Anime History
First of all, I’d like to introduce myself: I’m Andrew, and I hope I’ll be around here for a while.
I’ll be focusing mainly on writing about anime content, so I thought the best way to introduce myself to this awesome blog and its readers would be doing a general view over anime itself.
What is anime all about? When it was created? It was the same then than how it is now? I asked myself all those questions, and many more, and I didn’t have a quick answer for them. Therefore, I decided to do a little research about it, to help myself, and hopefully you too, to know a bit more about this Anime thing we all like so much.
Surprisingly, I ended up writing an article about it. It isn’t much my type of writing, because I don’t usually do this much research about such concrete things when writing. But I thought it could be a great place to start.
So…
What exactly is “Anime”?
The word “Anime”, which is an abbreviation of the word animation, is used inside Japan to refer to any kind of animation. Outside Japan however, it has become a term which refers entirely to animation from Japan.
It all started when Japanese filmmakers began to experiment with animation techniques from The West at the first years of the twentieth century. There aren’t many of this first animation works ever done that are still around though (there are several reasons for this and most of them are of a commercial nature). Those first works were done with a variety of methods, some of them were:
-Paintings directly to the film.
-Chalkboard drawings.
-Paper cut outs.
And a few more…
Those were of course very different from that cel-animation-technique we are so accustomed to today. This technique, and many others (such as sound and color, multi-plane camera position, and others) were added one by one in the course of the years.
Those were times of peace and prosperity, but everything changed when (the firebenders attacked –this has to have a line striking it in the middle–) WWII begun. Japan’s government started to enforce cultural nationalism. Therefore, their animations were less created for entertainment, and were more commercial and governmental propaganda-oriented. It wasn’t until 1948 (some years after WWII) that the first modern Japanese animation production company devoted to entertainment was born: Toei.
Toei produced the first full-length color anime film ever on 1958, which was called Hakujaden (Also known as “The tale of the white serpent”). Shōnen Sarutobi Sasuke(1959) followed, which was the first anime film tobe released theatrically in the US (in 1961, by MGM). It is important to state that both these two productions were done based heavily on Disney’s “tone” (they had some musical numbers and animal sidekicks, to number a few aspects of them).
The first “successful” anime series that we can state it to be, which was exported to the US was Tetsuwan Atomu, also known as Astro Boy (1963), created by Osamu Tezuka. (I’ve never actually watched Astro Boy myself, though…)
During the decade of the 70’s the Anime industry suffered a lot of changes. At this time, TV got a major rising on its popularity, putting a major dent on films -both animation and live action. Many of the animators who worked on films started to work on TV, because the market was demanding it. This resulted on a huge period of aggressive experimentation and stylist expansion where the main characteristics from today’s anime were born.
The mecha genre (that kind of genre that revolves around giant robots that all of you know about) was the most important genre that arose during that time. We can name Tetsujin 28-go to be the first anime of this genre, following by the well-known Mazinger Z, and many others.
The end of the 70’s, and beginning of the 80’s, was also a time of expansion on the borderlines of Anime itself: Some shows were hitting their targets on the western market, principally on the US.
The success of space operas became heavier with the commercial success Star Wars happened to be, and this allowed some anime space operas, such as Space Battleship Yamato, to be “revived” as a theatrical film.
Robotech (1985), which was a combination of three other anime, was the first anime series to make it major inroads on home video in America.
Mazinger Z, showed up on many Spanish-speaking countries, The Philippines and even some Arabic-speaking nations.
Many American companies also started to utilize Japanese animation studios to develop their own and animate their own television series.
During the end of the 80’s and the start of the 90’s, a lot of iconic anime series were made. Some of my personal favorites anime films that I can mention were made by these two geniuses: Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Those films are: The grave of the fireflies (1988) made by Takahata, The castle in the sky (1986) made by Miyazaki, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) made both by Takahata and Miyazaki. (I can’t recommend those enough, they’re just perfect). Following the success of Nausicaä, many experimental anime films were made.
The 90’s were when some of the most successful anime series were created. Dragon Ball (1984) made a place in the market for another martial arts-oriented type of anime, like Yu Yu Hakusho (1990) One piece (1997) and Naruto (1999). Also, around 1995, one of the most (if not The Most) controversial anime was made: Evangelion. It was made by, who I like to call, the Crazy Genius Hidekai Anno. This series ended up being a heavy, deep and provocative cultural criticism, covering a lot of “adult themes”. Some of the scenes from it were so heavy that Tv Tokio was forced to use censorship, labeling them with violence and sexuality. Evangelion was also the first step into developing anime with a more psychological approach on their themes, such as Serial Experiments Lain (1998).
By the end of the 90’s, there were two major forces that helped anime to find broader audiences: One was Internet, and the other was the newly-emergent DVD format. (DVD was, and still is, expensive in Japan, but it came as a commodity in the US.) This also helped for Anime to reach a broader and wider audience. A rise in the amount of English-dubbed product, both for broadcast TV and home video, produced that many more “casual fans”.
Then, the 2000’s started. This signified some troubles on anime. Mainly, economic troubles inside Japan itself, and digital piracy, among others. Ironically, this was the year where the Academy-award-winner and most successful Japanese animated film ever was created: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, also known as Spirited Away (2001), which I can fairly say that is one of the best anime films I’ve ever watched. Who is the genius that made this awesome piece of art? Yup, you’re right, Miyazaki. We all need to thank this guy a lot. Every single work he has made is simply outstanding.
Despite all obstacles on its way, anime managed to survive and endure itself on the course of the years. Dozens of full series hit the market every season, and they will continue to come. At least for the near-future. We can state that, although anime may encounter a lot of barriers, it evolves and unwraps around the society that both produces, and relishes it. That’s why we may find some Anime that bear a lot less resemblance of what it started being. I’m ok with that, if you ask me…
Well, that’s about it. I hope you found a few interesting things that you didn’t know about Anime. I sure learned a lot of stuff myself from doing this article.
There were a lot of stuff I couldn’t fit here. Mainly because this article would have taken forever to write, and it would have ended up boring me, and you.
Is there something I forgot and you think it’s worth mentioning? Please, let me know in the comments section.
Also, please tell me what you would like to read on the upcoming articles. I have some reviews and first-impressions in mind that I intend to write, but if there’s anything specific you’d like to read, let me know.
And, of course, thanks for reading.
You already know my thoughts on this article as I had to review it lol, but i’ll just say a little. It was an insightful read, even managing to teach me a few things about anime that I did not already know. The way you added a bit of personality to this version of the article really made it quite personal and enjoyable for me to read. PS, I too have not seen astro boy, well not all of it atleast. I’ve played the games though lol.
Your feedback was really helpfull Q! I’ll try to improve with every post ^^
Speed Racer FTW! Oldest anime that I can think of that I’ve watched anyways.
Speed racer FTW indeed! I don’t remember watching it more than an episode or two, though 😛
Like this article so much. Could you please write something like takahata recomended works? i love grave of fireflies but just can’t choose any other i’d like to watch first. i adore miyazaki’s too! Thx 😀
Thank you for taking the time to read. I’m really glad you liked it! I have thought of making a list of Miyazaki’s personal favorites, so expect it to come in the near future! Also, I’m finishing an article about a particular piece of artwork that I think you might also like a lot. Stay tuned 🙂
I usually refer to them as Studio Ghibli movies. Personally, I’ve seen almost every one of them and I loved every one I’ve seen so far.
One annoyance I have with some anime is the English voice acting adaption is sometimes less than stellar. The one that immediately pops to mind is Clannad, which I gave a shot, and on top of one of the male characters flat out sounding like a girl, all spoken dialogue was, for the most part, far less dramatic than in the original Japanese VA(funfact, I forget One Piece’s VA names but Luffy is voiced by a woman and she does a damn fine job at it). It was to the point that even at the climax/heartrending moments the characters sounded like they were just talking normally.
Some English adaptions hit the nail on the head. Baccano!, Monster, and Ghost in the Shell would have to be among my top favorites in that area. Baccano! got it right with the accents and dialects of the times its story was based in, Monster was a lengthy anime with a massive cast of characters(granted, some were added to die and serve as plot fuel, but still)and the VA was pretty flawless all around, and the latter of those two points could be said about GitS.
I tend to watch more anime than I do television nowadays and in particular I go back and watch old stuff that gets fansubbed if there’s no decent English adaption. One that I’ve been on and off watching lately, in fact, is Tomorrow’s Joe which is pretty cool.
I’ve always been fascinated by anime, even though I have no intentions of being involved in any career that involves animation and graphics design. It’s just always been interesting to me. And I don’t just mean Japanese anime. Some other foreign stuff is good too. Wakfu is a definite must see. Great French animation.