The World of Japanimation

A History On Japanimation



For all of you new to the field of Japanimation also called Japanese Animation and Anime I have compiled a semi-short history of what you are looking at. To start out with I have a few comments of my own. I have been involved with, so to speak, Japanimation for several years now. But I am not sure how long. I first started out with the ever popular show, DragonBall Z. Then I worked my way to another popular show, Sailor Moon. Yeah some people think that it may be kind of childish. But that is just their opinions though. It is an excellent art form to get into. The animation itself is more than enough to impress anyone. It did me for sure. That is one of the first things that I saw. Then it captured me to the core. I am not an artist myself. But in a matter of speaking, Japanimation is my art form. Though the art pretty much blows me away, there is more to it. The distinctive look and character personalities keep any reader or watcher on the edge of their seats. The story lines range from many different genres whether it be comic, thriller, suspenseful, action, romance, or even a combination. One such combination comes to mind is the City Hunter series. It contains them all actually. Now to the history of Japanimation.

What is Anime?

Anime (pronounced "Annie May") is the common Japanese abbreviation of the English word "Animation". Today Anime is what most of the world calls Japanese Animation. Even though it means animation, Anime is not what Americans usually think of when they hear the word. In Japan, Anime is marketed towards every segment of the population. From pre-school programs to pornography, Anime covers a wide spectrum of topics. Anime can be compared to the Hollywood film industry in that it produces something for everyone.

Japan has a deeply artistic culture that dates back for thousands of years. This culture has lead to one of the largest animation and comic industries in the world. They seem to have a strong desire to express their thoughts and ideas through film and animation is a popular medium no matter what the subject. Japanese voice actors, called seiy�, are popular stars with all the admiration of our Hollywood actors. Many of them have fan clubs, concerts, and books written about them.

What are Manga?

Closely related to Anime is Manga, which can be roughly translated to "Irresponsible Pictures" and is used to describe what we would call comic books. As with Anime, there are Manga for just about anyone. It is not uncommon to see a Japanese businessman reading a business Manga on his commute to work or a housewife reading a cooking or romance Manga. Many successful Manga go on to become Anime TV shows, original video animations (OVAs), and theatrical movies.

A popular misconception about Anime and Manga is that all the characters have large round eyes. This depends on the artists style. While many do draw characters with large round eyes, there are just as many that don't.

Manga fans in Japan are the true definition of fanatics. There are thousands of fan artist who produce books called dojinshi. Dojinshi, which rougly means "same stuff, different people", are fan produced comics based directly on a commercially produced Manga series or Anime show.

Japanimation started around the time of World War II, late '30s and early '40s. There were very few productions at the time though. It all started with Walt Disney, one of America's all time animatiors. The japanese animators were so heavily influenced by Disney's style of characters with large expressive features, that they started to copy the western style concept of animation studios and began to retell their folk tales and histories, for a start, in an animated format. Both Japan's interest in science and technology and its first-hand experience of their devastating effects at the end of World War II has influenced the tone and attitude of anime. A notable effect of Japan's disastrous defeat appears in the gloom and melancholy that hangs over many films and series and separates them from the sunnier, more optimistic tone of American animation. There are some Animes that focus completely on the effects of the wars. Another example to back this up is a film called Barefoot Gen. It focuses on the effects of a young boy, Gen, before, in the middle, and after a nuclear holocaust. This animated feature is a prime example of what it would have been like to be in the middle of a disastorus world. It starts out with a boy on his way to school. Then as the day goes by, there is a nuclear bomb dropped on his home town and the exsisting area. Everything was crumbled, people were burned to a crisp, no food, no water, nothing. Gen was able to survive, and went back to his home to find it had been destroyed with most everything around him as well. He found his brother, sister and father trapped in the burning house under a fire engulfed support beam. His mother on the other hand was outside of the house. Gen tries with all of his might to find some way of rescuing them. But there was no way that he could do anything. So there he stands with his mother to watch their family be cremated alive hearing their screams for help, terrified, and in utter pain. Throughout the movie he and his mother struggle to survive out in a world where nothing but pain and suffering lived. There they had to search for a new place to live, food and water. On their journey, they have many people that have survived, but are scarred for life physically and emotionally, ask for their help. They can't help themselves much less other people. In the end though they finally find what they are looking for. A place to live, water, and new lives. This is a dark and very graphic film re-inacting the times of war for the innocent bystanders of the Hiroshima Bombing.

As Japanimation started making its way in the '70s many productions were made from fairy tales on film to science fiction and adventure on television with some of the starters being "Tetsuwan Atom" (Astro Boy) and "Speed Racer" gave most Americans their first dose of Anime. The same time period brought giant transforming robots and extroidnary space vehicles; "Grandizer," "Robotech," "Starblazers," and the ever popular "Danguard Ace," but for the most part Anime remained the domain of small cult groups of "AniFanatics."

The belief of many people that Anime's birth into the homes of American' entertainment came around 1988 with the release of "Akira," a sci fi worth all Animes. College fan clubs and societies also played a large role in popularizing Anime to the point of joint US/Japanese productions such as the highly successful "Ghost in the Shell."

As time progresses there are more and more animes being brought out, starting in Japan, and ending up in America. But that is the good thing, the more the better. But there are some that are really hard to find and hard to get a hold of because of either their newness or their rarity. That goes the same with new and old anime films. Another thing that I am very aware of is that there are very few people that have any expertise of anime in my area, and that also makes it difficult to find or get what I am looking for. The most that they can say is "Well, I don't know, let me check the computer." That doesn't really help me any when the store clerk isn't being told what shipments are coming in, and what can be ordered. The biggest part of my collection comes from store bought, and then there are some that I have picked up along the way, such as internet auctions and friends that have passed their movies along the way either because they needed the mony, or they had lost interest. Which either way was good for me because I always benefit from it.