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History of Anime
What is anime? According to Dictionary.com, anime is a type of animation genre based on the Japanese 2-D style. These series or movies vary based on the audience and content since some are graphic and others are childish. -
Katsudō Shashin (Moving Picture)
This short story is the first preserved anime though some people debate if it should count based on its simple style and lack of a known creator. It is 3 seconds long and has 50 frames. It was created by using stencil printing which means the pictures were drawn on a sheet of paper, cut out and then coloured. -
Namakura Gatana (The Dull Sword)
This anime is commonly referred to as the first anime since it has a known creator (Jun'ichi Kōuchi). Jun'ichi was a painter and hand-drew each frame on paper then photographed them. It was a silent anime that was only 4 minutes long. The story is about a samurai who buys a dull blade and can't make the sword work. But the main reason it's regarded as the first anime is that Katsudō Shashin was only discovered in 2005. -
Ubasuteyama (The Mountain Where Old Women Are Abandoned)
This anime was an important leap forward since the previous two were stories that lacked focus on a plot and organization. Meanwhile, you can follow this storyline (based on Japanese folklore) and it has a run time of just over 18 minutes. It was hand drawn and the frames look jerky because of how it had a low frame rate (only 8-10 frames per second. -
Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka (Within The World Of Power And Women)
This anime was also a big step forward in terms of Japanese animation since it was the first one with dialogue and music. Earlier anime like Namakura had instruments playing in the background. Chikara is considered a mature anime because it is about a man having an affair. This was also the first time cel animation was used (paper over backgrounds). Kenzo Masaoka, who is credited with this anime became known as "The Father of Japanese Animation" -
Propaganda Anime
The Second World War in 1939 changed the direction of anime and became military propaganda. The two main ones were: Momotaro Divine Sailors and Norakuro The first was to encourage Japanese men to join the Navy and the second was to encourage men to join the Army. Both are about the main characters defeating demons and being loyal to their country. -
More Propaganda
After seeing the success of using anime as propaganda, studios kept releasing animation that dealt with Japanese pride and to boost morale in 1944. An example was Attack on Fuku-Chan that was based on a popular comic strip (Yokoyama Ryuichi). Insect Heaven in 1948 was made using cut-out animation and some monochromatic colour schemes. -
Toei animation
Toei Animation is one of the most known animation companies in the world (responsible for series like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball and One Piece), but it started out as "Japanese Animated Films". The company focused on cel animation and was known as "The Disney of the East". -
Hakujaden (Tale of the White Serpent)
Hakujaden, released by the aforementioned Toei animation, was the first feature film to be made in colour, meaning that it's hour and nineteen minute run time was never seen before in Japan. The story focuses on a legend about a boy who saves and becomes friends with a snake spirit. Later, he falls in love with this snake spirit who is a woman (very similar to Miyazaki's Spirited Away). It was the first anime to reach the U.S.A as "Panda The Magic Serpent". -
Mighty Atom (Astro Boy)
The confusion in the title is due to mistranslation but the real title of Astro Boy is Mighty Atom. This anime is considered the first modern anime and was the first to be broadcasted regularly on Japanese television with 20 minute episodes. Its creator Osamu Tezuka is known as the great-grandfather of anime. Astro Boy is credited with giving anime those extra large eyes. -
Jungle Taitei (Jungle Emperor)
Jungle Taitei is also known as Kimba the White Lion and the first anime series to be fully released in colour (contrary to Astro Boy which started in black and white later transitioned to colour). Kimba the White Lion was the first anime to have international success. Actually, many accuse Disney of stealing the idea of Kimba for their making of the Lion King. Jungle Taitei made Osamu Tazuka a household name in Japan and made him "God of Anime" -
Space Battleship Yamato
This anime allowed a huge step in not only anime but also in the science fiction department since it established the Space Opera genre. It had a lot of Mecha suits and inspired hits like Gundam, Cowboy Beebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Yamato became the first anime to have a dedicated fanbase and club as well as being able to sell merchandise. -
Gundam
Gundam brought giant fighting robots into style at the end of the 70s. The story writing was very complex and had a lot of mature themes proving that animation wasn't just for kids. Gundam helped make anime popular. It still used cel animation but did a lot of layering. They also started using some special effects like moving the camera around while shooting still images. -
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Even though this movie is not talked about much, it has had a huge impact on the animation world because it led to the creation of Studio Ghibli. Nausicaä was also important because it made the lead a strong young woman, which wasn't really seen before. Animation drawn at this level had not been seen before. The movements were more fluid and more frames were being used. The U.S.A censored a lot of the original when it came to America. Creator Miyazaki said it would never happen again. -
Akira
Akira established anime as an art form. It was said that the fact it was cyberpunk and its style influenced the Wachowskis of The Matrix, Guillermo del Toro, and Christopher Nolan. It cost 9 million dollars to make (the most expensive anime to date) and had over 160,000 cels! For the first time ever in anime, the voices were recorded first so that the artists could match the way the characters moved their mouths. -
Dragon Ball Z
Even if you've never heard of the term anime, you've probably heard about Dragon Ball Z. It became what people call "The Shonen Genre" which means there is a lot of character development of the main young boy character over many different arcs and cliffhangers. This structure later influenced "The Big 3" anime. They introduced a lot of fight scenes with power-ups, auras, close-ups and stances. -
Creation of Funimation
A group of students at Berkley University created a streaming service for the distribution of anime. It was not legal at the time of its creation. Its main role was to license anime and dub them for an American audience. It was bought out by Crunchyroll in 2006 to make it legal. -
Neon Genesis Evangelion
This anime brought back the mecha genre after a slow decline since Gundam. They still used cel animation but the fight scenes were more fluid. All the backgrounds were hand-painted for this one to give it a more natural look. Often pictures of Tokyo were taken and painted over. This was a new technique in anime that is still used today. They also started playing around with the camera more too for close-ups and wide angle shots. -
Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke was the highest-grossing animated movie released in Japan of its time. This was the first time CGI and hand drawings were used together (for about 10% of the movie). Backgrounds were layered one on top of the other to give it a dream quality. -
Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop is a really influential anime for the reason that it mixed in elements from Western series, mixing it with a great jazz soundtrack. Money was thrown at this project so they didn't have to re-use animation or cheap out on the details. Early digital techniques were used and mixed with hand-drawn pictures, especially for space scenes. Mixing CGI and hand-drawn pictures was even more seamless than Ghibli's. -
The Big 3
The Big Three is a title shared by three anime which have dominated the popularity charts for decades. One Piece, Bleach and Naruto are popular mangas that have been made into anime in the 1990s. All three have gone from traditional cel animation to bright and vivid digital animation. CGI enhancements, motion blurs and camera movements are used a lot and have made way for "Impact Frames" that go back and forth between colour and manga. -
Spirited Away
Spirited Away was the first anime that won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Even if a lot of other animes used digital animation by this time, Miyazaki wanted this one mostly hand-drawn (CGI was used to animate the spirits). This film had the highest frame rate per second at this point. Animators even used in-between frames to make the scenes more fluid. -
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Unlike other animes, this one was not based on a manga but a novel. It was also important because of how it was written, in non-linear fashion with the events being out of order. It put a bunch of different genres together and introduced "Slice of Life" anime which shows a lot of relatable moments in life. -
Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood
This anime, according to various websites, is the best anime ever. The storyline is very creative, dealing with two young boys who try to bring their mother back from the dead using Alchemy. It doesn't work and many things go wrong. The plot like the characters is complex and has a lot of layers. It is said that Brotherhood is the most loyal adaptation to any manga. The production value is very high, using very vivid colours and fluid fight scenes. -
Attack On Titan
Attack On Titan (AOT) is known as the start of post-modern anime and got many people into anime. AOT uses a type of animation that make it look like a camera is following the characters as they use flying gear. It's also filmed like a feature film with wide views of the backgrounds and architecture. The titans themselves were molded into 3-D figures and were used with CGI and 2-D animation. Even if the anime was rated mature, kids really liked it too. -
Your Name
Your Name was the highest grossing anime having made 380 million dollars. A lot of people say it was popular because of how realistic it looked. Mokoto Shinko (the director) used real locations and is a master in lighting and camera work. Your Name used time-lapse sequences to show the passing of time and this was groundbreaking for anime. CGI was combined with a method called "compositing" which combines a lot of elements into one picture. -
Honorable mentions
Here are some of my favourite animes that deserve a mention: Mob Psycho 100 has the best-written character I've ever seen: Reigan Arakata. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure has the wildest art style. Code Geas has the most satisfying ending you'll ever see. Record of Ragnorok has an intense storyline with historical characters and awesome fight scenes. Devilman Crybaby is a philosophical and psychological experience (that gave me an existential crisis). -
Today
In a world of reality tv and movie remakes, anime offers fresh and creative storylines that aren't being redone ever ten years. Studios like Ghibli, MAPPA and Toei keep making breakthroughs in their animation that increase the quality. The fact that they can be streamed on places like Netflix, Crunchyroll and even YouTube, anime is more accessible now than it ever has been.