It all started in the early 20's with a medical doctor Osamu Tezuka and his manga Astro Boy. At the time Japan was considered to be place that makes American goods and cheap toys. And from the historical point of view, Japan was still haunted by the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so it was pretty brave of Tezuka to tell a story about a robot boy with an atomic heart, disowned by his creator. Tezukas work was considered to be a Japanese equivalent to Walt Disney and he was often times titled as the goth father of anime.
Shortly after the firestorm descended on Disney, the company took the position that it was largely unaware of Japanese Animation in general, and Tezuka in particular. Their animators, it was categorically stated, were not influenced at all during the production of their own King-of-the-Jungle lion film. That entire scenes were lifted from Tezuka "splash" panels were merely coincidence. It was therefore a bit of a reversal when shortly afterward Disney and Studio Ghibli announced that Miyazaki's back catalog of films would be distributed by Disney ... a company that was officially "unaware" of the medium.
Also the fathers of Japanese animation were considered Ōten Shimokawa, Jun'ichi Kōuchi and Seitaro Kitayama. At the time they were exploring new techniques, but the animation were mostly for commercial purposes. This was the first generation of Japanese animators also called Kamishibai.
The second generation consisted of such animators as Yasuji Murata, Hakuzan Kimura, Sanae Yamamoto and Noburō Ōfuji, who 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment