Category: Anime

The Interesting Question Of When An Anime Is Not An Anime?

Published February 23, 2023

This question may seem silly. “Obviously I know when an anime isn’t an anime!” I hear you shouting at me but I want to say that this interesting question is more complicated than it may first seem. It isn’t as easy as saying that anime is simply animation that is produced in Japan with a Japanese crew and Japanese money. Instead, particularly in the modern age, we’re seeing more and more animation produced that blurs the line of what anime is. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to share my thoughts on the question of when an anime isn’t an anime.

The first thing I should clarify is whose definition of anime I’m looking at. As I mentioned before, the word “Anime” in Japan simply refers to animated media, meaning all animation is considered anime in Japan. However, outside of Japan, anime is defined as “Japanese film and television animation“. This seems like a cut and dry definition but, as you start to dig deeper and deeper, you start to realise that this isn’t as simple as it first seems.

I think it’s fair to say that The Boondocks is anime-inspired animation rather than an actual anime.

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Beginner Anime And Manga Recommendations

Published February 9, 2023

I’ve always thought that it must be tough to make a beginner anime and manga recommendations list (a good one at least). People’s tastes can be incredibly different and, despite the common factor being that they’re beginners, I don’t believe that one can make a recommendations list that’ll apply to everyone. Therefore, I thought that something I would do is recommend some anime and manga based on other interests. Of course, there’ll be some generalisations but I do believe that this’ll result in a better list.

Fans of Western Animation:

I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people develop an interest in anime because they’re fans of animation and want to try something a little different. For those people, I think a logical, and perhaps too obvious, suggestion is to watch the films of Studio Ghibli, an anime studio that is often compared to Disney. I also think Mamoru Hosoda films would generally appeal to these fans as well. As for manga, I think a manga like Unico would appeal to Western animation fans but, since it can be a bit awkward to get a hold of, I’d also recommend Princess Knight, which is from the same author as Unico, and a Clamp manga such as Angelic Layer, although some of their other manga may prove to be a bit much for beginners.

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Did You Know That Anime Companies Outsource To Other Studios?

Published February 6, 2023

I’ve spoken about anime studios in the past such as Sunrise and Studio 4°C and I often say how “Sunrise animated Gundam” or “Studio 4°C animated Mind Game” but the truth isn’t quite as straightforward as that. I don’t believe that my statements are wrong, each studio is the primary animation production company for those works, but it does gloss over quite an important fact, that many anime rely on outsourcing. Given this, and how it’s quite easy for people to not know about this, I thought I’d take a look at how and why anime companies outsource to other studios.

As far as I’m aware , the earliest example of an anime studio outsourcing to another studio is with the original Astro Boy anime from the 1960s. For episode 34 of Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka decided to outsource the episode to a company called Studio Zero. However, a major problem for this studio was that very few people had actual experience with animation. Thus, when the episode was completed, a lot of the characters were off-model compared to previous episodes. Even within the episode itself, the art style changed depending on who animated it. Understandably, Osamu Tezuka was not happy about this and, when his animators came back from their break, they had to try to partially correct the episode so that it was suitable for airing.

An image of Astro Boy flying in the 1963 TV series.

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The Interesting History Of Disney Anime And Manga

Published January 26, 2023

I’ve always been a fan of Disney and I strongly believe that many of their animated works are some of the finest ever created. However, I think it’s fair to say that part of the reason that many people are drawn to anime and manga is how different it can be in terms of storytelling and visuals from most Western animation that feel unable to separate themselves from Disney’s impact. However, I think it’s interesting how, throughout the history of their mediums, anime and manga have teamed up with Disney to produce works that combine the styles of the former with the IP of the latter.

As far as I’m aware, the first time that this occurred was Osamu Tezuka’s Bambi in 1951. Osamu Tezuka, often considered to be the founder of the modern anime industry, was a big fan of Disney and he particularly adored Bambi. He even ended up watching it over 80 times during its original Japanese theatrical release! He managed to eventually license the right to Bambi and to produce a manga adaptation. Interestingly, he also produced a manga adaptation of Disney’s Pinocchio the next year but, since copyright was hard to enforce at the time, it was an unlicensed work.

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The History Of The Unusual Anime Company Studio 4°C

Published January 23, 2023

Generally, if I’m aware of a studio, I have an idea of what an anime from that studio is going to look like. While the works of studios might have a little visual variance, I’d have a pretty good idea what the anime is going look like if you mention Madhouse, Production I.G., Sunrise etc. However, upon watching several of their films recently, I realised that I have absolutely no idea what a Studio 4°C anime is going to look like. Given this, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the history of the unusual anime company Studio 4°C.

Studio 4°C was founded in 1986 by producer Eiko Tanaka and animator Koji Morimoto with their first original project being a short film called “Jack to Mame no Ki”, an adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk that was released as part of the Anime Video Art Collection in 1989. While continuing to do a few small projects, a particularly notable moment for Studio 4°C was when they worked together with Madhouse to animate the 1995 anime film “Memories”. For those unfamiliar with the movie, it consists of three short films, “Magnetic Rose”, “Stink Bomb” and “Cannon Fodder”. Madhouse animated Stink Bomb while Studio 4°C animated Magnetic Rose and Cannon Fodder and it’s immediately evident how visually distinct Studio 4°C could be with sharp, crisp animation enhancing the two completely different art styles in their shorts.

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The Remarkable Japanese Stop-Motion Animator Tadahito Mochinaga

Published January 9, 2023

I think it’s fair to say that when we think of anime, we generally envision 2D animation. It’s true that we are seeing more and more anime that are created in CGI but the hand-drawn look remains iconic. However, it’s all too easy to forget that Japan has produced many other styles of animation with stop-motion being particularly notable. Within this area, a particularly remarkable Japanese stop-motion animator would be Tadahito Mochinaga who’s had a surprising impact that many may not even be aware of. Given this, I thought it worth looking at his contributions and why you should know about him.

Born in Tokyo on the 3rd of March, 1919, he started out his career in animation by working on cel animation under the supervision of Mitsuyo Seo, himself a very important animator in the history of Japan. After serving as an animator on Arichan the Ant, for which he notably built Japan’s first multiplane set-up, and Momotaro’s Sea Eagles, he decided to move himself and his wife to Manchukuo, the Japanese-occupied territory of Manchuria, and ended up working for several years in the Chinese film industry where he developed and honed his skills in stop-motion before moving back to Japan in the early 50s.

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Did You Know That There Are Pinocchio Anime?

Published December 26, 2022

I think it’s fair to say that the book “The Adventures of Pinocchio” has had a great impact on popular culture. Not only is it one of the most translated books of all time but it has been adapted into numerous media such as the new Guillermo del Toro film and the classic 1940 Disney animated film. Interestingly, Japan has also produced several Pinocchio adaptations, all of them animated, and, since I didn’t know about these before, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of these Pinocchio anime.

The first series that I want to take a look at is a little unusual given that it’s an international co-production between Rankin/Bass Productions, an American production company, and Dentsu Studios in Japan. Titled “The New Adventures of Pinocchio”, the series was animated in stop-motion and aired as 25 minute episodes made up of five 5 minute segments. The series also saw Tadahito Mochinaga, a legend of Asian stop-motion, working with Rankin/Bass for the very first time, a partnership that would see the production of several series and films.

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Manga Tie-Ins That Came Out Before Their Anime

Published December 15, 2022

When I first learned of an anime called “Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne“, a series I highly recommend by the way, I remember doing some brief research and learning that a light novel was in release before the anime started airing. Without pursuing it further, I assumed that the anime was an adaptation. Of course, you know what happens when you assume! Some time later, I actually looked deeper and learned that the novel had only begun a month before the anime started airing and was only completed after the anime had ended! Similarly, many original anime series may decide to release manga tie-ins prior to the anime airing and so I thought it might be interesting to take a look at a few examples and to consider why a company, likely a production committee in these cases, would choose to do this.

When I think of manga tie-ins that came out before their anime, the first one that comes to mind is Neon Genesis Evangelion. Beginning nearly a full year before the anime began airing, the manga adaptation was done by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who also served as the character designer for the TV series, and ended up running for over 18 years. It’s since proven to be quite financially successful with about 25 million copies sold and has also been very well received and, while this is very much a personal statement, I actually ended up preferring the manga over the anime TV series.

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The Fascinating History Of Toei Animation

Published December 12, 2022

When I first learned of Toei Animation, I merely associated them with producing some of the most popular anime TV series such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, Sailor Moon etc. but, as I learned more and more about the history of anime, I slowly realised that Toei Animation are much more significant than I realised. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the fascinating history of Toei Animation.

Toei Animation was originally founded in 1948 as Nihon Douga Eiga, Japanese for Japan Animated Films, and ended up being acquired by Toei Company in 1956 which resulted in the studio being renamed to Toei Animation. Soon after, Toei Animation began work on their first feature-length animated film, The Tale of the White Serpent. The production of the film was a massive undertaking for the then small Japanese animation industry with an estimated 13,590 staff working across two years. The film later ended up seeing a release in America under the name Panda and the Magic Serpent in 1961. While I’m unsure how The Tale of the White Serpent performed in the box office, it’s notable that it inspired a young Hayao Miyazaki to work in the anime industry.

A shot of Xu-Xian and Bai-Niang from Panda and the Magic Serpent. — The Tale of the White Serpent.

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The Important Mangaka Mitsuteru Yokoyama

Published November 28, 2022

It’s always tragic when so many fans of a medium choose to only experience the newest incarnations and ignore many of the classics. Of course, this pretty much applies to all media as I’ve noticed that numerous people that I know don’t watch older movies and TV series and they don’t read older literature or play older video games. This certainly applies to the medium of manga and, while I’ve highlighted classic mangaka like Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishinomori, another important mangaka that is arguably less known than them in the West is Mitsuteru Yokoyama. Therefore, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of his works and the impact that he has had.

Born on June 18th, 1934, he ended up becoming inspired to become a mangaka at the age of 15 after reading Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis. After a few jobs, he eventually managed to turn his career as a mangaka into a full-time job and he continued to have success until 2004 when, after a fire broke out in his house, he died in hospital.

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