History And Development Of Anime In America
Anime started off rough, unlucrative due to the costly and inefficient way they made it, however the Japanese government helped fund and build the industry from the ground up through propaganda during World War II, and after the war, America also opened up many doors to money making with Astro Boy being one of the most popular at the time.
There is a great deal of concern about the absolute first anime made, many believe it would have been made by one of the most mainstream manga artists at the time, Shimokawa Oten, around late 1916. It would have been under five minutes in length and would have been made with chalk and erased and redrawn between every camera take. Although we do not know for certain due to the fact that animators would disassemble reels to be used again or that it would have been destroyed by The Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923.
The first film we know for a fact is Dekobo Shingacho, or Dekobo’s New Picture Book - Failure of a Great plan, which was released in early 1917. Shimokawa Oten wasn’t the only manga artist fascinated by animation, though, fellow manga artist Junichi Kouchi and painter Seitaro Kitayama were also very interested in animation. The three of them would go on to be hired by film studios, working with groups that would only have only two to three other people, they were responsible for the outstanding product that first year. They also would later be known as “The Fathers of Anime. ”<br> Many animators and studios wanted to use cells, characters and other moving pieces painted on transparent sheets of celluloid placed over one another and a background. It was a massive improvement over what they were using, chalk and paper cut outs, but cells were much more expensive. To find funding many studios had to be creative, promotional videos paid for by the Japanese government did very well. Since the military was bracing for war, World War II, many animators and studios turned to propaganda. Studios also made educational videos for children were made, as well as commercials for big companies. Many of these uses are still used today.
During the war many studios grew thanks to funding from the government and propaganda, which proved to be very fruitful. Momotaro: Umi no Shinpei, or Momotaro: Sacred Sailors, released in 1945, and was the first full length anime. Propaganda commissioned by the navy, it was about human like animals and had an underlying message of hope for peace which brought young manga artist Osamu Tezuka to tears, he will be very important later on.
After the war many studios were founded that are still around today. In 1948 “Japan Animated Films” was founded, known today as “Toei”. They would release Hakujaden, or The Tale of the White Serpent, in 1958, and with a runtime of 78 minutes it would be the first full-length anime that was in color. It would come out in America three year slater in 1961. This film was not the first to be sent to foreign audiences. People very interested in anime have been shipping them since the beginning of the genre. Proving lucrative studios often set the stories outside of japan or downplayed the ethnical root to make it more palatable to foreign audiences and wallets. <br> By late 1950’s Osamu Tezuka is now very popular even being referred to as “The God of Manga. ” He started working with Toei in 1958 to animate his manga series Boku no Son Goku, or Son-Goku The Monkey King. While at Toei, Tezuka would be a bit of an agitator, calling for unionization. Once his contract was finished, he founded his own studio Mushi Production. He also took some of Toei’s best animators with him, one of them being the first woman animator we know of in Japan. She would later be the animation director for Ribon no Kishi, Princess Knight, which was another manga by Tezuka.
Before 1958, if you wanted to watch any kind of animation you had to go to a theater or have a projector which were not cheap at the time. Thanks to the television, though, it changed all of that. Mogura no Aventure, Mole’s Adventure, was the first anime to air on television. In 1960 Mittsu no Hanashi, Three tales, an experimental animated anthology was created and aired. It would be the first anime on American television the next year.
Every anime before 1963 anime had never been tried on TV in a 25 minute time-slot due to cost and worrisome deadlines. The first anime in the format we know today, 25 minute episode weekly or biweekly, was Tetsuwan Atom, or as we know it Astro Boy. Based on one of Osamu Tezuka’s most popular manga, the show was about a young robot boy who battled crime, aliens, and other robots. Astro Boy was a huge success with very high ratings, a lot of merchandise, and sent to dozens of countries. Many things that come to mind when thinking of anime were first in Astro Boy, big eyes, crazy hair, battle sequences, anime villains. Tezuka, when animating Astro Boy, used “limited animation”, which reduced the number of frames per second, reusing cells. He also saved time and resources by using his own storyboards. Many more “serious” Japaenese animators did not understand how it did so well because in their minds it did not compare to their much smoother animation, known as fluid animation. <br> Even though in black and white Astro Boy did extremely well in the U. S. . It did so well that NBC contacted Tezuka and asked him to make a new show for them. It had to be in color or American audiences would not be interested. Tezuka was concerned about the cost of making it in color but NBC promised to pay the expense of turning Mushi Productions to color. Tezuka agreed and despite some friction between Tezuka and NBC, Tezuka kept trying to put death scenes in and NBC kept cutting them out, Kimba the White Lion debuted in 1965.
Nothing exciting really happens in the 70’s. Just some studios close and new studios are founded. A lot of anime is now being produced, and it was officially apart of Japanese popular culture. By the 80’s however, anime was at the highest it had ever been, it was considered “The Golden Age” of anime. A lot of this was due to the kids that grew up watching Astro Boy had now grown up to be animators and manga artists making their own stories and adventures. Many new genres also came in the 80’s, two of them being sports and science-fiction. VHS and other home recording devices also helped with the popularity. <br> In 1983 CGI became a thing and it started to help animate things that were very intricate. In 1984 Kaze no Tani no Nasuicaȁ, Nasuicaȁ of the Valley of the Wind, was produced by Isao Takahata, directed and written by Hayao Miyazki. Isao and Hayao would go on to found Studio Ghibli, a prestigious studio today making many movies and longer films. Now that anime could be bought and watched at home, bypassing censors and public attention of television and theaters.
