History of anime

The history of anime can be traced back to the start of the 20th century, with the earliest verifiable films dating from 1917.[1] Before the advent of film, Japan already had a rich tradition of entertainment with colourful painted figures moving across the projection screen in utsushi-e (写し絵), a particular Japanese type of magic lantern show popular in the 19th century. Possibly inspired by European phantasmagoria shows, utsushi-e showmen used mechanical slides and developed lightweight wooden projectors (furo) that were handheld so that several performers could each control the motions of different projected figures.[2][3]

The second generation of animators in the late 1910s included Ōten Shimokawa, Jun'ichi Kōuchi and Seitarō Kitayama, commonly referred to as the "fathers" of anime.[4] Propaganda films, such as Momotarō no Umiwashi (1943) and Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei (1945), the latter being the first anime feature film, were made during World War II. During the 1970s, anime developed further, with the inspiration of Disney animators, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing distinct genres such as mecha and its super robot subgenre. Typical shows from this period include Astro Boy, Lupin III and Mazinger Z. During this period several filmmakers became famous, especially Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii.

In the 1980s, anime became mainstream in Japan, experiencing a boom in production with the rise in popularity of anime like Gundam, Macross, Dragon Ball, and genres such as real robot, space opera and cyberpunk. Space Battleship Yamato and Super Dimension Fortress Macross also achieved worldwide success after being adapted respectively as Star Blazers and Robotech.

The 1988 film Akira went on to become an international success. Later, in 2004, the same creators produced Steamboy, which became the most expensive anime film. Spirited Away shared the first prize at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, while Innocence: Ghost in the Shell was featured at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

  1. ^ Litten, Frederick S. (June 2014). "On the Earliest (Foreign) Animation Films Shown in Japanese Cinema" (PDF). Frederick S. Litten's website. Frederick S. Litten. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 27, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2021.This article, by a German researcher, was first published on January 4, 2013 in The Japanese Journal of Animation Studies, vol. 15, no.1A, 2013, pp. 27–32
  2. ^ "What is Utsushi-e?". www.f.waseda.jp.
  3. ^ "Taneita(Slides)". www.f.waseda.jp.
  4. ^ Reuters staff; reporting by Linda Sieg (March 27, 2008). "Japan finds films by early "anime" pioneers". reuters.com. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2021. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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