Bandai Reissues of Macross Valkyries to be Imported to USA
May 6th, 2008 by adminNorth America’s Toynami announced that it will distribute Valkyrie robot toys that the Japanese company Bandai had based on Takatoku’s classic Macross toy line. The defunct Takatoku company developed the first transformable toys for Studio Nue’s Super Dimension Fortress Macross space war series (1982-1983). Takatoku’s 1/55-scale VF-1 Valkyrie fighter toy were eventually remolded and recolored as the Jetfire toy for The Transformers line.
Toynami will start its Valkyrie toy release with the VF-1S (pictured above) and VF-1J (pictured below) variants this summer, and continue with the VF-1A variant with detachable Super packs this fall. These first releases will be sold under The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? name. Macross: Do You Remember Love? was the 1984 theatrical film adaptation of the first Macross series.
Toynami plans to release more toys from the first Macross series under the Robotech brand in 2009. The North American distributor Harmony Gold USA partially released the first Macross series on home video in 1984, before rewriting and editing the series with two other series to compile the Robotech project in 1985.
Toynami was founded in 2000 after Harmony Gold USA asked for compensation on the toy imports for the animated Macross Plus sequel by Toynami’s predecessor, Toycom. The issue grew into a larger dispute with two lawsuits and led to the recent impasse in Macross releases outside Japan. Before importing the upcoming Valkyrie toy line, Toynami produced its own line of 1/55-scale toys as well as lower-priced 1/100-scale toys. Both of these in-house Toynami designs had less die-cast metal than the Takatoku toys.
Yamato Toys, the former Japanese partner of Toycom, produced a recent 1/48-scale line of VF-1 Valkyrie toys. This June, it will start a 1/60-scale line (pictured at right) that matches the scale of the toys from the other Macross projects in Japan. Both Yamato toy lines use less die-cast metal than Takatoku’s toys of the 1980s, but are more faithful to the original mechanical designs.
Bandai is reissuing the Macross toys in Japan to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first Macross series and the 2008 launch of the Macross Frontier television series
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Top Anime in Japan
May 6th, 2008 by adminJapanese website Anihabara! has made up for some lost time and posted the results of their monthly ratings of TV series in Japan for the months of February, April and May.
The top ten for each month are:
May:
Rank Title Score
1 Azumanga Daiou
2 Chobits
3 Ai Yori Aoshi
4 Pita Ten
5 RahXephon
6 Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai
7 Figure 17
8 Rizelmine
9 Full Metal Panic!
10 .hack//SIGN
April:
1 Chitchana Yukitsukai Sugar
2 RahXephon
3 Galaxy Angel
4 Figure 17
5 Kanon
6 Onegai Teacher
7 Hikaru no Go
8 Hajime no Ippo
9 Full Metal Panic!
10 Oja-majo Doremi Dokkaaan
and February:
1 Chitchana Yukitsukai Sugar
2 Onegai Teacher
3 Fruits Basket
4 Comet-san
5 Figure 17
6 s-CRY-ed
7 Moootto! Oja-majo Doremi
8 Kokoro Toshokan
9 RahXephon
10 Shichinin no Nana
Anihabara selects the top monthly Anime every month in an open ballot restricted to members of the Kanto region of Japan. Similar national ratings by larger websites, magazines and other polls have generally confirmed Anihabara’s rankings to be an accurate representation of the popularity of Anime on TV in Japan.
The full list of the top 20 Anime for each month, as well as their more details on their ranks can be read at http://east.sakura.ne.jp/aniba/aninews/japan/.
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Anime Photo
May 4th, 2008 by admin
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Manga Mania
May 4th, 2008 by admin
Wide-eyed superheroes, latex-booted heroines and wild-haired supervillains might seem like unlikely international goodwill ambassadors, but Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hopes they will be just that. The politicos are gambling that manga and anime — distinctive forms of comic books and movie animation, respectively — and the diehard fans who dress up as their favorite characters in homemade costumes to attend conventions (the practice is called “cosplay”) will spruce up Japan’s image abroad. It’s a risky bet.
Manga got its start in post-World War II Japan when cheap entertainment was in short supply. But it wasn’t until the late 1980s that Japanese comics gained notice abroad. Now the U.S. market for anime is worth approximately $4.35 billion, according to the Japan External Trade Organization. Annual manga sales in North America have more than doubled since 2002, totaling $200 million in 2006 according to research firm ICv2.
The new custodians of Japan’s global image?
The Japanese government wants to capitalize on this growing popularity. Japan’s cultural diplomacy has generally focused on more traditional Japanese art forms, such as kabuki and noh theater and okiyo-e woodblock prints. These days it’s doubling down on cartoons.
In June, it awarded the first International Manga Award. Recognition went to four non-Japanese cartoonists from Malaysia, Australia and Hong Kong for their help in advancing manga abroad. Grand prize: a government-sponsored 10-day visit to Japan. This autumn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will introduce an Anime Ambassador program to boost interest in anime films overseas. Tokyo anticipates spending at least 20 million yen ($175,000) a year on this new “manga diplomacy campaign.”
But while Japan’s use of manga and anime relies on their proven market appeal, the content and fan base of these trendy products make them ill-suited for Japan’s public relations campaign.
Perhaps the biggest problem is the highly sexualized nature of the form, which can be exceptionally seedy, if not illegal. Earlier this year, 13 manga comics, including “Rape Me in My School Uniform” and “Pedophile’s Banquet II,” were labeled “harmful books” by the Kyoto Prefecture for featuring excessive sexual acts involving girls under the age of 13.
Anime and manga also tend to perpetuate negative images of daily life in Japan. Madeleine Rosca, one of the International Manga Award winners, notes that the cartoons did nothing to sell her on the country. “Japan comes across as a bit scary culturally—terribly formal and deeply strict,” she explains. “Most of the stories we get tend to be stereotypes showing heavy workloads and strictness, and a super-adherence to tradition.”
Nor are the cartoons immune from the politics that color Japan’s international relations more generally, and especially with its neighbors. As Ming Wan, director of the global affairs program at George Mason University, cautions, there is a limit to how much Tokyo can push its cultural products before manga and anime are viewed as government propaganda. This is especially true in China, where some already see Japanese manga as a tool of indoctrination. An article published by the Chinese paper Global Times in June 2006 accused manga of trying to “retell history” to cover up Japan’s war crimes and infect Chinese children with Japanese values.
And there’s a certain weirdness factor. The nearest American counterpart to anime-inspired costume play may be Star Trek and Star Wars conventions, whose participants also dress up as their favorite characters. Those gatherings have entered the broader cultural consciousness more as a source of late-night television humor than as a viable goodwill export.
Despite these drawbacks, at Ani-Com Hong Kong, a comics fair held in late July, it seemed that Sailor Moon, Detective Konan and the other stars of Japanese cartoons have been making friends for Tokyo. Cosplay competitors at the convention said their attraction to manga and anime had developed their interest in Japan. Many had taken up study of the language, and others were saving up to visit manga’s homeland.
If capturing the youth “vote” is the goal, Tokyo may be on to something. At the Hong Kong convention, a group of five 18 year-olds dressed as ninjas from the Japanese video game Tenchu posed for photographers. “Arigato!” they called to their fans, brandishing their fists and samurai swords. “We love Japan!” But will their parents?
Ms. Bosker recently completed a Robert L. Bartley Fellowship at the Far Eastern Economic Review.
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What is Anime?
May 4th, 2008 by adminThere is a section at BellaOnline dedicated to anime, but what exactly is anime? In Japan, anime is used as a blanket term to refer to all animation from all over the world. In English, many dictionaries define it as, “a style of animation developed in Japan.”
Anime art styles range from wild, exaggerated stylization to realistic approaches. The use of lines is also prevalent, although the lines are influenced more by a brush than by a calligrapher’s pen. In a lot of anime, body proportions come from the proportions of the human body, with the height of the head as the base unit of proportion. Most anime characters are 7-8 heads tall, although characters with extreme height are roughly 9 heads tall. The exception to this is the “super deformed” (Chibi) style, where characters are drawn in an exaggerated fashion. In Japanese, “Chibi” means “dwarf” or “small child.”
Large eyes are one of the common traits of anime; however, it doesn’t appear in all anime. Exaggerated facial expressions are also common in anime. Upset characters may have bulging lines appear on their forehead. Sometimes angry women may summon a mallet from nowhere and strike someone with it; this has become known as “hammerspace.” Male characters may develop a bloody nose around female love interests to indicate arousal. Embarrassed characters tend to produce a big sweat-drop; this has become one of the most widely recognized anime stereotypes.
Anime also tends to include non-humanoid characters and hybrid beings. Non-humanoid characters tend to include robots, animals, spirits, and demons. Anime tries to achieve three-dimensional views. There is also an emphasis placed on the changing seasons.
There are five general genres of anime. Action/adventure focuses on battles, war, and physical competition (which include martial arts, weapon fighting, or other action oriented material). Drama usually features a high degree of character development and emotional themes; many times the anime dramas involve relationship complications. Horror uses darker and supernatural themes. Science fiction relies on futuristic elements, especially future science and technology. And progressive anime tends to be extremely stylized.
In Japan, there are five main demographics that anime is aimed at. The “shojo” demographic is focused at young girls. The “shonen” demographic aims at young boys. The “seinen” demographic aims at teenage boys and young adult males. The “josei” demographic is focused on young women. And the “kodomo” genre is aimed at all children, regardless of gender.
When anime was brought to other countries back in the 1980’s, editing of cultural references and objectionable content was rather prevalent. However, now that there is a higher demand for anime in its original form, this kind of editing has declined in recent years. And the advent of the DVD allowed for multiple language tracks; so many anime releases can provide both the dubbed audio, as well as the original Japanese audio with subtitles.
As the Anime editor, I will be focusing on the western definition of “anime.” So the features and reviews you see here focus on properties that originate from Japan.
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A Brief History of Anime
May 4th, 2008 by adminMichael O’Connell
Source: Otakon 1999 program book
Early Days
At the beginning of the 20th century, Japanese graphic artists began to feel the influence of two very powerful Western inventions: the newspaper comic strip and the motion picture. With its word balloons and linear story-line, the comic strip provided Japanese story-tellers with a structure that was readily accessible to the masses. Soon, popular cartoonists like Rakiten Kitazawa and Ippei Okamoto were producing their own serialized newspaper prints. These would eventually contribute to the development of the modern Japanese comic book or “manga”
In 1914, cartoonists were among the first Japanese artists to experiment with animated motion pictures. Japan’s first world-wide success was Kitayama Seitaro’s short film Momotaro(1918). Although the Japanese animation industry continued to grow slowly, its one, last pre-war milestone was Chikara To Onna No Yononaka. Appearing in 1932, the short film was the first animated “talkie” in Japanese.
Elswhere in the world, the animation industry was not only thriving but breaking new ground. The undisputed leaders in the field were Walt Disney and the Fleisher Brothers. People now forgot what a shock it was for Disney to even consider producing a full-length animated feature. But, when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appeared in 1937 to overwhelming popular acclaim, Disney demonstrated that animation could be just as expressive and viable a medium as live-action film.
The popularity and influence of Disney and the Fleishers’ animated films were not limited to the United States. Before World War II, much of their work was seen by receptive audiences in Europe and Asia. These works also inspired the dreams of a young man who would go on to alter the direction of Japanese graphic story-telling forever.
The God
As unbelievable as it may seem, the success of both the anime and manga industries in Japan rests firmly on the shoulders of one man: Osamu Tezuka
Originally an aspiring animator, Tezuka became a cartoonist after World War II. He was only 20 years old whne his first significant work, the novel-length Shintakarajima or “New Treasure Island”, appeared in 1947. In just a few years, he became Japan’s most popular manga artist, eventually earning the title “God of Manga.”
Tezuka’s approach was completely different from anything that had come before. Whereas, most contemporary manga stories were told in a straightforward, stage-like fashion, Tezuka’s illustrations exploded with action and emotion. Borrowing techniques from French and German cinema, he stretched his stories out for hundreds of pages. To lend poignancy to a single emotional moment, a scene might unfold slowly over several pages. What Tezuka was doing was telling stories in the manner of a filmmaker. In the process, he was also teaching an entire generation of artists how to visualize and compose a story kinetically.
For manga and anime fans, Tezuka’s most obvious contribution came in the design of his characters. The artist needed a vast emotional template to tell his often complex stories. Seeking inspiration, he returned to the pre-war Disney cartoons that he loved as a child. Just like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Tezuka’s animal and humans characters sported round heads with huge, expressive eyes. Although these features appeared simple and cartoonish, they actually allowed a character to express a wide range of emotions, from adulation to seething hatred.
Successive generations of manga and anime artists discovered the flexibility of Tezuka’s character designs and adapted them into their own diverse works. This, in turn, led to today’s “manga-style” character with his or her simplified facial features and Frisbee-sized eyeballs. Sailor Moon, Speed Racer, and even Ash Ketchum can all thank Tezuka for their dashing good looks. Eventually, Tezuka’s great success as a manga artist led to a more direct impact on the post-war animation industry.
From Film to TV
In the mid-1950’s, Hiroshi Okawa was the president of the Japanese film company Toei. Okawa’s dream was to create and Asian film studio that would produce animated features similar to those put out by Walt Disney Studios in America. In 1956, Toei Animation was founded and, two years later, the company released its first full-length feature The Tale of the White Serpent.
Based on a Chinese legend, The Tale of the White Serpent was considerably darker in tone than your typical Disney feature. It and Toei’s follow-up films The Mischievous Prince Slays the Gian Serpent (1963); The Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (1966); and Puss in Boots (1967) paved the way for a more serious and adult approach to animation than had previously been seen. These latter three films were the world if influential direction Yasuji Mari. They also featured some of the earliest work of two later giants in the anime filed: Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki.
Tezuka, the undisputed giant of manga, formally entered the anime filed in 1958 when he started working on the storyboards, screenplay, and chracter designs for a Toei feature based on Wu Cheng-en’s the Pilgrimage to the West. [For those not familiar with the source material, this is the Monkey King legend which would later serve as the inspiration for Dragon Ball) Around the time that the film premiered in 1961 as Alakazam the Great, Tezuka founded the Osamu Tezuka Production Animation Department or, as it was eventually called, Mushi Productions. His goal was to produce animated theatrical features as well as episodic series for the fledgling Japanese television industry.
Mushi Production’s premiere series, Tetsuwan Atom (U.S.:Astro Boy) missed out on being the first domestically-produced animated televisions show by only a few months. That honor fell to Otagi Manga Calendar or “Manga Stories Calendar,” which featured short, historical cartoons. But, in all its black-and-white glory, Tetsuwan Atom was the first regular animated program to containa recurring cast performing in fictionalized stories. Based on Tezuka’s manga series of the same name, Tetsuwan Atom followed the amazing adventures of a robot boy as he fights crime and protects his friends. The show became so popular that it was even distributed worldwide.
With the success of Mushi Productions’ first series assured, Tezuka quickly adapted another of his popular mang works into an animated program. Jungle Taitei (U.S.:Kimba the While Lion) was hte first Japanese animated program to appear in color and the first to have an American co-producer. NBC Television helped to finance the series as well as distribute it stateside. Unfortunately, the network also exercised a degree of creative control on the series which limited the scope of Tezuka’s adaptation. The original story saw the main character Kimba grow to adulthood, but the television series kept him as an adolescent. Late, Tezuka was able to redress this affront in the animated sequel Jungle Taitei Susume Leo! (U.S.:Leo the Lion.)
Mushi continued to create new programs and even the occasional animated feature film like 1969’s Senya Ichiya Monogatori. Eventually, though, the production compnay would go bankrupt. Tezuka didn’t just “go back to drawing comics” becasue he had never really stopped. Throughout his animation career, he continued to feed the ever growing demand for his manga stories with new and exciting titles. He now left the wolk of animating his manga, such as Black Jack and Ambassador Mamga, to other artists
The Sophisticated ’70s
As new and exciting as Japanese animated television series seemeed in the 1960’s, you could not escape the fact that most series were created strictly for childern. Notable exceptions did exist. Jungle Taitei frequently ventured into complex, multi-part story-lines. Another early show, 8-Man (U.S.: 8th Man) featured a main character who was murdered by criminals and resurrected as a robot. Mach Go Go Go (U.S.:Speed Racer) could be downright moody, at times, even with its goofy monkey sidekick. By and large, though, animated television programs followed the tried and true good guy vs. bad guy formula.
This all changed in the 1970’s, as a new, more sophisticated approach began to emerge in televised anime. Nowhere could this better be seen than in a program created by the oddly named manga artist Monkey Punch. Lupin Sansei featured a main character who was a master thief. Inspired by 1920’s satyrical mysteries of French writer Maurice Leblanc, the show was part comedy and part jet-setting adventure. Packed with adult humor and slapstick violence, Lupin Sansei was aimed squarely at an older audience. The program’s infectious insanity went on to spawn two sequel TV series and several feature films.
It was in the science fiction genre where televised animation started to make incredible leaps forward. Although programs like Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman (U.S.: Battle of the Planets & G-Force), Great Mazinger, and Uchu no Kishi Tekkaman (U.S.: Tekkaman) thrilled audiences with their stylish robot and spaceship designs, it was Uchu Senkan Yamato (U.S.: Star Blazers) that really captured thhe imagination of Japanese television viewers. The series followed the crew of the Space Battleship Yamato as they tried to save humanity from destruction while fighting off an alien invasion. Often violent and gritty, Yamato showed that there was an audience for sprawling space operas. The series proved so popular that it spawned several theatrical features.
Artist Leiji Matsumoto, a contemporary of Tezuka’s, provided Yamato’s dynamic character and mecha (i.e. mechanical) designs. he also contributed the story-line which teemed with complex human emotions. Matsumoto would later lend his talents to another influential science fiction TV show, Uchu Kaizoku Captain Harlock, and the 1979 film Galaxy Express 999.
The “giant robot” show had been a mainstay of Japanese animation ever since Shotaro Kaneda first called on Tetsujin 28 in 1966. This science fiction sub-genre got a significant reinterpretation when Mobile Suit Gundam premiered in 1979. Combining the epic story elements of Yamato with the oversized, humanoid mecha of Tetsujin 28-go (U.S.: Gigantor), MS Gundam was an intelligent and exciting space opera. The sprawling story-line detailed a future space war in which the opposing forced duked it out with mechanized battlesuits. Human pilots actually “wore” the giant robots as a protective shell.
Initially a modest hit, Mobile Suit Gundam quickly became a nation-wide obsession when the series was re-run and later compiled into three theatrical films. Feeding the furor was an extensive line of plastic model kits based on the series’ mecha. Soon, new Gundam films, videos, and television sequels started to appear.
Within a few years a slew of new space operas emerged to take on the Gundam franchise. The two most notable were the gritty Sokokihei Votoms (U.S.: Armored Trooper Votoms) and the compelling Chojiju Yasai Macross (U.S.: First 1/3 of Robotech). Both garnered huge followings and continued to reappear in various animated permutations.
Explosion
As the 1980’s began, television and film producers scrambled to keep up with the increasing demand for more sophisticated and exciting animated programming. The situaiton became even more frantic as the home video market exploded onto the scene a few year later. Now Japanese fans could actually buy copies of their favorite animated TV shows and movies. Production companies even started to bypass the traditional entertainment media and release original animated features straight to video.
To keep up with the ever-expanding market-place, anime producers turned more and more to the burgeoning manga field for mateiral to adapt. One of the first artists to benefit was Akira Toriyama whose quirky comedy series Dr. Slump became an instant hit. In 1986, an adaptation of his fantasy series Dragon Ball went on to become Japan’s most popular animated TV show.
Employing as deft a hand at light comedy and fantasy as Toriyama, Rumiko Takahashi dominated television and video throughout the ’80’s and ’90’s. First with the insane alien comedy Urusei Yatsura and later with the gender-bending of Ranma 1/2, she enchanted audiences of all ages. her other important series, Maison Ikkoku, playfully toyed with the conventions of the romantic comedy genre.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Takahashi was Go Nagain, an artist witha reputation for creating “naughty” manga. Anime adaptations of his work actually began in 1972 with the Devilman TV series. Now that the direct-to-vidoe market had been established, anime created strictly for adults could bypass the usual restrictions imposed by TV and film sensors. Strange and sexy programs like Nagai’s Kekko Kamen, which featured a naked super-heroine, could now be produced for home video release.
It was during the 1980’s that mainstream science fiction literature received a powerful jolt of technological reality. Borne in the novels of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and Neal Stephenson, cyberpunk literature explored dark dystopiaswhere renegade hackers traversed the virtual universe of cyberspace. In 1982, Ridley Scott’s breathtaking science fiction film Blade Runner redefined how poeple visualized the future. Japanese manga and anime artists were among the first to really grab this new lexicon of imagery and run with it.
The first and best was artist/director Katsuhiro Otamo. Not only was his groundbreaking 1988 anime film Akira a huge international hit, it ushered in an entirely new style of anime. Popular titles like Bubble Gum Crisis and A.D. Police were cut from the same fast-paced and dangerous mold as Akira.
In 1987, Otomo contributed two short segments to the Neo-Tokyo and Robot Carnival animated anthologies. The two films helped to introduce the “new anime” to a larger audience while showcasing the talents of emerging artists like Otomo, Rin Taro, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Atsuko Fukushima, Hiroyuki Kitazume, Mao Lamdo, Hidetoshi Omari, Kaji Morimato, Yasomi Umetsu, Hiroyuki Kitakubo and Takashi Nakamura.
Equally as influential was the work of artist Masamune Shirow. Through the adaptation of his original manga Appleseed and his own direction of Black Magic M-66, he presented a future where the lines between technology and humanity began to blur. Although Shirow’s energetic video series Dominion Tank Police can best be described as a police-mecha-comedy, his recent masterpiece, the 1995 film Kokaku Kidoutai (U.S.: Ghost in the Shell), once again took on the man versus machine interface
Not all new anime was as outlandish as Shirow’s or Otomo’s. In fact, some of it was quite serious. Keiji Nakazawa wrote of his experiences as a Hiroshima survivor in the heartrending manga saga Barefoot Gen. With director Masaki Mari, Nakazawa adapted his novels into a frank and powerful 1983 film. Exploring similar territory, Hotaru No Haka (U.S.: Grave of the Fireflies) followed the struggle of two orphans who survived the fire-bombing of Tokyo. Few live action films have ever come as close to capturing the true horrors of war as this animated film did.
Audiences were now becoming more receptive to animation that wasn’t strictly action or comedy oriented. In responce, anime producers turned to Japanese literature for inspiration. Based on the classic novel by Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (U.S.: The Tale of Genji) was a fascinating study in palace intrigue. A novel by 20th century philosopher and children’s writer Kenjii Miyazawa inspired the delightful Ginga Tetsudo no Yoru (U.S.: Night on the Galactic Railroad). The success of such films showed that anime had finally broken free from the restraints of its earlier “kids-only” label to enter the realm of high-brow acceptance.
The New Studios
Out of the ’80’s anime explosion, two production companies emerged that would lead the industry into the 21st Century: Gainax and Studio Ghibli.
Founded by Toshio Okada, Gainax brought together a group of creators who were part of the first generation raised on Japanese animation. Drien by their shared enthusiasm for the medium, Gainax produced some of the most significant and popular works of the ’80’s and 90’s. The company’s first video Otaku no Video held a mirror up to the bizarre world of anime fandom. This lighthearted, semi-autobiographical romp didn’t even hint at the greatness that would suddenly appear in the company’s next release, the science ficiton masterpiece Oneamitsu No Tsubasa Oritsu Uchu Gun(U.S.: The Wings of Honneamise). The video series Top O Nerae! Gunbuster (U.S.: Gunbuster) and TV show No Umi No Nadia (U.S.: Nadia the Secret of Blue Water) verified the company’s skill at presenting exciting adventures, both futuristic and historical. Finally, Gainax established itself as the current leader of episodic science-fiction by producing the beautifully-rendered TV show Shin Seiki Evangelion (U.S.: Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Studio Ghibli grew out of the association of two long-time anime creators, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. Both worked on various Toei TV and film projects during the 1960’s. In 1971, the two men served as directors on the original Lupin Sansei TV show and later collaborated on the children’s adventure series Mirai no Shonen Conan (Eng. Trans.: Future Boy Conan). Miyazaki’s first significant directing job came with the 1978 theatrical release Cagliostro No Shiro (U.S.: Castle of Cagliostro). Once again delightfully portraying the antics of the Lupin character, this successful feature was followed by a strip of landmark films: Kaze no Tani No Nausicaa (Eng. Trans.: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind), Tenku No Shiro Rapyuta (Eng. Trans.: Laputa: Castle in the Sky), Tonari No Totoro (U.S.: My Neighbor Totoro), Majo No Takkyubin (U.S.: Kiki’s Delivery Service), Kurenai No Tuta/Porco Rosso (Eng. Trans.: Crimson Pig), Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko (Eng. Trans.: Present-Day Great Raccoon War Ponpoko), and Mononoke Hime (U.S.: Princess Mononoke). Although Takahata filled various behind-the-scenes roles in Miyazaki’s projects, from producer to musical director, he also displayed a considerable gift for direction and screenwriting in his own right. As already mentioned, he was the creative genius behind the gripping Hotaru no Haka. His moving animated film Omoide Poro Poro (Eng. Trans.: Only Yesterday) was the simple story of a woman coming to grips with the memories of her youth. This ability to tell the small, human story against the backdrop of greater events was a hallmark of Takahata and Miyazaki’s considerable talents. Coupled with flawless hand-drawn animation, it was a formula that placed Studio Ghibli firmly at the top of the Japanese film industry.
Future
As the ’90’s wind down, optimism comes easily to the anime fan. In Japan, Gundam celebrates its 20th anniversary with a whole new TV show, while Akira Toriyama’s wacky Dr. Slump retursn to the small screen with a new series of his own. Osamu Tezuka’s influence is still being felt as two recent films based on his earlier manga works, Black Jack and Jungle Taitei demonstrate. Meanwhile, older audiences have been treated to the imaginative X:The Motion Picture and Katsuhiro Otomo’s anthology film Memories
International audiences are also enjoying a growing influx of popular anime. Pokemon, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball hae delighted children wherever they’ve been shown. Most significant is the deal that Disney Studios and Studio Ghibli inked to bring all of Miyazaki’s filmed masterpieces to American audiences. Entertainment Weekly picked the first release under this agreement, Kiki’s Delivery Service, as its 1998 Video of the Year. Later this year, look for Mononoke Hime to appear in theaters across the country.
Anime’s success can be credited to the unswerving dedication of many Japanese artists to fully exploit the possibilities of animation as a creative medium. These gifted artists understood that they could do more with moving pictures than just entertain children. They could explore the boundaries of space and examine the complexities of the human condition. It’s this willingness to experiment that has made anime so dynamic and appealing. This same quality promises to keep anime a vital artistic option for filmmakers in the 21st Century.
Author’s Notes and Bibliography
Because of the constraints of time and page space, this is only a “brief” history of anime. Unfortunately, I was forced to omit many worthy artists and their works becasue there just wasn’t enough room. The hardest part of writing this history was deciding who should be be included. I tried to weigh which artists and works had the greatest influence on anime as a whole. Some titles are included because they best represent a certain anime genre, although, in the grander scheme of things, they have very little overall influence. I apologize if your favorite TV show or director is not mentioned - many of mine aren’t. Some day, someone will write a comprehensive history of the field.
In the meantime, I’ve listed several books which I found invaluable in researching this history. I would also recommend searching back issues of Animerica for interviews with Japanese anime and manga crators as well as general information about the recent history of anime. Purists often trash this magazine, but I found that it contained some of the most comprehensive information available in English.
Anime! A Beginner’s Guide to Japanese Animation by Helen McCarthy, Titan Books, 1993
The Anime Movie Guide by Helen McCarthy, The Overlook Press, 1997
The Complete Anime Guide by Trish Ledoux and Doug Ranney, Tiger Mountain Press, 1995
Dreamland Japan by Frederick L. Schodt, Stone Bridge Press, 1996
Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics by Frederick L. Schodt, Kodansha International, 1983
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A Brief HISTORY of ANIME
May 4th, 2008 by adminAnime (ah-NEE-may), more commonly referred to as Japanese animation, has its roots in manga (MAHN-ga), or Japanese comics. Manga developed over hundreds of years, starting as pictures drawn on temple walls, then on wooden blocks, and finally as woodblock prints with captions collected in books. In time, the captions became stories and the art became sequential. By the early 20th century, manga had become the main form of literature for most of Japanese society.
At the same time, animated filmmaking started in Europe and then the U.S. When it appeared in Japan, it became a huge phenomenon—so much so that after 1940, over 40% of all domestic films in Japan were animated films based on manga. Due to its integral role in Japanese society, manga appealing to all age groups were routinely published and the scope of animated films also spanned all ages. Conversely, animation was perceived as primarily a medium for children in the West, due to the lack of animated films aimed at older viewers and the flood of now classic cartoons in the decades both before and after World War II.
When television became a popular entertainment medium in Japan, animation naturally became a large part of the programming schedule. While other shows preceded it, the first really huge animated series in terms of popularity was Osamu Tezuka’s Tetsuwan Atom in 1963. The show’s popularity caught the attention of NBC in 1964 and 104 episodes were syndicated in the U.S. as Astro Boy and became the highest rated syndicated show on television, live action or otherwise. As a result of this reaction, other shows soon found their way on to American television, including Tetsujin 28 (Gigantor), Eight Man (TOBOR, the Eighth Man), Kaitei Shonen Marin (Marine Boy), Jungle Taitei [Jungle Emperor] (Kimba, the White Lion), and Mach Go-Go-Go! (Speed Racer). Although these shows were edited to American standards (often with numerous episodes not even being released in the U.S.), broadcasters and pressure groups still complained about the violence present in these shows.
These protests resulted in a lull in bringing anime to American television for a number of years, although series and features were still being released in Japan and were wildly successful. U.S. viewers didn’t get another look at anime until the late 1970’s, when 1972’s Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman<
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Leo the Lion
May 4th, 2008 by adminLeo the Lion is a sequel to the Japanese-American co-produced series “Janguru Taitei”, or Kimba the White Lion. Osamu Tezuka had always wanted his story of Kimba to follow Kimba’s entire life, and the Jungle Emperor/Kimba series was such a hit in Japan that Dr. Tezuka produced a sequel, without his American partners, in 1966.
Making the series without a co-producer gave him complete creative control. For example, Dr. Tezuka has changed the conclusion of his original manga story (represented in the last two episodes of this series) to a happy ending.
Leo the Lion does not follow immediately from the end of the Kimba series. In the story line, a couple of years have passed since the end of the first series. To English-speaking audiences, the behavior of the title character is inexplicably out of line with what was established in the first series. At the end of the first series, in the original Japanese script, Kimba promises to keep his animals separate from humans, and that promise drives the seemingly hermit-like Leo in this series.
As the series unfolds, the focus shifts from the title character to one of his cubs, the male named Rune. This series as a whole is about Rune’s growth, from a whining weakling to a confident leader.
The Japanese series was dubbed into English 18 years after its creation, when it was given the title “Leo The Lion”, Leo being the original Japanese name for the character known as Kimba in most of the world.
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