History of anime
Encyclopedia
The history of anime began at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese
filmmakers experimented with the animation
techniques that were being explored in the West. During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing distinct genres such as mecha and its Super Robot
sub-genre. Typical shows from this period include Lupin III
and Mazinger Z
. During this period several filmmakers became famous, especially Hayao Miyazaki
and Mamoru Oshii
.
In the 1980s, anime was accepted in the mainstream in Japan
, and experienced a boom in production. The rise of Gundam
, Macross
, Real Robot
, Dragon Ball
, and Space Opera
set a boom as well. The film Akira
set records in 1988 for the production costs of an anime film and went on to become a success worldwide. Later, in 2004, the same creators produced Steamboy
, and later took over as the most expensive anime film. The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
also became a worldwide success after being adapted as part of Robotech
, and Megazone 23
also gained recognition in the West after it was adapted as Robotech: The Movie
.
I internet also led to the rise of fansub
anime. 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
.
s (being property of the cinemas) were sold to smaller cinemas in the country and then disassembled and sold as strips or single frames.
Ōten Shimokawa
was a political caricaturist and cartoonist who worked for the magazine Tokyo Puck. He was hired by Tenkatsu
to do an animation for them. Due to medical reasons, he was only able to do five movies, including Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki
(1917), before he returned to his previous work as a cartoonist.
Another prominent animator in this period was Jun'ichi Kōuchi. He was a caricaturist and painter, who also had studied watercolor painting. In 1912 he also entered the cartoonist sector and was hired for an animation by Kobayashi Shokai later in 1916. He is viewed as the most technically advanced Japanese animator of the 1910s. His works include around 15 movies.
Seitaro Kitayama was an early animator who made animations on his own, not hired by larger corporations. He even founded his own animation studio, the Kitayama Eiga Seisakujo
, which was later closed due to lack of commercial success. He utilized the chalkboard technique, and later paper animation, with and without pre-printed backgrounds.
The works of these two pioneers include Namakura Gatana
(An Obtuse Sword, 1917) and a 1918 film Urashima Tarō
which were discovered together at an antique market in 2007.
In July 2005, an old animation film was found in Kyoto. This undated 3 seconds film, plainly titled Moving Picture (活動写真, Katsudō Shashin?), consists of fifty frames drawn directly onto a strip of celluloid
. It depicts a young boy in a sailor suit writing the kanji
"活動写真" (katsudō shashin, for "moving pictures") on a board, then turning towards the viewer, removing his hat, and offering a salute
. The creator's identity is unknown, but it is thought that it was made for private viewing, perhaps as experimentation, rather than for public release. The discoverer, Naoki Matsumoto, has speculated that it could be "up to 10 years older" than the previously first known Japanese animation, Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki
, released in 1917. However, while a date of circa 1915 is possible, there is no actual basis for this extreme speculation.
, Hakuzan Kimura, Sanae Yamamoto and Noburō Ōfuji
were students of Kitayama Seitaro and worked at his film studio. Kenzō Masaoka
, another important animator, worked at a smaller animation studio. In 1923, the Great Kantō earthquake destroyed most of the Kitayama studio and the residing animators spread out and founded studios of their own.
Prewar animators faced several difficulties. First, they had a hard time competing with foreign producers such as Disney, which were influential on both audiences and producers. Since foreign films had already made a profit abroad, they could be sold for even less than the price domestic producers need to charge in order to break even. Japanese animators thus had to work cheaply, in small companies with only a handful of employees, but that could make matters worse: given costs, it was then hard to compete in terms of quality with foreign product that was in color, with sound, and made by much bigger companies. Japanese animation until the mid-1930s, for instance, generally used cutout animation
instead of cel animation because the celluloid was too expensive. This resulted in animation that could seem derivative, flat (since motion forward and backward was difficult) and without detail. But just as postwar Japanese animators were able to turn limited animation
into a plus, so masters such as Yasuji Murata and Noburō Ōfuji were able to do wonders in cutout animation.
Animators such as Kenzō Masaoka
and Mitsuyo Seo
, however, did attempt to bring Japanese animation up to the level of foreign work by introducing cel animation, sound, and technology such as the multiplane camera
. Masaoka created the first talkie
anime, Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka
, released in 1933, and the first anime made entirely using cel animation, The Dance of the Chagamas (1934). Seo was the first to use the multiplane camera in Ari-chan in 1941.
Such innovations, however, were hard to support purely commercially, so prewar animation depended considerably on sponsorship, as animators often concentrated on making PR films for companies, educational film
s for the government, and eventually works of propaganda
for the military. During this time, censorship and school regulations discouraged film-viewing by children, so anime that offered educational value were supported and encouraged by the Monbusho (the Ministry of Education). This proved important for producers that had experienced a hard time releasing their work in regular theaters. Animation had found a place in scholastic, political and industrial use.
. This also lead to a strict censorship and control of published media. Many animators were urged to produce animations which enforced the Japanese spirit and national affiliation. Some movies were shown in newsreel theaters, especially after the Film Law of 1939 promoted documentary
and other educational films. Such support helped boost the industry, as bigger companies formed through mergers, and prompted major live-action studios such as Shochiku
to begin producing animation. It was at Shochiku that such masterworks as Kenzō Masaoka
's Kumo to Chūrippu
were produced. Wartime reorganization of the industry, however, merged the feature film studios into just three big companies.
More animated films were commissioned by the military, showing the sly, quick Japanese people winning against enemy forces. In 1943, Geijutsu Eigasha produced Mitsuyo Seo
's Momotaro's Sea Eagles
with help from the Navy
. Shochiku then made Japan's first real feature length
animated film, Seo's Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors
in 1945, again with the help of the Navy. In 1941 Princess Iron Fan
had become the first Asian
animation of notable length ever made in China
. Due to economic factors, it would be Japan which later emerged long after the war with the most readily available resources to continue expanding the industry.
In 1948, Toei Animation
was founded and produced the first color anime feature film
in 1958, Hakujaden (The Tale of the White Serpent
, 1958). This film was more Disney
in tone than modern anime with musical numbers and animal sidekicks. However, it is widely considered to be the first "anime
" ever, in the modern sense. It was released in the US in 1961 as Panda and the Magic Serpent. From 1958 to the mid-1960s, Toei continued to release these Disney-like films and eventually also produced two of the most well known anime series, Dragon Ball in 1986 and Sailor Moon
in 1992.
Toei's style was also characterized by an emphasis on each animator bringing his own ideas to the production. The most extreme example of this is Isao Takahata
's film Hols: Prince of the Sun
(1968). Hols is often seen as the first major break from the normal anime style and the beginning of a later movement of "auteuristic" or "progressive anime" which would eventually involve directors such as Hayao Miyazaki
(creator of Spirited Away
) and Mamoru Oshii
.
A major contribution of Toei's style to modern anime was the development of the "money shot". This cost-cutting method of animation allows for emphasis to be placed on important shots by animating them with more detail than the rest of the work (which would often be limited animation). Toei animator Yasuo Ōtsuka
began to experiment with this style and developed it further as he went into television. in the 1980s Toei would later lend it's talent to companies like Sunbow Productions
, Marvel Productions
, DiC Entertainment
, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, Ruby Spears and Hanna Barbera with producing several animated cartoons for America during this period. Other studios like TMS Entertainment, were also being used in the 80's, which lead to Asian studios being used more often to animate foreign productions, but the companies involved still produced anime for their native Japan.
and Sunrise
. As a result, many young animators were thrust into the position of director before they would have been promoted to it. This injection of young talent allowed for a wide variety of experimentation. One of the earliest successful television productions in the early 1970s was Tomorrow's Joe
(1970), a boxing
anime which has become iconic in Japan.
Another example of this experimentation is with Isao Takahata
's 1974 television series Heidi, Girl of the Alps
. This show was originally a hard sell because it was a simple realistic drama aimed at children. Most TV networks thought the TV show wouldn't be successful because children needed something more fantastic to draw them in. Heidi wound up being an international success being picked up in many European countries and becoming popular there. In Japan it was so successful that it allowed for Hayao Miyazaki
and Takahata
to start up a series of literary based anime (World Masterpiece Theater
). Miyazaki and Takahata left Nippon Animation
in the late 1970s. Two of Miyazaki's critically acclaimed productions during the 1970s were Future Boy Conan
(1978) and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
(1979).
Another genre known as Mecha
came into being at this time. Some early works include Mazinger Z
(1972–74), Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
(1972–74), Space Battleship Yamato
(1974–75) and Mobile Suit Gundam
(1979–80). These titles showed a progression in the science fiction genre in anime, as shows shifted from more superhero-oriented, fantastical plots found, as seen in the Super Robot
genre, to somewhat more realistic space opera
s with increasingly complex plots and fuzzier definitions of right and wrong, as seen in the Real Robot
genre.
This shift towards space opera
s became more pronounced with the commercial success of Star Wars
(1977). This allowed for the space opera Space Battleship Yamato
(1974) to be revived as a theatrical film. Mobile Suit Gundam
(1979), the first Real Robot
anime, was also initially unsuccessful but was revived as a theatrical film in 1982. The success of the theatrical versions of Yamato and Gundam are seen as the beginning of the anime boom of the 1980s, which many consider the beginning of the "golden age of anime". This anime boom also marked the beginning of "Japanese Cinema
's Second Golden Age", which would last until around the beginning of the 2000s.
While the Mecha
genre shifted from superhero giant robots (the Super Robot
genre of the 1970s) to elaborate space operas (the Real Robot
genre of the 1980s), two other events happened at this time. A subculture in Japan, who later called themselves otaku
, began to develop around animation magazines such as Animage
or later Newtype
. These magazines popped up in response to the overwhelming fandom that developed around shows such as Yamato and Gundam in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Yamato animator Yoshinori Kanada
allowed individual key animators working under him to put their own style of movement as a means to save money. In many more "auteuristic" anime this formed the basis of an individualist animation style unique to Japanese commercial animation. In addition, Kanada's animation was inspiration for Takashi Murakami
and his Superflat
art movement.
In the United States the already mentioned popularity of Star Wars
had a similar, but much smaller, effect on the development of anime. Gatchaman was reworked and edited into Battle of the Planets
in 1978 and again as G-Force in 1986. Space Battleship Yamato was reworked and edited into Star Blazers
in 1979. The Macross
series began with The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
(1982), which was adapted into English as the first arc of Robotech
(1985), which was created from three separate anime titles: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada
. The sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
(1985), became the most successful Real Robot
space opera in Japan, where it managed an average television rating
of 6.6% and a peak of 11.7%.
The otaku culture became more pronounced with Mamoru Oshii
's adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi
's popular manga Urusei Yatsura
(1981). Yatsura made Takahashi a household name and Oshii would break away from fan culture and take a more auteuristic approach with his 1984 film Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer. This break with the otaku culture would allow Oshii to experiment further.
The otaku subculture had some effect on people who were entering the industry around this time. The most famous of these people were the amateur production group Daicon Films which would become Gainax
. Gainax began by making films for the Daicon science fiction conventions and were so popular in the otaku community that they were given a chance to helm the biggest budgeted (to that point) anime film, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
(1987).
One of the most influential anime of all time, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), was made during this time period. The film gave extra prestige to anime allowing for many experimental and ambitious projects to be funded shortly after its release. It also allowed director Hayao Miyazaki
and his long time colleague Isao Takahata to set up their own studio under the supervision of former Animage editor Toshio Suzuki
. This studio would become known as Studio Ghibli
and its first film was Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), one of Miyazaki's most ambitious films.
The success of Dragon Ball
(1984) introduced the martial arts genre and became incredibly influential in the Japanese Animation industry. It influenced many more martial arts anime and manga series' including Yu Yu Hakusho (1990), One Piece
(1997), and Naruto
(1999).
The 1980s brought anime to the home video
market in the form of Original Video Animation
(OVA). The first OVA was Mamoru Oshii
's Moon Base Dallos (1983–1984). Dallos was a flop, but 1985's Megazone 23
was a success. Shows such as Patlabor
had their beginnings in this market and it proved to be a way to test less marketable animation against audiences. The OVA allowed for the release of pornographic anime
such as Cream Lemon
(1984). The first hentai OVA was actually the little-known Wonder Kids Lolita Anime
, also released in 1984.
Sports anime as now known made its debut in 1983 with an anime adaptation Yoichi Takahashi
's soccer manga Captain Tsubasa
, which became the first worldwide successful sports anime leading its way to create themes and stories that would create the formula that would later then be used in many sports series that soon followed such as Slam Dunk
, Prince of Tennis and Eyeshield 21
.
The late 1980s, following the release of Nausicaä, saw an increasing number of high budget and/or experimental films. In 1985 Toshio Suzuki helped put together funding for Oshii's experimental film Angel's Egg
(1985). The OVA market allowed for short experimental pieces such as Take the X Train, Neo Tokyo
, and Robot Carnival
(all three 1987).
Theatrical releases became more ambitious, each film trying to outclass or outspend the other film, all taking cues from Nausicaäs popular and critical success. Night on the Galactic Railroad
(1985), Tale of Genji (1986), and Grave of the Fireflies
(1988) were all ambitious films based on important literary works in Japan. Films such as Char's Counterattack (1988) and Arion (1986) were lavishly budgeted spectacles. This period of lavish budgeting and experimentation would reach its zenith with two of the most expensive anime film productions ever: Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
(1987) and Akira
(1988).
Most of these films did not make back the costs to produce them. Neither Akira nor Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise were box office successes in Japan. As a result, large numbers of anime studios closed down, and many experimental productions began to be favored less over "tried and true" formulas. Only Studio Ghibli was to survive a winner of the many ambitious productions of the late 1980s with its film Kiki's Delivery Service
(1989) being the top grossing film for that year earning over $40 million at the box office.
Despite the failure of Akira in Japan, it brought with it a much larger international fan base for anime. When shown overseas, the film became a cult hit and, eventually, a symbol of the medium for the West. The domestic failure and international success of Akira, combined with the bursting of the bubble economy and Osamu Tezuka
's death in 1989, brought a close to the 1980s era of anime.
In 1995, Hideaki Anno
wrote and directed the controversial anime
, Neon Genesis Evangelion. This show became popular in Japan among anime fans and became known to the general public through mainstream media attention. It is believed that Anno originally wanted the show to be the ultimate otaku anime designed to revive the declining anime industry
, but midway through production he also made it into a heavy critique of the culture eventually culminating in the controversial, but quite successful film The End of Evangelion
(1997) which grossed over $10 million. Anno would eventually go on to produce live action films. Many scenes in the Evangelion TV show were so controversial that it forced TV Tokyo
to clamp down with censorship of violence and sexuality in anime. As a result when Cowboy Bebop
(1998) was first broadcast it was shown heavily edited and only half the episodes were aired. The censorship crackdown has relaxed a bit, but Evangelion had a major effect on the television anime industry as a whole.
In addition, Evangelion started up a series of so-called "post-Evangelion" shows. Most of these were giant robot shows with some kind of religious or difficult plot. These include RahXephon
, Brain Powerd
, and Gasaraki
. Another series of these are late night experimental TV shows. Starting with Serial Experiments Lain
(1998) late night Japanese television
became a forum for experimental anime with other shows following it such as Boogiepop Phantom
(2000), Texhnolyze
(2003) and Paranoia Agent
(2004). Experimental anime films were also released in the 1990s, most notably Ghost in the Shell
(1995), which alongside Megazone 23
(1985), had a strong influence on The Matrix
.
The late 1990s also saw a brief revival of the Super Robot
genre that was once popular in the 1960s and 1970s but had become rare due to the popularity of Real Robot
shows such as the Gundam
and Macross
series in the 1980s and psychological Mecha
shows such as Neon Genesis Evangelion in the 1990s. The revival of the Super Robot genre began with GaoGaiGar in 1997 in response to "post-Evangelion" trends, but there were very few popular Super Robot shows produced after this, until Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann in 2007.
Alongside its Super Robot counterpart, the Real Robot
genre was also declining during the 1990s. Though several Gundam
shows were produced during this decade, very few of them were successful. The only Gundam shows in the 1990s which managed an average television rating
over 4% in Japan were Mobile Fighter G Gundam
(1994) and New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995). It wasn't until Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
in 2002 that the Real Robot genre regained its popularity.
The 1990s also saw the popular video game series, Pokémon
, spawn an anime television show which is still running, several anime movies, a trading card game, toys, and much more. Other 1990s anime series which gained international success were Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon
, and Digimon; the success of these shows marked the beginning of the martial arts
superhero
, the magical girl
genre, and the action adventure genre respectively. In particular, Dragon Ball Z was dubbed into more than a dozen languages worldwide.
In 1997, Hayao Miyazaki
's Princess Mononoke
became the most expensive animated film up until that time, costing $20 million to produce. Miyazaki personally checked each of the 144,000 cel
s in the film, and is estimated to have redrawn parts of 80,000 of them.
The late 1990s also saw anime crossing the borders into live action, starting with Gokusen
, Great Teacher Onizuka
(1999). It continued well into the 2000s, with Hana Yori Dango (2005), Jigoku Shōjo
(2006) and Nodame Cantabile
among them.
that combined Japanese pop-culture with postmodern art
called Superflat
began around this time. Murakami asserts that the movement is an analysis of post-war Japanese culture through the eyes of the otaku subculture. His desire is also to get rid of the categories of 'high' and 'low' art making a flat continuum, hence the term 'superflat'. His art exhibitions are very popular and have an influence on some anime creators particularly those from Studio 4°C.
The "Evangelion-era" trend continued into the 2000s with Evangelion-inspired mecha anime such as RahXephon
(2002) and Zegapain
(2006) - RahXephon was also intended to help revive 1970s-style mecha designs. The experimental late night anime
trend popularized by Serial Experiments Lain
also continued into the 2000s with experimental anime such as Boogiepop Phantom
(2000), Texhnolyze
(2003), Paranoia Agent
(2004) and Gantz
(2004).
Manga Author Mia Ikumi made the Tokyo Mew Mew
and Only One Wish books along with the Magical Girl genre.
The Real Robot
genre (including the Gundam
and Macross
franchises), which had declined during the 1990s, was revived in 2002 with the success of shows such as Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
(2002), Eureka Seven
(2005), Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (2006), Mobile Suit Gundam 00
(2007), Macross Frontier
(2008) and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (2008). The resurgence of Real Robot anime can be seen in a top 20 anime poll published in the April 2008 issue of Newtype magazine
, where Japanese readers voted for Gundam 00 as the #1 top anime, alongside Code Geass at #2 and Gundam SEED at #9.
The 1970s-style Super Robot
genre revival started by GaoGaiGar (1997), continued into the 2000s, with several remakes of classic series such as Getter Robo
and Dancougar as well as original properties created in the Super Robot
mold like Godannar
and Gurren Lagann. In particular, Gurren Lagann combined the genre with elements from 1980s Real Robot shows as well as 1990s "post-Evangelion" shows. Gurren Lagann received both the "best television production" and "best character design" awards from the Tokyo International Anime Fair
in 2008. This eventually culminated in the release of Shin Mazinger in 2009, a full-length revival of the first Super Robot series, Mazinger Z
.
In addition to these experimental trends, the 2000s has also been characterized by the increase of the moe-style art and the bishōjo
and bishōnen
character design. The presence and popularity of genres such as romance
, harem
and slice of life story has risen.
Anime based on eroge
and visual novel
s increased in popularity in the 2000s, building on a trend started in the late 90s by such works as Sentimental Journey
(1998) and To Heart (1999). Examples of such works include Green Green (2003), SHUFFLE!
(2006), Kanon
(2002 and 2006), Fate/Stay Night
(2006), Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
(2006), Ef: A Tale of Memories (2007), True Tears
(2008), and Clannad (2008 and 2009).
Many shows are being adapted from manga
and light novels as well including popular titles such as Fullmetal Alchemist
(2005), Rozen Maiden
2005, Aria the Animation (2005), Shakugan no Shana
(2005), Pani Poni Dash!
(2005), Death Note
(2006), Mushishi
(2006), Sola
(2007), The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006), Lucky Star (2007), Toradora!
(2008–09), K-On!
(2009) and Bakemonogatari
(2009).
Nevertheless, original anime titles are still being created which reach success.
The 2000s also mark a trend of emphasis of the otaku
subculture. A notable critique of this otaku subculture is found in the 2006 anime Welcome to the N.H.K.
, which features a hikikomori
protagonist and explores the effects and consequences of various Japanese sub-cultures
, such as otaku, lolicon
, internet suicide
, massively multiplayer online game
s and multi-level marketing
.
In contrast to the above mentioned phenomenon, there have been more productions of late night anime for a non-otaku audience as well. The first concentrated effort came from Fuji TV's Noitamina
block. The 30 minute late Thursday timeframe was created to showcase productions for young women of college age, a demographic that watches very little anime. The first production 'Honey and Clover
' was a particular success, peaking at a 5% TV rating in Kantou, very strong for late night anime. The block has been running uninterrupted since April 2005 and has yielded many successful productions unique in the modern anime market.
There have been revivals of American cartoons such as Transformers
which spawned four new series, Transformers: Car Robots in 2000, Transformers: Micron Legend in 2003, Transformers: Superlink in 2004, and Transformers: Galaxy Force in 2005. In addition, an anime adaptation of the G.I Joe series was produced titled 'G.I. Joe: Sigma 6
'.
The 2000's also saw the revival of earlier series in the forms of Fist of the North Star: The Legends of the True Savior
(2006) and Dragon Ball Z Kai (2009).
The 2000s also saw the revival of high-budget feature-length anime films, such as Millennium Actress
(2001), Appleseed (2001), Paprika (2006), and the most expensive of all being Steamboy
(2004) which cost $26 million to produce.
In 2008, the Japanese government created the position of Anime Ambassador and appointed Doraemon
as the first Anime Ambassador to promote anime worldwide in diplomacy.
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
filmmakers experimented with the animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
techniques that were being explored in the West. During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing distinct genres such as mecha and its Super Robot
Super Robot
is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...
sub-genre. Typical shows from this period include Lupin III
Lupin III
, also known as Lupin the 3rd, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiko Kato under the pen name of Monkey Punch. The story follows the adventures of a gang of thieves led by Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc's series of...
and Mazinger Z
Mazinger Z
, known briefly as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In...
. During this period several filmmakers became famous, especially Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
and Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
.
In the 1980s, anime was accepted in the mainstream in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and experienced a boom in production. The rise of Gundam
Gundam
The is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....
, Macross
Macross
is a series of science fiction mecha anime, directed by Shōji Kawamori of Studio Nue in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth/Humanity after the year 1999. It consists of three TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West...
, Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
, Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the...
, and Space Opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
set a boom as well. The film Akira
Akira (film)
is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
set records in 1988 for the production costs of an anime film and went on to become a success worldwide. Later, in 2004, the same creators produced Steamboy
Steamboy
is a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk film, produced by Sunrise, and directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release, following Akira. The film was released in Japan on July 17, 2004. Steamboy is the most expensive full length Japanese animated movie made to date...
, and later took over as the most expensive anime film. The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
is an anime television series. According to story creator Shoji Kawamori, it depicts "a love triangle against the backdrop of great battles" during the first Human-alien war....
also became a worldwide success after being adapted as part of Robotech
Robotech
Robotech is an 85-episode science fiction anime adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. and first released in the United States in 1985...
, and Megazone 23
Megazone 23
is a four-part original video animation created by AIC, written by Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, and directed by Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Kenichi Yatagai and Shinji Aramaki. The series was originally titled but the title was changed just before release....
also gained recognition in the West after it was adapted as Robotech: The Movie
Robotech: The Movie
Robotech: The Movie is a 1986 American-Japanese science fiction animated film based on the Robotech TV series and Robotech franchise created by Harmony Gold USA...
.
I internet also led to the rise of fansub
Fansub
A fansub is a version of a foreign film or foreign television program which has been translated by fans and subtitled into a language other than that of the original.-History:...
anime. Spirited Away
Spirited Away
is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood and after her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba,...
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
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
First generation of Japanese animators
Few complete animations made during the beginnings of Japanese animation have survived. The reasons vary, but many are of commercial nature. After the clips had their run, reelReel
A reel is an object around which lengths of another material are wound for storage. Generally a reel has a cylindrical core and walls on the sides to retain the material wound around the core...
s (being property of the cinemas) were sold to smaller cinemas in the country and then disassembled and sold as strips or single frames.
Ōten Shimokawa
Oten Shimokawa
a Japanese artist, is considered to be one of the founding artists and pioneers of anime. Little is known of his early personal life, other than that his family moved to the Tokyo area when he was nine years old...
was a political caricaturist and cartoonist who worked for the magazine Tokyo Puck. He was hired by Tenkatsu
Tennenshoku Katsudō Shashin
was a Japanese film studio active in the 1910s. The name translates as the "Natural Color Moving Picture Company," but it was known as Tenkatsu for short...
to do an animation for them. Due to medical reasons, he was only able to do five movies, including Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki
Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki
is the first professional Japanese animation film ever made. It was made by Ōten Shimokawa in 1917.-Backgrounds:In April 1914, French animation Fantasmagorie by Émile Cohl was screened under the title . This seems to be the first drawn-animation film screened in Japan...
(1917), before he returned to his previous work as a cartoonist.
Another prominent animator in this period was Jun'ichi Kōuchi. He was a caricaturist and painter, who also had studied watercolor painting. In 1912 he also entered the cartoonist sector and was hired for an animation by Kobayashi Shokai later in 1916. He is viewed as the most technically advanced Japanese animator of the 1910s. His works include around 15 movies.
Seitaro Kitayama was an early animator who made animations on his own, not hired by larger corporations. He even founded his own animation studio, the Kitayama Eiga Seisakujo
Kitayama Eiga Seisakujo
Kitayama Eiga Seisakujo was the first true animation studio in Japan. It was founded by Seitaro Kitayama in 1921.-Animations:*Kiatsu to Mizuage Ponpu...
, which was later closed due to lack of commercial success. He utilized the chalkboard technique, and later paper animation, with and without pre-printed backgrounds.
The works of these two pioneers include Namakura Gatana
Namakura Gatana
or is a short anime produced by Jun'ichi Kouchi at 1917. It was found in an antique shop in Osaka in central Japan in March 2008.This anime is a 2 minute silent short that tells a history about a samurai's foolish purchase of a dull-edged sword....
(An Obtuse Sword, 1917) and a 1918 film Urashima Tarō
Urashima Tarō (anime)
is an animated film produced by Seitaro Kitayama in 1918, which was found in an antique shop in Osaka in March 2008. The film is an adaptation of a folk tale Urashima Tarō about a fisherman traveling to an underwater world on a turtle....
which were discovered together at an antique market in 2007.
In July 2005, an old animation film was found in Kyoto. This undated 3 seconds film, plainly titled Moving Picture (活動写真, Katsudō Shashin?), consists of fifty frames drawn directly onto a strip of celluloid
Celluloid
Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic, it was first created as Parkesine in 1862 and as Xylonite in 1869, before being registered as Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is...
. It depicts a young boy in a sailor suit writing the kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
"活動写真" (katsudō shashin, for "moving pictures") on a board, then turning towards the viewer, removing his hat, and offering a salute
Salute
A salute is a gesture or other action used to display respect. Salutes are primarily associated with armed forces, but other organizations and civil people also use salutes.-Military salutes:...
. The creator's identity is unknown, but it is thought that it was made for private viewing, perhaps as experimentation, rather than for public release. The discoverer, Naoki Matsumoto, has speculated that it could be "up to 10 years older" than the previously first known Japanese animation, Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki
Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki
is the first professional Japanese animation film ever made. It was made by Ōten Shimokawa in 1917.-Backgrounds:In April 1914, French animation Fantasmagorie by Émile Cohl was screened under the title . This seems to be the first drawn-animation film screened in Japan...
, released in 1917. However, while a date of circa 1915 is possible, there is no actual basis for this extreme speculation.
Second generation of Japanese animators
Yasuji MurataYasuji Murata
was a pioneering animator who helped develop the art of anime in Japan. Studying the animation techniques of Sanae Yamamoto, Murata produced dozens of mostly educational films at the Yokohama Cinema studio featuring such characters as Momotarō and Norakuro. Along with Noburō Ōfuji, he was renowned...
, Hakuzan Kimura, Sanae Yamamoto and Noburō Ōfuji
Noburō Ōfuji
was a Japanese film director and animator. One of the most notable auteurs of anime of the first half of the 20th century , he worked primarily with cutout and silhouette animation...
were students of Kitayama Seitaro and worked at his film studio. Kenzō Masaoka
Kenzō Masaoka
was an early anime creator. He is probably most famous for creating the earliest anime to use cell animation and recorded sound. He also did work under the pseudonym...
, another important animator, worked at a smaller animation studio. In 1923, the Great Kantō earthquake destroyed most of the Kitayama studio and the residing animators spread out and founded studios of their own.
Prewar animators faced several difficulties. First, they had a hard time competing with foreign producers such as Disney, which were influential on both audiences and producers. Since foreign films had already made a profit abroad, they could be sold for even less than the price domestic producers need to charge in order to break even. Japanese animators thus had to work cheaply, in small companies with only a handful of employees, but that could make matters worse: given costs, it was then hard to compete in terms of quality with foreign product that was in color, with sound, and made by much bigger companies. Japanese animation until the mid-1930s, for instance, generally used cutout animation
Cutout animation
Cutout animation is a technique for producing animations using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or even photographs...
instead of cel animation because the celluloid was too expensive. This resulted in animation that could seem derivative, flat (since motion forward and backward was difficult) and without detail. But just as postwar Japanese animators were able to turn limited animation
Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames. One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes, which in the early days was referred to as modern design...
into a plus, so masters such as Yasuji Murata and Noburō Ōfuji were able to do wonders in cutout animation.
Animators such as Kenzō Masaoka
Kenzō Masaoka
was an early anime creator. He is probably most famous for creating the earliest anime to use cell animation and recorded sound. He also did work under the pseudonym...
and Mitsuyo Seo
Mitsuyo Seo
was a Japanese animator, screenwriter and director of animated films who played a central role in the development of Japanese anime. He was born in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture.-Career:...
, however, did attempt to bring Japanese animation up to the level of foreign work by introducing cel animation, sound, and technology such as the multiplane camera
Multiplane camera
The multiplane camera is a special motion picture camera used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another...
. Masaoka created the first talkie
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
anime, Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka
Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka
is a 1933 anime short film by Kenzō Masaoka and the first Japanese anime of any type to feature voiceovers. The film was released in black and white. There are no known prints of this film available, and is considered a lost film....
, released in 1933, and the first anime made entirely using cel animation, The Dance of the Chagamas (1934). Seo was the first to use the multiplane camera in Ari-chan in 1941.
Such innovations, however, were hard to support purely commercially, so prewar animation depended considerably on sponsorship, as animators often concentrated on making PR films for companies, educational film
Educational film
An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods.-Cultural significance:...
s for the government, and eventually works of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
for the military. During this time, censorship and school regulations discouraged film-viewing by children, so anime that offered educational value were supported and encouraged by the Monbusho (the Ministry of Education). This proved important for producers that had experienced a hard time releasing their work in regular theaters. Animation had found a place in scholastic, political and industrial use.
During the Second World War
In the 1930s the Japanese government began enforcing cultural nationalismNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. This also lead to a strict censorship and control of published media. Many animators were urged to produce animations which enforced the Japanese spirit and national affiliation. Some movies were shown in newsreel theaters, especially after the Film Law of 1939 promoted documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
and other educational films. Such support helped boost the industry, as bigger companies formed through mergers, and prompted major live-action studios such as Shochiku
Shochiku
is a Japanese movie studio and production company for kabuki. It also produces and distributes anime films. Its best remembered directors include Yasujirō Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Yōji Yamada...
to begin producing animation. It was at Shochiku that such masterworks as Kenzō Masaoka
Kenzō Masaoka
was an early anime creator. He is probably most famous for creating the earliest anime to use cell animation and recorded sound. He also did work under the pseudonym...
's Kumo to Chūrippu
Kumo to Churippu
is a short animated Japanese film made in 1943 by Kenzo Masaoka. It is a story about a ladybird being chased by a spider. The spider catches the ladybird, but then it rains, the spider drowns, and the ladybird is freed by a friendly fly....
were produced. Wartime reorganization of the industry, however, merged the feature film studios into just three big companies.
More animated films were commissioned by the military, showing the sly, quick Japanese people winning against enemy forces. In 1943, Geijutsu Eigasha produced Mitsuyo Seo
Mitsuyo Seo
was a Japanese animator, screenwriter and director of animated films who played a central role in the development of Japanese anime. He was born in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture.-Career:...
's Momotaro's Sea Eagles
Momotaro's Sea Eagles
is an animated Japanese propaganda film produced in 1942 by Geijutsu Eigasha and released March 25, 1943. Running at 37 minutes, it was close to being feature-length, but it was not the first animated feature film in Asia; that honor goes to China's 1941 Princess Iron Fan, which was 65 minutes long...
with help from the Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
. Shochiku then made Japan's first real feature length
Feature length
Feature length is motion picture terminology referring to the length of a feature film. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a feature length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes to be eligible for an Academy Award.The term may also...
animated film, Seo's Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors
Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors
is the first Japanese feature-length animated film. It was directed by Mitsuyo Seo, who was ordered to make a propaganda film for the war by the Japanese Naval Ministry. Shochiku Moving Picture Laboratory shot the 74-minute film in 1944 and screened it on April 12, 1945. It is a sequel to Momotarō...
in 1945, again with the help of the Navy. In 1941 Princess Iron Fan
Princess Iron Fan (1941 film)
Princess Iron Fan , is the first Chinese animated feature film. It was directed in Shanghai under difficult conditions in the thick of World War II by Wan Guchan and Wan Laiming and was released on January 1, 1941.-Plot:...
had become the first Asian
Culture of Asia
The culture of Asia is human civilization in Asia. It features different kinds of cultural heritage of many nationalities, societies, and ethnic groups in the region, traditionally called a continent from a Western-centric perspective, of Asia...
animation of notable length ever made in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Due to economic factors, it would be Japan which later emerged long after the war with the most readily available resources to continue expanding the industry.
Toei Animation and Mushi Productions
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
was founded and produced the first color anime feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
in 1958, Hakujaden (The Tale of the White Serpent
The Tale of the White Serpent
is the first color anime feature film, released in 1958. It was also the first to be released in America, under the title Panda and the Magic Serpent, preceding Magic Boy by three months...
, 1958). This film was more Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
in tone than modern anime with musical numbers and animal sidekicks. However, it is widely considered to be the first "anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
" ever, in the modern sense. It was released in the US in 1961 as Panda and the Magic Serpent. From 1958 to the mid-1960s, Toei continued to release these Disney-like films and eventually also produced two of the most well known anime series, Dragon Ball in 1986 and Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon, known as , is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team of magical girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" the magical-girl genre itself...
in 1992.
Toei's style was also characterized by an emphasis on each animator bringing his own ideas to the production. The most extreme example of this is Isao Takahata
Isao Takahata
is a Japanese anime filmmaker that have earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director. Takahata is co-founder of Studio Ghibli with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki. He has directed films such as the war-themed Grave of the Fireflies, the romantic-drama Only...
's film Hols: Prince of the Sun
Hols: Prince of the Sun
, also known as The Little Norse Prince or Little Norse Prince Valiant, is an anime film released in 1968. It was director Isao Takahata's feature film début. Hayao Miyazaki, Yasuo Ōtsuka, Yoichi Kotabe, and Yasuji Mori, among others, worked as animators in this movie, providing many designs, story...
(1968). Hols is often seen as the first major break from the normal anime style and the beginning of a later movement of "auteuristic" or "progressive anime" which would eventually involve directors such as Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
(creator of Spirited Away
Spirited Away
is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy-adventure film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of Chihiro Ogino, a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood and after her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba,...
) and Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
.
A major contribution of Toei's style to modern anime was the development of the "money shot". This cost-cutting method of animation allows for emphasis to be placed on important shots by animating them with more detail than the rest of the work (which would often be limited animation). Toei animator Yasuo Ōtsuka
Yasuo Otsuka
is a Japanese animator who worked with Toei Animation and Studio Ghibli.Prior to becoming an animator, Ōtsuka worked in the Kantō-Kōshin'etsu district drug enforcement office at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. As a member of the support staff , he was responsible for the seizure of drugs and...
began to experiment with this style and developed it further as he went into television. in the 1980s Toei would later lend it's talent to companies like Sunbow Productions
Sunbow Productions
Sunbow Entertainment was an animation studio, founded in 1980 and owned up until 1998 by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York. The first animation efforts by Griffin-Bacal were producing the animated commercials for Hasbro's G.I...
, Marvel Productions
Marvel Productions
Marvel Productions Ltd. , last called New World Animation, was a television and film studio subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment Group , based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, then New World Entertainment and News Corporation/Fox...
, DiC Entertainment
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...
, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, Ruby Spears and Hanna Barbera with producing several animated cartoons for America during this period. Other studios like TMS Entertainment, were also being used in the 80's, which lead to Asian studios being used more often to animate foreign productions, but the companies involved still produced anime for their native Japan.
| First | Native language name | English name | Released | Type | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First anime series | おとぎマンガカレンダー | Otogi Manga Calendar Otogi Manga Calendar was a black and white Japanese anime series aired from 1961 to 1964. It was the first anime series, and the first series ever televised.-Story:... |
May 1, 1961 | series | yes |
| First super robot anime series | 鉄人28号 | Tetsujin 28-go Tetsujin 28-go is a 1956 manga written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who also created Giant Robo. The series centred on the adventures of a young boy named Shotaro Kaneda, who controlled a giant robot named Tetsujin 28, built by his late father.... |
October 20, 1963 | series | yes |
| First anime space opera series | 宇宙戦艦ヤマト | Space Battleship Yamato Space Battleship Yamato is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers... |
October 6, 1974 | series | yes |
| First real robot anime series | 機動戦士ガンダム | Mobile Suit Gundam Mobile Suit Gundam is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes... |
April 7, 1979 | series | yes |
| First OVA Original video animation , abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation... |
ダロス | Dallos Dallos is a Japanese science fiction OVA released in 1983, directed by Mamoru Oshii and created by Oshii and Hisayuki Toriumi . It is widely considered the first OVA ever released. The storyline focuses on Moon pioneers and the evolution of mankind.- Story :In a near future, mankind has moved from a... |
December 12, 1983 | OVA | no |
| First adult (hentai) anime | ロリータアニメ | Lolita Anime Lolita Anime The series was the first ever hentai original video animation , created by a studio called Wonder Kids. It ran from February 1984 to May 1985 and consisted of six episodes... |
February 21, 1984 | OVA | yes |
1970s
During the 1970s, the Japanese film market shrunk due to competition from television. This increased competition from television reduced Toei animation's staff and many animators went to studios such as A Pro and Telecom animation. Mushi Productions went bankrupt (only to be revived 4 years later), its former employees founding studios such as Madhouse ProductionMadhouse (company)
is a Japanese animation studio, founded in 1972 by ex–Mushi Pro animators including Masao Maruyama, Osamu Dezaki, Rintaro, and Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It has created and helped to produce many well known shows, starting with TV anime series Ace o Nerae! in 1973, and including western favourites Ninja...
and Sunrise
Sunrise (company)
is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise. It is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings. Its former name was Nippon Sunrise, and prior to that, Sunrise Studios...
. As a result, many young animators were thrust into the position of director before they would have been promoted to it. This injection of young talent allowed for a wide variety of experimentation. One of the earliest successful television productions in the early 1970s was Tomorrow's Joe
Tomorrow's Joe
is a critically acclaimed boxing manga written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Tetsuya Chiba in 1968 that was later adapted into an anime series and movie. It is most commonly referred to as Ashita no Joe. Outside Japan it is also referred to as Rocky Joe or Joe...
(1970), a boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
anime which has become iconic in Japan.
Another example of this experimentation is with Isao Takahata
Isao Takahata
is a Japanese anime filmmaker that have earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director. Takahata is co-founder of Studio Ghibli with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki. He has directed films such as the war-themed Grave of the Fireflies, the romantic-drama Only...
's 1974 television series Heidi, Girl of the Alps
Heidi, Girl of the Alps
is a 1974 anime series by Zuiyo Enterprises based on the Swiss novel "Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning" by Johanna Spyri . It was directed by Isao Takahata and features Yoichi Kotabe , Hayao Miyazaki .Heidi is one of several World Masterpiece Theater titles produced around the "classical...
. This show was originally a hard sell because it was a simple realistic drama aimed at children. Most TV networks thought the TV show wouldn't be successful because children needed something more fantastic to draw them in. Heidi wound up being an international success being picked up in many European countries and becoming popular there. In Japan it was so successful that it allowed for Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
and Takahata
Isao Takahata
is a Japanese anime filmmaker that have earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director. Takahata is co-founder of Studio Ghibli with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki. He has directed films such as the war-themed Grave of the Fireflies, the romantic-drama Only...
to start up a series of literary based anime (World Masterpiece Theater
World Masterpiece Theater
is a Japanese TV anime staple that showcased an animated version of a different classical book or story each year on 7:30p.m. on Sunday. It originally aired from 1969 to 1997 then resumed in 2007....
). Miyazaki and Takahata left Nippon Animation
Nippon Animation
is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City....
in the late 1970s. Two of Miyazaki's critically acclaimed productions during the 1970s were Future Boy Conan
Future Boy Conan
is an anime series, which premiered across Japan on the NHK network between April 4 and October 31, 1978 on the Tuesday 19:30-20:00 timeslot. The official English title used by Nippon Animation is Conan, The Boy in Future....
(1978) and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
The Castle of Cagliostro
is a 1979 Japanese animated film co-written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is one of the films featuring master thief Arsène Lupin III.The second animated Lupin III movie and arguably the best known, Castle of Cagliostro was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who also co-directed the first...
(1979).
Another genre known as Mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
came into being at this time. Some early works include Mazinger Z
Mazinger Z
, known briefly as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In...
(1972–74), Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
is a 5-member superhero team that is composed of the main characters in several Japanese anime created by Tatsuo Yoshida and originally produced in Japan by Tatsunoko Productions and later adapted into several English-language versions...
(1972–74), Space Battleship Yamato
Space Battleship Yamato
is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers...
(1974–75) and Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam
is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes...
(1979–80). These titles showed a progression in the science fiction genre in anime, as shows shifted from more superhero-oriented, fantastical plots found, as seen in the Super Robot
Super Robot
is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...
genre, to somewhat more realistic space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
s with increasingly complex plots and fuzzier definitions of right and wrong, as seen in the Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
genre.
1980s
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
s became more pronounced with the commercial success of Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
(1977). This allowed for the space opera Space Battleship Yamato
Space Battleship Yamato
is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers...
(1974) to be revived as a theatrical film. Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam
is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes...
(1979), the first Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
anime, was also initially unsuccessful but was revived as a theatrical film in 1982. The success of the theatrical versions of Yamato and Gundam are seen as the beginning of the anime boom of the 1980s, which many consider the beginning of the "golden age of anime". This anime boom also marked the beginning of "Japanese Cinema
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...
's Second Golden Age", which would last until around the beginning of the 2000s.
While the Mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
genre shifted from superhero giant robots (the Super Robot
Super Robot
is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...
genre of the 1970s) to elaborate space operas (the Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
genre of the 1980s), two other events happened at this time. A subculture in Japan, who later called themselves otaku
Otaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
, began to develop around animation magazines such as Animage
Animage
is a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine which Tokuma Shoten began publishing in July 1978. Hayao Miyazaki's internationally renowned manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, was serialized in Animage from 1982 through 1994...
or later Newtype
Newtype (magazine)
is a monthly magazine publication originating from Japan, covering anime and manga . It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985 with its April issue, and has since seen regular release on the 10th of every month in its home country...
. These magazines popped up in response to the overwhelming fandom that developed around shows such as Yamato and Gundam in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Yamato animator Yoshinori Kanada
Yoshinori Kanada
was an influential Japanese animator originally from Nara, Japan. He is best known for his popular 1984 work Birth, one of the first original video animations released in the market. Though he did not create many character designs, he was famous for his character animation skills...
allowed individual key animators working under him to put their own style of movement as a means to save money. In many more "auteuristic" anime this formed the basis of an individualist animation style unique to Japanese commercial animation. In addition, Kanada's animation was inspiration for Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami
is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art...
and his Superflat
Superflat
Superflat is a postmodern art movement, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime. It is also the name of a 2001 art exhibition, curated by Murakami, that toured West Hollywood, Minneapolis and Seattle....
art movement.
In the United States the already mentioned popularity of Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
had a similar, but much smaller, effect on the development of anime. Gatchaman was reworked and edited into Battle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets
Battle of the Planets is an American animated television adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman . Of the 105 original Gatchaman episodes, 85 were used in the Battle of the Planets adaptation, produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment...
in 1978 and again as G-Force in 1986. Space Battleship Yamato was reworked and edited into Star Blazers
Star Blazers
Star Blazers is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series, . Star Blazers was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. Significantly, it was the first popular English-translated anime that had an over-arching plot and storyline that required the episodes to...
in 1979. The Macross
Macross
is a series of science fiction mecha anime, directed by Shōji Kawamori of Studio Nue in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth/Humanity after the year 1999. It consists of three TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West...
series began with The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross
is an anime television series. According to story creator Shoji Kawamori, it depicts "a love triangle against the backdrop of great battles" during the first Human-alien war....
(1982), which was adapted into English as the first arc of Robotech
Robotech
Robotech is an 85-episode science fiction anime adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. and first released in the United States in 1985...
(1985), which was created from three separate anime titles: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada
Genesis Climber Mospeada
is an anime science fiction series created by Shinji Aramaki and Hideki Kakinuma. The 25-episode television series ran from late 1983 to early 1984 in Japan...
. The sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
is a television anime, part of the Gundam series and a sequel to the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The show was created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, with character designs by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, while the series' mechanical designs is split amongst Kunio Okawara, Mamoru Nagano, and Kazumi Fujita...
(1985), became the most successful Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
space opera in Japan, where it managed an average television rating
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
of 6.6% and a peak of 11.7%.
The otaku culture became more pronounced with Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
's adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi
Rumiko Takahashi
is a Japanese manga artist.Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga she creates are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages...
's popular manga Urusei Yatsura
Urusei Yatsura
is a comedic manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi that premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 1978 and ran until its conclusion in 1987. Its 374 individual chapters were collected and published in 34 tankōbon volumes. The series tells the story of Ataru Moroboshi, and the alien...
(1981). Yatsura made Takahashi a household name and Oshii would break away from fan culture and take a more auteuristic approach with his 1984 film Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer. This break with the otaku culture would allow Oshii to experiment further.
The otaku subculture had some effect on people who were entering the industry around this time. The most famous of these people were the amateur production group Daicon Films which would become Gainax
Gainax
is a Japanese anime studio famous for productions such as Gunbuster, The Wings of Honneamise, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann which have gone on to critical acclaim and commercial success, as well as for their association with...
. Gainax began by making films for the Daicon science fiction conventions and were so popular in the otaku community that they were given a chance to helm the biggest budgeted (to that point) anime film, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
is a 1987 Japanese animated science fiction film and the first film produced by Gainax and Bandai Visual. It was directed and written by Hiroyuki Yamaga with assistant director Takami Akai. The film would eventually be a critically acclaimed Gainax classic, but it was poorly received and sold only...
(1987).
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
and his long time colleague Isao Takahata to set up their own studio under the supervision of former Animage editor Toshio Suzuki
Toshio Suzuki (producer)
is a film producer of anime and a long-time colleague of Hayao Miyazaki, as well as the current CEO of Studio Ghibli. Suzuki is renowned as one of Japan's most successful producers after the enormous box office success of many Ghibli films. According to Miyazaki, "If it were not for Mr...
. This studio would become known as Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
and its first film was Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), one of Miyazaki's most ambitious films.
The success of Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the...
(1984) introduced the martial arts genre and became incredibly influential in the Japanese Animation industry. It influenced many more martial arts anime and manga series' including Yu Yu Hakusho (1990), One Piece
One Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
(1997), and Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
(1999).
The 1980s brought anime to the home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
market in the form of Original Video Animation
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
(OVA). The first OVA was Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii
Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of popular anime, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor 2...
's Moon Base Dallos (1983–1984). Dallos was a flop, but 1985's Megazone 23
Megazone 23
is a four-part original video animation created by AIC, written by Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, and directed by Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Kenichi Yatagai and Shinji Aramaki. The series was originally titled but the title was changed just before release....
was a success. Shows such as Patlabor
Patlabor
Patlabor also known as , is an anime and manga franchise created by Headgear, a group consisting of director Mamoru Oshii, writer Kazunori Itō, mecha designer Yutaka Izubuchi, character designer Akemi Takada, and manga artist Masami Yūki.The popular franchise included a manga, a TV series, two OVA...
had their beginnings in this market and it proved to be a way to test less marketable animation against audiences. The OVA allowed for the release of pornographic anime
Hentai
is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...
such as Cream Lemon
Cream Lemon
is an erotic anime series with some in-depth storylines and classic artwork. The first Cream Lemon OVA was released in 1984, though Cream Lemon was not the first hentai OVA...
(1984). The first hentai OVA was actually the little-known Wonder Kids Lolita Anime
Lolita Anime
The series was the first ever hentai original video animation , created by a studio called Wonder Kids. It ran from February 1984 to May 1985 and consisted of six episodes...
, also released in 1984.
Sports anime as now known made its debut in 1983 with an anime adaptation Yoichi Takahashi
Yoichi Takahashi
is a Japanese cartoonist and manga artist, best known for his work Captain Tsubasa.-Works:Yoichi Takahashi has had many items published including art books, manga, novels, and guides, most of which are of about his manga Captain Tsubasa.-Manga:...
's soccer manga Captain Tsubasa
Captain Tsubasa
, also known as Flash Kicker, is a popular long running Japanese manga, animation, and video game series, originally created by Yōichi Takahashi in 1981...
, which became the first worldwide successful sports anime leading its way to create themes and stories that would create the formula that would later then be used in many sports series that soon followed such as Slam Dunk
Slam dunk
A slam dunk is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air and manually powers the ball downward through the basket with one or both hands over the rim. This is considered a normal field goal attempt; if successful it is worth two points. The term "slam dunk" was...
, Prince of Tennis and Eyeshield 21
Eyeshield 21
is a manga about American football written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. It has been adapted into an anime movie in 2004 , an anime television series in 2005, several video games and a trading card game from Konami. The manga is serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump...
.
The late 1980s, following the release of Nausicaä, saw an increasing number of high budget and/or experimental films. In 1985 Toshio Suzuki helped put together funding for Oshii's experimental film Angel's Egg
Angel's Egg
is a Japanese anime feature film produced by Tokuma Shoten in 1985. A collaboration between popular artist Yoshitaka Amano and director Mamoru Oshii, it incorporates surrealistic and existentialist qualities...
(1985). The OVA market allowed for short experimental pieces such as Take the X Train, Neo Tokyo
Neo Tokyo (film)
, also titled Manie-Manie on its title card, is a 1987 anime science fiction anthology film produced by Project Team Argos and Madhouse. Conceived and produced by Madhouse founders Masao Maruyama and Rintarō, it adapts short stories by Taku Mayumura featured in the 1986 collection of the same...
, and Robot Carnival
Robot Carnival
is a Japanese anime anthology film released in 1987. It consists of nine shorts by different directors, many of whom started out as animators with little to no directing experience...
(all three 1987).
Theatrical releases became more ambitious, each film trying to outclass or outspend the other film, all taking cues from Nausicaäs popular and critical success. Night on the Galactic Railroad
Night on the Galactic Railroad
, sometimes translated as Milky Way Railroad, Night Train to the Stars, or Fantasy Railroad In The Stars, is a classic Japanese novel by Kenji Miyazawa written around 1927. The nine-chapter novel was posthumously published in 1934 as part of published by...
(1985), Tale of Genji (1986), and Grave of the Fireflies
Grave of the Fireflies
is a 1988 Japanese animated war tragedy film written and directed by Isao Takahata. This is the first film produced by Shinchosha, who hired Studio Ghibli to do the animation production work...
(1988) were all ambitious films based on important literary works in Japan. Films such as Char's Counterattack (1988) and Arion (1986) were lavishly budgeted spectacles. This period of lavish budgeting and experimentation would reach its zenith with two of the most expensive anime film productions ever: Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise
is a 1987 Japanese animated science fiction film and the first film produced by Gainax and Bandai Visual. It was directed and written by Hiroyuki Yamaga with assistant director Takami Akai. The film would eventually be a critically acclaimed Gainax classic, but it was poorly received and sold only...
(1987) and Akira
Akira (film)
is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
(1988).
Most of these films did not make back the costs to produce them. Neither Akira nor Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise were box office successes in Japan. As a result, large numbers of anime studios closed down, and many experimental productions began to be favored less over "tried and true" formulas. Only Studio Ghibli was to survive a winner of the many ambitious productions of the late 1980s with its film Kiki's Delivery Service
Kiki's Delivery Service
is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film produced, written, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was the fourth theatrically released Studio Ghibli film.The film won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1989...
(1989) being the top grossing film for that year earning over $40 million at the box office.
Despite the failure of Akira in Japan, it brought with it a much larger international fan base for anime. When shown overseas, the film became a cult hit and, eventually, a symbol of the medium for the West. The domestic failure and international success of Akira, combined with the bursting of the bubble economy and Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
's death in 1989, brought a close to the 1980s era of anime.
1990s
Hideaki Anno
is a Japanese animation and film director. Anno is best known for his work on the popular anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion. His style has come to be defined by the touches of postmodernism that he injects into his work, as well as the thorough portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions,...
wrote and directed the controversial anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, Neon Genesis Evangelion. This show became popular in Japan among anime fans and became known to the general public through mainstream media attention. It is believed that Anno originally wanted the show to be the ultimate otaku anime designed to revive the declining anime industry
Anime industry
The anime industry has grown significantly in the last few years, especially outside of Japan. It has spread rapidly across the world, with a major increase in the licensing of various series, movies, and OVAs at an increased rate across multiple regions, and the rise of the anime network, Animax,...
, but midway through production he also made it into a heavy critique of the culture eventually culminating in the controversial, but quite successful film The End of Evangelion
The End of Evangelion
is a 1997 Japanese animated science fiction film written and directed by Hideaki Anno along with Kazuya Tsurumaki; it ended the anime releases in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise until the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy remakes were announced in 2006....
(1997) which grossed over $10 million. Anno would eventually go on to produce live action films. Many scenes in the Evangelion TV show were so controversial that it forced TV Tokyo
TV Tokyo
is a television station headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , a blend of "terebi" and "Tokyo", it is the key station of TX Network. It is one of the major Tokyo television stations, particularly specializing in anime...
to clamp down with censorship of violence and sexuality in anime. As a result when Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop
is a critically acclaimed and award-winning 1998 Japanese anime series directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, written by Keiko Nobumoto, and produced by Sunrise. Its 26 episodes comprise a complete storyline: set in 2071, the series follows the adventures, misadventures and tragedies of five bounty...
(1998) was first broadcast it was shown heavily edited and only half the episodes were aired. The censorship crackdown has relaxed a bit, but Evangelion had a major effect on the television anime industry as a whole.
In addition, Evangelion started up a series of so-called "post-Evangelion" shows. Most of these were giant robot shows with some kind of religious or difficult plot. These include RahXephon
RahXephon
is a Japanese anime series about 17-year-old Ayato Kamina, his ability to control a godlike mecha known as the RahXephon, and his inner journey to find a place in the world...
, Brain Powerd
Brain Powerd
is a Japanese anime television series created by Sunrise. The series is set on a future, decimated Earth after the discovery of a mysterious, alien spacecraft dubbed "Orphan". A group of researchers scour the planet for Orphan's disc plates using mecha called "Antibodies" in order to revive the...
, and Gasaraki
Gasaraki
is a mecha anime television series produced by Sunrise. It was directed by Ryousuke Takahashi, who also co-created the series along with Sunrise and was assisted by Goro Taniguchi. The screenplay was written by Toru Nozaki....
. Another series of these are late night experimental TV shows. Starting with Serial Experiments Lain
Serial Experiments Lain
Serial Experiments Lain is an anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe, screenplay written by Chiaki J. Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda for Triangle Staff. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1998...
(1998) late night Japanese television
Late night anime
is a term used in Japan to denote anime television series broadcast late at night and/or in the early morning, usually between 23.00 and 4.00. Sometimes the scheduled times of such broadcasts are advertised in a format using an hour greater than 24 is a term used in Japan to denote anime...
became a forum for experimental anime with other shows following it such as Boogiepop Phantom
Boogiepop Phantom
is a twelve episode anime television series produced by Madhouse Studios, based on the Boogiepop light novel series by Kouhei Kadono, particularly that of Boogiepop and Others and Boogiepop At Dawn...
(2000), Texhnolyze
Texhnolyze
is a Japanese animated television series directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki, from a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda, with original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe....
(2003) and Paranoia Agent
Paranoia Agent
is a Japanese anime television series created by director Satoshi Kon and produced by Madhouse about a social phenomenon in Musashino, Tokyo caused by a juvenile serial assailant named Lil' Slugger...
(2004). Experimental anime films were also released in the 1990s, most notably Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell
is a Japanese multimedia franchise composed of manga, animated films, anime series, video games and novels. It focuses on the activities of the counter-terrorist organization Public Security Section 9 in a futuristic, cyberpunk Japan ....
(1995), which alongside Megazone 23
Megazone 23
is a four-part original video animation created by AIC, written by Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, and directed by Noboru Ishiguro, Ichiro Itano, Kenichi Yatagai and Shinji Aramaki. The series was originally titled but the title was changed just before release....
(1985), had a strong influence on The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
.
The late 1990s also saw a brief revival of the Super Robot
Super Robot
is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...
genre that was once popular in the 1960s and 1970s but had become rare due to the popularity of Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
shows such as the Gundam
Gundam
The is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....
and Macross
Macross
is a series of science fiction mecha anime, directed by Shōji Kawamori of Studio Nue in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth/Humanity after the year 1999. It consists of three TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West...
series in the 1980s and psychological Mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
shows such as Neon Genesis Evangelion in the 1990s. The revival of the Super Robot genre began with GaoGaiGar in 1997 in response to "post-Evangelion" trends, but there were very few popular Super Robot shows produced after this, until Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann in 2007.
Alongside its Super Robot counterpart, the Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
genre was also declining during the 1990s. Though several Gundam
Gundam
The is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....
shows were produced during this decade, very few of them were successful. The only Gundam shows in the 1990s which managed an average television rating
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
over 4% in Japan were Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Mobile Fighter G Gundam, known in Japan as , is a Japanese animated television series directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa . Created to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the franchise in 1994, it is the first of the Gundam series to be set in an alternate continuity from the original "Universal Century"...
(1994) and New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995). It wasn't until Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
is an anime series developed by Sunrise and directed by Mitsuo Fukuda. As with other series from the Gundam franchise, Gundam SEED takes place in a parallel timeline, in this case the Cosmic Era, the first to do so...
in 2002 that the Real Robot genre regained its popularity.
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
, spawn an anime television show which is still running, several anime movies, a trading card game, toys, and much more. Other 1990s anime series which gained international success were Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon, known as , is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team of magical girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" the magical-girl genre itself...
, and Digimon; the success of these shows marked the beginning of the martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
, the magical girl
Magical girl
belong to a sub-genre of Japanese fantasy anime and manga. Magical girl stories feature young girls with superhuman abilities, forced to fight evil and to protect the Earth. They often possess a secret identity, although the name can just refer to young girls who follow a plotline involving magic...
genre, and the action adventure genre respectively. In particular, Dragon Ball Z was dubbed into more than a dozen languages worldwide.
In 1997, Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
's Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke
is a 1997 epic Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. is not a name, but a general term in the Japanese language for a spirit or monster...
became the most expensive animated film up until that time, costing $20 million to produce. Miyazaki personally checked each of the 144,000 cel
Cel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
s in the film, and is estimated to have redrawn parts of 80,000 of them.
The late 1990s also saw anime crossing the borders into live action, starting with Gokusen
Gokusen
is a manga series by Kozueko Morimoto. The story follows Kumiko Yamaguchi, the granddaughter of a Yakuza boss and teacher at an all-male private high school. In 2008, a SP manga was out, featuring some of Yankumi's old students who are by now working adults.In 2002, the manga was adapted into a...
, Great Teacher Onizuka
Great Teacher Onizuka
, officially abbreviated as GTO, is a Japanese shōnen manga written and illustrated by Tohru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from May 1997 to April 2002. The story focuses on 22-year-old ex-bōsōzoku member Eikichi Onizuka, who becomes a teacher at a private high...
(1999). It continued well into the 2000s, with Hana Yori Dango (2005), Jigoku Shōjo
Jigoku Shojo
, also known as Jigoku Shōjo: Girl from Hell, is an anime series produced by Aniplex and Studio Deen. It focuses on the existence of a supernatural system that allows people to take revenge by having other people sent to Hell via the services of the mysterious titular character and her assistants...
(2006) and Nodame Cantabile
Nodame Cantabile
is a manga by Tomoko Ninomiya. It was serialized in Japan by Kodansha in the magazine Kiss from July 2001 to October 2009 and collected in 23 tankōbon volumes. A two-volume sequel, called Nodame Cantabile: Opera Chapter, which began serialization in the 10 December 2009 issue of Kiss, was released...
among them.
2000s
An art movement started by Takashi MurakamiTakashi Murakami
is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art...
that combined Japanese pop-culture with postmodern art
Postmodern art
Postmodern art is a term used to describe an art movement which was thought to be in contradiction to some aspect of modernism, or to have emerged or developed in its aftermath...
called Superflat
Superflat
Superflat is a postmodern art movement, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime. It is also the name of a 2001 art exhibition, curated by Murakami, that toured West Hollywood, Minneapolis and Seattle....
began around this time. Murakami asserts that the movement is an analysis of post-war Japanese culture through the eyes of the otaku subculture. His desire is also to get rid of the categories of 'high' and 'low' art making a flat continuum, hence the term 'superflat'. His art exhibitions are very popular and have an influence on some anime creators particularly those from Studio 4°C.
The "Evangelion-era" trend continued into the 2000s with Evangelion-inspired mecha anime such as RahXephon
RahXephon
is a Japanese anime series about 17-year-old Ayato Kamina, his ability to control a godlike mecha known as the RahXephon, and his inner journey to find a place in the world...
(2002) and Zegapain
Zegapain
is a Japanese anime television series created by Sunrise. The series premiered in Japan on April 6, 2006 on TV Tokyo and also later aired on BS Japan and AT-X. On October 2, 2007, Bandai Entertainment released the first Region 1 volume of Zegapain.-Plot:...
(2006) - RahXephon was also intended to help revive 1970s-style mecha designs. The experimental late night anime
Late night anime
is a term used in Japan to denote anime television series broadcast late at night and/or in the early morning, usually between 23.00 and 4.00. Sometimes the scheduled times of such broadcasts are advertised in a format using an hour greater than 24 is a term used in Japan to denote anime...
trend popularized by Serial Experiments Lain
Serial Experiments Lain
Serial Experiments Lain is an anime series directed by Ryutaro Nakamura, original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe, screenplay written by Chiaki J. Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda for Triangle Staff. It was broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to September 1998...
also continued into the 2000s with experimental anime such as Boogiepop Phantom
Boogiepop Phantom
is a twelve episode anime television series produced by Madhouse Studios, based on the Boogiepop light novel series by Kouhei Kadono, particularly that of Boogiepop and Others and Boogiepop At Dawn...
(2000), Texhnolyze
Texhnolyze
is a Japanese animated television series directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki, from a screenplay by Chiaki Konaka, and produced by Yasuyuki Ueda, with original character design by Yoshitoshi ABe....
(2003), Paranoia Agent
Paranoia Agent
is a Japanese anime television series created by director Satoshi Kon and produced by Madhouse about a social phenomenon in Musashino, Tokyo caused by a juvenile serial assailant named Lil' Slugger...
(2004) and Gantz
Gantz
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku. Gantz tells the story of Kei Kurono and his friend Masaru Kato who die in a train accident and become part of a semi-posthumous "game" in which they and several other recently deceased people are forced to hunt down and kill aliens...
(2004).
Manga Author Mia Ikumi made the Tokyo Mew Mew
Tokyo Mew Mew
, also known as Mew Mew Power, is a Japanese shōjo manga series written by Reiko Yoshida and illustrated by Mia Ikumi. It was originally serialized in Nakayoshi from September 2000 to February 2003, and later published in seven tankōbon volumes by Kodansha from February 2001 to April 2003...
and Only One Wish books along with the Magical Girl genre.
The Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
genre (including the Gundam
Gundam
The is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....
and Macross
Macross
is a series of science fiction mecha anime, directed by Shōji Kawamori of Studio Nue in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth/Humanity after the year 1999. It consists of three TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West...
franchises), which had declined during the 1990s, was revived in 2002 with the success of shows such as Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
is an anime series developed by Sunrise and directed by Mitsuo Fukuda. As with other series from the Gundam franchise, Gundam SEED takes place in a parallel timeline, in this case the Cosmic Era, the first to do so...
(2002), Eureka Seven
Eureka Seven
Eureka Seven, known in Japan as , is a mecha anime TV series by Bones. Eureka Seven tells the story of Renton Thurston and the outlaw group Gekkostate, his relationship with the enigmatic mecha pilot Eureka, and the mystery of the Coralians....
(2005), Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (2006), Mobile Suit Gundam 00
Mobile Suit Gundam 00
is an anime TV series, the eleventh incarnation of Sunrise's long-running Gundam franchise consisting of two seasons. It is directed by Seiji Mizushima and written by Yōsuke Kuroda, and features character designs by Yun Kōga. The twenty-five episode season was officially announced by Sunrise...
(2007), Macross Frontier
Macross Frontier
is a Japanese animated science fiction space drama that aired in Japan on MBS from April 3, 2008 to September 25, 2008. It is the most recent Japanese anime television series set in the Macross universe. Animated by Satelight, premiered Japan on MBS on April 3, 2008...
(2008) and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 (2008). The resurgence of Real Robot anime can be seen in a top 20 anime poll published in the April 2008 issue of Newtype magazine
Newtype (magazine)
is a monthly magazine publication originating from Japan, covering anime and manga . It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985 with its April issue, and has since seen regular release on the 10th of every month in its home country...
, where Japanese readers voted for Gundam 00 as the #1 top anime, alongside Code Geass at #2 and Gundam SEED at #9.
The 1970s-style Super Robot
Super Robot
is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...
genre revival started by GaoGaiGar (1997), continued into the 2000s, with several remakes of classic series such as Getter Robo
Getter Robo
is a Super Robot manga series created by Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa, as well as an anime series produced by Toei Animation. The series was broadcast on Fuji TV from April 4, 1974 to May 8, 1975, with a total of 51 episodes.- Plot :...
and Dancougar as well as original properties created in the Super Robot
Super Robot
is a term used in manga and anime to describe a giant robot or mecha, with an arsenal of fantastic super-powered weapons, extreme resistance to damage unless the plot calls for it, sometimes transformable or combined from two or more robots and/or vehicles usually piloted by young, daring heroes,...
mold like Godannar
Godannar
is an anime series created and directed by Yasuchika Nagaoka.-Background:In 2042, alien threats known as the laid waste to Japan. During a final battle against the Mimetic beasts, Goh Saruwatari defeats the alien "boss" and saves his fiance, Anna Aoi, with his robot, the Dannar.Now, on their...
and Gurren Lagann. In particular, Gurren Lagann combined the genre with elements from 1980s Real Robot shows as well as 1990s "post-Evangelion" shows. Gurren Lagann received both the "best television production" and "best character design" awards from the Tokyo International Anime Fair
Tokyo International Anime Fair
The Tokyo International Anime Fair also known as Tokyo International Animation Fair is one of the largest anime trade fairs in the world, held annually in Japan. The first event was held in 2002 as "Tokyo International Anime Fair 21". The event is held at Tokyo Big Sight, a convention and...
in 2008. This eventually culminated in the release of Shin Mazinger in 2009, a full-length revival of the first Super Robot series, Mazinger Z
Mazinger Z
, known briefly as Tranzor Z in United States, is a Super Robot manga and anime series created by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In...
.
In addition to these experimental trends, the 2000s has also been characterized by the increase of the moe-style art and the bishōjo
Bishojo
is a Japanese term used to refer to young and pretty girls, usually below university age. Bishōjo is not listed as a word in the prominent Japanese dictionary Kōjien...
and bishōnen
Bishonen
is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth ". The equivalent English concept is a "pretty boy".The term describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man whose beauty transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation...
character design. The presence and popularity of genres such as romance
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
, harem
Harem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
and slice of life story has risen.
Anime based on eroge
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
and visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
s increased in popularity in the 2000s, building on a trend started in the late 90s by such works as Sentimental Journey
Sentimental Graffiti
is the name of a popular dating simulation series by NEC Interchannel. A TV anime based on the series was later produced, titled Sentimental Journey. Three Japanese radio dramas based on the series, titled Sentimental Night, Kaettekita Sentimental Night, and Only Sentimental Night 2 were produced....
(1998) and To Heart (1999). Examples of such works include Green Green (2003), SHUFFLE!
Shuffle!
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Navel. It was originally released as an adult game for Microsoft Windows on January 30, 2004. It was subsequently followed by an all-ages release for the PlayStation 2 and an expanded adult release for Windows...
(2006), Kanon
Kanon
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key and originally released as an adult game on June 4, 1999, playable on a Microsoft Windows PC. An all ages version for the PC was released in January 2000, and was later ported to the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable...
(2002 and 2006), Fate/Stay Night
Fate/stay night
is a Japanese visual novel developed by Type-Moon, which was originally released as an adult game for the PC. An all-ages version of Fate/stay night, titled Fate/stay night Réalta Nua, was released for the PlayStation 2 on April 19, 2007, and features the Japanese voice actors from the anime series...
(2006), Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
, known simply as When They Cry for the North American release of the anime adaptation, is a Japanese murder mystery dōjin soft sound novel series produced by 07th Expansion. The games are built on the NScripter game engine and are playable on Microsoft Windows PCs...
(2006), Ef: A Tale of Memories (2007), True Tears
True Tears (anime)
True Tears is a Japanese anime television series produced by P.A. Works and directed by Junji Nishimura. The anime aired in Japan on the TV Kanagawa television network between January 6, 2008 and March 30, 2008, containing thirteen episodes...
(2008), and Clannad (2008 and 2009).
Many shows are being adapted from manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and light novels as well including popular titles such as Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist
, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after the European Industrial Revolution...
(2005), Rozen Maiden
Rozen Maiden
is a manga series created by Peach-Pit. The story centers on Jun Sakurada, a young hikikomori boy that forms a bond with Shinku, a living doll of the "Rozen Maiden" series, who was created by the mysterious dollmaker Rozen hundreds of years ago...
2005, Aria the Animation (2005), Shakugan no Shana
Shakugan no Shana
, also known simply as Shana, is a Japanese light novel series written by Yashichiro Takahashi, with illustrations by Noizi Ito. The series includes 25 novels released between November 2002 and October 2011 published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint...
(2005), Pani Poni Dash!
Pani Poni Dash!
, also known as through its anime adaptation , is a Japanese manga series that uses parody, frequently referencing Japanese and American pop-culture in many ways...
(2005), Death Note
Death Note
is a manga created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and manga artist Takeshi Obata. The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a god of death, or a shinigami, named Ryuk...
(2006), Mushishi
Mushishi
is a manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara, published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1999 to August 2008.The manga was adapted into an anime television series in 2005. The Artland production was directed by Hiroshi Nagahama...
(2006), Sola
Sola (manga)
Sola is a Japanese work originally conceived by Naoki Hisaya with original character design by Naru Nanao . Sola is a mixed media project, first unveiled through the prologue of the manga featured in the Japanese manga magazine Dengeki Daioh on December 21, 2006, published by MediaWorks...
(2007), The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006), Lucky Star (2007), Toradora!
Toradora!
is a Japanese light novel series by Yuyuko Takemiya, with illustrations by Yasu. The series includes ten novels released between March 10, 2006 and March 10, 2009, published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. Three volumes of a spin-off light novel series was also created,...
(2008–09), K-On!
K-On!
is a Japanese four-panel comic strip manga written and illustrated by Kakifly. The manga was serialized in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara between the May 2007 and October 2010 issues. It was also serialized in Houbunsha's magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat...
(2009) and Bakemonogatari
Bakemonogatari
is a Japanese popular light novel series written by Japanese novelist Nisio Isin and illustrated by Taiwanese illustrator Vofan; the series is published by Kodansha under the Kodansha Box imprint...
(2009).
Nevertheless, original anime titles are still being created which reach success.
The 2000s also mark a trend of emphasis of the otaku
Otaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
subculture. A notable critique of this otaku subculture is found in the 2006 anime Welcome to the N.H.K.
Welcome to the N.H.K.
is a Japanese novel written by Tatsuhiko Takimoto, with a cover illustration by Yoshitoshi ABe, and was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan on January 28, 2002. The novel was first published in English by Tokyopop on October 9, 2007...
, which features a hikikomori
Hikikomori
is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive people who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement because of various personal and social factors in their lives...
protagonist and explores the effects and consequences of various Japanese sub-cultures
Japanese popular culture
Japanese popular culture not only reflects the attitudes and concerns of the present but also provides a link to the past. Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, manga, and music all developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes and styles of presentation...
, such as otaku, lolicon
Lolicon
, also romanised as lolikon or rorikon, is a Japanese portmanteau of the phrase "Lolita complex". In Japan, the term describes an attraction to underage girls or an individual with such an attraction...
, internet suicide
Internet suicide
An Internet suicide is a suicide conducted in full view of the public via the Internet, or pursuant to a cybersuicide pact, which is a suicide pact made between individuals who meet on the Internet.- Background :...
, massively multiplayer online game
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
s and multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation...
.
In contrast to the above mentioned phenomenon, there have been more productions of late night anime for a non-otaku audience as well. The first concentrated effort came from Fuji TV's Noitamina
Noitamina
– "Animation" written backwards – is a Fuji Television programming block, devoted to anime, originally broadcast each Thursday night from 24:45 to 25:15 . It was launched with the intention of expanding the target audience beyond the typical young male demographic...
block. The 30 minute late Thursday timeframe was created to showcase productions for young women of college age, a demographic that watches very little anime. The first production 'Honey and Clover
Honey and Clover
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Chika Umino. It is also known as and H&C. It is published by Shueisha, initially serialized from June 2000 to July 2006 in the magazines CUTiEcomic, Young YOU, and Chorus, and collected in ten bound volumes...
' was a particular success, peaking at a 5% TV rating in Kantou, very strong for late night anime. The block has been running uninterrupted since April 2005 and has yielded many successful productions unique in the modern anime market.
There have been revivals of American cartoons such as Transformers
Transformers
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another by magnetic coupling.Transformer may also refer to:* ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, an Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet computer manufacturer by Asus...
which spawned four new series, Transformers: Car Robots in 2000, Transformers: Micron Legend in 2003, Transformers: Superlink in 2004, and Transformers: Galaxy Force in 2005. In addition, an anime adaptation of the G.I Joe series was produced titled 'G.I. Joe: Sigma 6
G.I. Joe: Sigma 6
G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 is a line of military-themed action figures and toys produced by Hasbro, re-imagining the characters of the 1980s toyline, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.The Sigma 6 toy line served several purposes for Hasbro...
'.
The 2000's also saw the revival of earlier series in the forms of Fist of the North Star: The Legends of the True Savior
Fist of the North Star: The Legends of the True Savior
is a Japanese animated film series produced by TMS Entertainment and North Stars Pictures based on the manga Fist of the North Star written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara...
(2006) and Dragon Ball Z Kai (2009).
The 2000s also saw the revival of high-budget feature-length anime films, such as Millennium Actress
Millennium Actress
is a 2001 Japanese anime by director Satoshi Kon and animated by the Studio Madhouse. It tells the story of a documentary filmmaker investigating the life of an elderly actress in which reality and cinema become blurred.-Plot:...
(2001), Appleseed (2001), Paprika (2006), and the most expensive of all being Steamboy
Steamboy
is a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk film, produced by Sunrise, and directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release, following Akira. The film was released in Japan on July 17, 2004. Steamboy is the most expensive full length Japanese animated movie made to date...
(2004) which cost $26 million to produce.
In 2008, the Japanese government created the position of Anime Ambassador and appointed Doraemon
Doraemon
is a Japanese manga series created by Fujiko F. Fujio which later became an anime series and an Asian franchise...
as the first Anime Ambassador to promote anime worldwide in diplomacy.
Works cited
- Ettinger, Benjamin "Karisuma Animators"
- Ettinger Benjamin "Toei Doga" (Part 2) Anipages Daily. 7/25/2004 and 7/26/2004.
- Miyazaki, Hayao trans. Ryoko Toyama "About Japanese Animation"
- Okada, Toshio et al. (2005), "Otaku Talk". Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture. Ed. Takashi Murakami. Japan Society and Yale University Press. ISBN 0-913304-57-3.
- Sharp, Jasper "Pioneers of Japanese Animation at PIFan" Midnight Eye 9/25/2004
- Kime, Chad. "American Anime: Blend or Bastardization?" EX Online Anime Magazine