Anime History Posted Dec 9, 2021
Anime is, without a doubt, the most loved form of animation in the world. There are more anime-related cartoons than films worldwide. This isn't accidental. Unlike other animated films, anime is intended for both teenagers and adults. Nowadays, anime is transcripted to many languages. It is not unusual to have anime topics arising in deaf dating. The anime history dates back to the 20th century when Japanese animators experimented with Western animation techniques. Osamu Tezuka is widely known as the "god" of manga and is responsible for the foundation of modern animation. Tezuka took inspiration from Disney and used large eyes to convey emotion in his characters. Osamu founded the studio "Mushi Production" in 1963. It was there where the first works of early anime were created.
In the 1970s, anime underwent rapid changes, breaking away from foreign prototypes to create new genres like mecha. Famous works like "Lupin III" or "Mazinger Z" were done at this time. Many well-known directors, such as Hayao Miyazaki or Mamoru Oshii, began their careers in this period. Over its nearly century-long history, anime has made great strides from its early experiments to its current international fame. As anime became more complex and more serious, the stories became more complicated. In the 1990s and 2000s, anime gained wide recognition beyond Japan. Akira and Ghost in the Shell, which combined traditional animation with computer graphics, became famous worldwide. Princess Mononoke, a full-length film-anime, was released in 1997 and earned $160 million in Japan. Amount of both anime fans and casual viewers have increased rapidly. In Japan, technology for creating and viewing anime has quickly advanced. Studio owners adopted computer graphics and made extensive uses of 3-D animation. Japanese animation has evolved from the early 20th century's children's cartoons to a culture that produces diversified, humorous, emotional, and naive films for children and teens.
Mushi Productions & Toei Animation
After the war ended, Japan's economy fell. While censorship and government control over animation production was decreased to almost zero, important works were not produced for a whole decade. A significant obstacle to the growth and development of anime was that editing was difficult. Due to the inherent risks and challenging economic conditions, local studios could not meet the public demand. Large corporations also did not emerge from the venture.
The change began with the establishment of Toei Animation in 1956. In 1958, the company released The Tale of the White Serpent, its first color animation. The era of modern anime began with the establishment of Toei. They featured musical and vocal dramas and had animals on equal footing with humans. This style was maintained in part through Toei Animation's work until the 1970s. It is Japan's oldest animation studio.
Toei's approach encouraged animators and designers to try new things with their work. This is evident in the 1968 film, The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun. Many often refer to this experimental and provocative film as the precursor of the author's movie or experimental anime. The design was also unusual when it debuted because it was the first movie to break away from the Disney canon and include its own ideas. It had a respectable box-office result in theaters.
