had smaller. Hands got more detail. Not all animes at the time were made in colour 1960’s Anime: In the 1960’s, the anime genre was best known in terms of style for characters that have big black eyes with white dots in the middle. Colour was not always common. The hands could not be anything but a straight digit with limited visual flexibility. Anime: Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Year release: 1978 Anime: Astro Boy: Hero of Space. Year released: 1964

1960’s-1970’s Anime Inspirations In the 1960’s, a man by the name of Osamu Tezuka, was one of the men who started jumpstarting anime. His titles include: “The Father of Manga”, “The God of Comics”, and “The Kamisama of Manga”. He is also credited as one of the Godfathers of Anime and is the Japanese version of Walt disney at the time. 1970’s anime Inspirations: In the 1970’s, the first japanese film studios were being driven out by the competition of television and many went bankrupt or fall apart. Some of the film studios were revived later on, but many of the old studios gave rise to more and more new studios that rose to the challenge and pressed on. During this time, the first Mecha genre animes were born. Osamu Tezuka: November 3rd 1928-february 9th 1989 Anime: Mobile Suit Gundam. Year released: 1979. One of the first Mecha animes.

1960’s-1970’s sample clips 1960’s anime sample 1970’s anime sample

1980’s anime This time period in anime is also regarded as “Japanese Cinema’s Second Golden Age” and is thought to have lasted till the early 2000’s. With the Star Wars’ film success in 1977 it started a huge want for anime based around space and mecha designs. The initially unpopular space opera ‘Space Battleship Yamato’ (First released in 1974), was revived as the theatrical film ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’ in 1979. The success of these films are often referred to as the beginning of this ‘Golden Age of Anime’. ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ (1984) is considered to be one of the most influential anime of it’s time. This film allowed it’s director Hayao Miyazaki to set up his own studio which is later known as ‘Studio Ghibli’ which has produced many of the most influential animated films. In 1984 the wildly popular ‘Dragon Ball’ brought the martial arts and fighting genres into popularity. The 1980’s also brought the sports anime genre with the release of the ‘Captain Tsubasa’ which has influenced many sports anime since. The dystopian anime ‘Akira’ was also released in 1988, considered a landmark in Japanese animation, was one of the most expensive anime film productions of all time costing 11 million to make.

Anime Styles in 1991-1999 Starting in the 1990s, animators started using computer animation to improve efficiency of production. Anime movies such as Ghost in the Shell and Princess Mononoke were created by mixing cel animation and computer-generated images. Shortly after, Fuji Film, a major cel production company, announced that it would stop cel production, hastening the switch to digital processing.

Anime Styles in 2000-2014 Unlike Disney, which focuses on the movement, anime focuses more on art quality and lets limited animation techniques make up for the lack of time spent on movement. Some animes are based on locations in the real world, such as Howl’s Moving Castle and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Anime is shot as if by a camera, using techniques such as panning and zooming that would be difficult to produce in reality. Some anime has inspired American television shows such as Avatar: The Last Airbender and the web series RWBY; which use anime styled animation and are considered American-made anime. R.I.P RWBY creator: Monty Oum June 22nd, 1981- February 1st, 2015

2000-2014 sample clips 2000s sample 2010s sample Don’t watch full clip

Anime’s influence on modern animation Due to the various different animation styles in japan the japanese have introduced many new things to the animation world, including exaggerated facial expressions and also often body styles. The influence of anime on the western world dating back as far as the 80’s when the Transformers tv show in the United States was first made.

· Provide a brief history or overview of the time period · Provide a brief history or overview of the time period. This can be done in paragraph, point or timeline format. ( 7/7 possible marks) · List the influences and importance of the style of animation. In other words, how did this style of animation move the industry forward or contribute significantly. ( 4/4 marks) · Provide images or links to YouTube for important examples of the various types of animations within that period. (2 /4 marks) Total 13/15 = 87%