Development:
For my research, I wanted to focus on the history of the technology that was used in Japanese Animation and also a few historic animators and animations.
As I was finished my own research, I decided to try make a couple of drawings to plan how our poster could look. These were some of the ideas I came up with!
Me and Charlie called and got the final design for the poster together. This is what we came up with:
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Before the advancement of film, Japan already had a similar sort of form of entertainment; Kabuki theatres were popular since the 1600s, which would show female dancers performing ‘… a new style of dance drama…’ (Kabuki (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki (Accessed: 27 April 2024).). They also used ‘magic lanterns’ called ‘utsushi-e’ (写し絵) which was popular in the 1800s. It was a device that would project images from glass slides that performers could hold in their hands to control different projected figures and it was also used for educational purposes.
Japanese animated films first originated around 1917 with ‘The Dull Sword’ by Junichi Kouchi however, many believe that there was one before this; Katsudō Shashin in 1907, which was a private work by an unknown creator (many also believe that this was one of the first animations in the world). As it was the start of animation technology, plots were kept short and simple and the design for the characters imitated ones seen in European and American animated films.
The first colour animated film was in 1958 by Toei Tokyo and Toei Animation Co, who were first established after World War Two with hopes to create an Oriental Disney type of animation as they wanted to create animation for international audiences. Hayao Miyazaki saw this film during a break from studying for his college entrance exam and then entered the same company and in 1963, later founding Studio Ghibli, which is one of the most popular Japanese animation companies. Toei Animation also helped make Dragon Ball Z Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh.
In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake happened. 100,000 died and 3 million were left homeless. This led to a lot of Studios and animations being destroyed. Studios could rebound, however, finance was an issue. After the film ‘The Mountain Where Old Women Are Abandoned’ in 1925, the Education Ministry began commissioning anime, with the first commission being ‘The Pot’ in 1925, which incorporated speech bubbles inspired by Manga. Japanese animators focused on making educational films and military propaganda as they depended on sponsorship/funding from the government. An example of a film they made includes ‘Momotaro No Shinpei’ in 1943 during World War 2. During this time most of the animations shown were propaganda showing the Japanese fighting the Americans, meaning there wasn’t any room to express themselves. Animators also made animations such as ‘Diseases Spread’ in 1926 to create an awareness of hygiene and germs. There was also an animation which was about a story of tobacco, including both paper cut animation and live action to comedically teach the history of cigarettes. Other animation Studios around the world such as Disney could keep publishing, therefore, Japan felt like they needed to catch up. To do this, they used Cell animation to improve the quality of their animations which we can see in the 1933 animation ‘Ugokie kori no tatehiki’.
In the 1940s and ’50s anime and manga began to flourish influencing people like Osamu Tezuka who was known as the ‘Father of Manga’ ‘A remarkably prolific artist, author, and entrepreneur, Tezuka created a staggering 150,000 manga pages, sixty animated films and series, and a host of iconic characters—from the Jungle Emperor, known to American audiences as Kimba the White Lion, to Tetsuwan Atom, the endearing robot beloved internationally as Astro Boy.’ (Ban & Productions, 2023).
Another Prominent animator who came to life during this time was Hayao Miyazaki. His first directorial debut was ‘Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro’ in 1979. This movie went on ‘to inspire many filmmakers such as Disney and Pixar…’ (Sun, 2023). Another film that Miyazaki directed was ‘Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind’ 1984, which was based on his popular manga strip. This movie was such a success that led to the founding of Studio Ghibli. This movie would have to be released in the US. However, they had edited it badly and therefore, Miyazaki didn’t allow for any of his films to be released in the West. In 1996, he struck a deal with Disney allowing them to distribute Studio Ghibli movies as long as there was no editing to take place. One of his best-known movies ‘Spirited Away’ won many awards, such as ‘the Golden Bear’ in 2002 and the Berlin International Film Festival and an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003.
In 1988, Studio Ghibli produced Laputa: Castle in the Sky followed by ‘Grave of the Fireflies’ and ‘My Neighbour Totoro’. ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’, released in July 1989, was also a success and became Japan’s highest-grossing movie in 1989. ‘Princess Mononoke’ 1997, was one of the most expensive productions for Studio Ghibli, utilising computer animation, 3D rendering, texture mapping and digital composition. It became Japan’s highest-grossing film that year and also all the time, holding an accolade until 2001 when another Studio Ghibli production, Spirited Away, was awarded. It also won the Japan Academy Prize for Picture of the Year, the first-ever animated film to receive the award.
Compared to the beginnings of Japanese animation, where they would take inspiration from Western companies such as Disney, from 2010 onwards, Western companies were taking inspiration from Japan with shows such as ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ and ‘Samurai Jack’.
References:
(No date ) Encyclopaedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/money/Studio-Ghibli (Accessed: 21 April 2024).
Tiernan, J. (2023) Studio ghibli: The Japanese animation powerhouse that conquered the world, Linearity blog. Available at: https://www.linearity.io/blog/studio-ghibli/ (Accessed: 21 April 2024).
Ban, T. and Productions, T. (2023) The osamu tezuka story: A life in manga and anime, Association for Asian Studies. Available at: https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/the-osamu-tezuka-story-a-life-in-manga-and-anime/#:~:text=Clarke%2C%20and%20Carl%20Sagan%20all,Lion%2C%20to%20Tetsuwan%20Atom%2C%20the (Accessed: 23 April 2024).
Sun, S. (2023) Every film by Hayao Miyazaki: From Studio Ghibli and more beloved animation, Variety. Available at: https://variety.com/lists/studio-ghibli-movies-hayao-miyazaki/lupin-the-third-the-castle-of-cagliostro-1979/ (Accessed: 25 April 2024).
Libguides: Film and media studies: Japanese animation (no date) Japanese Animation – Film and Media Studies – LibGuides at Eastern Arizona College. Available at: https://eac.libguides.com/c.php?g=723550&p=5215189 (Accessed: 20 April 2024).
Kabuki (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki (Accessed: 27 April 2024).
History of anime – part 1 – the beginning (2014) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DqCMBJiSzE&t=146s&ab_channel=AnimeEveryday (Accessed: 20 April 2024).
The history of anime & japan (2022) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8lW6buDGBY&t=2240s&ab_channel=WooKong (Accessed: 21 April 2024).
Bfi (2017) 100 years of Japanese animation: 1 great film per decade, BFI. Available at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/100-years-japanese-animation-one-great-film-decade (Accessed: 23 April 2024).
The evolution of the Japanese anime industry (2023) nippon.com. Available at: https://www.nippon.com/en/features/h00043/ (Accessed: 23 April 2024).
(No date) Cel animation explained – explore the classic Disney technique | adobe. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/animation/discover/cel-animation.html (Accessed: 23 April 2024).
Zhiyi, Z. (2021) The Development and Influence of Japanese Animated Film Style Atlantis Press SARL