From the Other Side of the...
After speaking volumes about his broken childhood and the time the got hit by a...
A Concise History of Anime: The First Anime, Part I
Some folks may surmise that anime began in the 1970s or 80s—but, sadly, they would be wrong. Western culture’s acceptance of this timeless Eastern art form occurred at the heels of some revolutionary advances in animation technology and a more tolerant west. In fact, anime has been produced in Japan for a nearly a century. [...]
Some folks may surmise that anime began in the 1970s or 80s—but, sadly, they would be wrong. Western culture’s acceptance of this timeless Eastern art form occurred at the heels of some revolutionary advances in animation technology and a more tolerant west. In fact, anime has been produced in Japan for a nearly a century. (Read the blogger’s preface to A Concise History of Anime, here.)
Manga illustrator, Oten Shimokawa, is credited with having created the first anime film screened in Japan, in the January of 1917. Based on a character from one of his manga comics, Shimokawa illustrated “The Story of the Concierge Mukuzo Imokawa” for The Natural Color Moving Picture Company. Japanese interest in animated films are drawn (no pun intended) back to an animation made in France by illustrator Émile Cohl. It is called “Fantasmagorie”. This two minute film contains animations of absurd and sometimes violent scenes that followed no apparent plot line—just two minutes of animated bliss. “Fantasmagorie” (translated: “A Fantasy”) was premiered in 1908 and made its way over to Japan in the spring of 1914. Despite its lack of quality, direction, and its brevity, the film was a revelation. Animators in Japan began to experiment with animation techniques and jumped at the chance to produce entire animated films. Although quality issues plagued the First Generation of Japanese Animators (the quality of “Mukuzo Imokawa” was so poor, Shimokawa is said to have been disappointed at the film’s premier), a total of three films were debuted in 1917 in Japan, Shimokawa’s being the first.
These early attempts at animation were more like hand drawn scenes than they were feature films. Pre-war animators continued to develop the technology in animation, using cutout animation, then celluloid animation (which was much more expensive), and playing with camera tricks. Eventually, Japanese producers put out animes that would rival western companies—like Disney—in their scope of production. They began to incorporate sound, talking, and song as well combining several different and innovative animation techniques. During the Second World War, the Japanese military began to commission animators to produce films that would contribute to the country’s sense of cultural nationalism. The government’s involvement gave a big boost to the animation industry and furthered the genre’s financial reach to the point of putting out the first feature length anime film entitled, “Momotoro’s Divine Sea Warriors”, in 1945. (Below is a screenshot from the film.)
Directed by Mitsuyo Seo, “Divine Sea Warriors” is the feature-length sequel to Seo’s original 37-minute bit of animated war propaganda called simply “Momotoro’s Sea Eagles”. It screened two years previous in 1943
Directed by Mitsuyo Seo, “Divine Sea Warriors” is the feature-length sequel to Seo’s original 37-minute bit of animated war propaganda called simply “Momotoro’s Sea Eagles”. It screened two years previous in 1943.
Due to the flow of funds into the animation industry through the war and Japan’s economic resilience throughout war times, they emerged on the other side of World War II as an Eastern animation powerhouse. Toei Animation, a production company, was founded in 1948, three years after the end of the war, and it would be ten years before the studio would put out the film, “Hakujaden” in 1958. Taking only eight months to animate, with a working staff of over 13,000 people, “Hakujaden”—or “Panda and the Magic Serpent” in the west—is widely considered to be the first “anime” ever, indicative of the way Japan’s style would develop with a likely influence over everything that came after it.
Pictured are the two main characters from ‘Hakujaden’, 1958. At the time, this was the pinnacle of Japanese animation
Read the blogger’s preface to “A Concise History of Anime” here.
Read “A Concise History of Anime: Anime Today, Part II” here.
The Digital Artist: Making Music Videos
This post was provided by our friends at Daddy Van Productions, a live concert video production company. Recently, Chicago-based hard rock band,...
A Profile of Digital Artist Charlie Terrell
This post was provided by our friends at Daddy Van Productions, a live concert video production company. Charlie Terrell is an unconventional artist....
