It's Not Anime: It's Japanese Animation
Asia Pacific Arts: It's Not Anime: It's Japanese Animation: "It's Not Anime: It's Japanese Animation
by Bryan Hartz
An encomium to an era gone but it's influence still finely felt, the diverse range of animators in Before Anime provides a bit of background into a hazier period of animation that would beget spiky-haired ninjas and risqu� sailor-suits.
Just in time for the drooling fanboys over at the annual Anime Expo in Anaheim comes the fascinating 'Before Anime: Japanese Animation 1925-1946,' an assemblage of pre-war anime -- or Japanese animation -- works. The surging popularity of anime here in the states would lead one to concoct a certain measure of characteristic features of the prototypical anime, such as, say, overwhelmingly cute and homicide-inducing talking rats, or generously endowed Japanese cyborg babes. The otaku, Japanese for anime veteran, will be shocked to find such carefully drawn characters absent from the earlier works of Japanese animators.
A disclaimer for otaku: these short films are not introduced with pop vocal theme songs. There are no nurses with laser beams here, okay? No space heiress with three vaginas fucking a horse with tentacles wearing a ... well, you get the idea. Substituting for the vicissitudes of the ani-porn plot is, happily, good ole' fashioned storytelling values and a rare insight into the seeds of Japan's multi-billion dollar anime industry. 'Before Anime' is a must for the anime completist, and also an exceptional introduction and education for the cineaste into the history of what is currently the nation with the highest amount of animation auteurs. That the tradition of Japanese animation stretches back as far as the mid-'20s should come as no surprise to enthusiasts, but those who consider Tezuka Osamu the originator of Japanese cartoons will be amazed to see the advanced display at such an early eon.
This is an excellent article I found from Bryan Hartz. He also has a series of articles about the AX...not just for kids.
Mark
The Anime Times
by Bryan Hartz
An encomium to an era gone but it's influence still finely felt, the diverse range of animators in Before Anime provides a bit of background into a hazier period of animation that would beget spiky-haired ninjas and risqu� sailor-suits.
Just in time for the drooling fanboys over at the annual Anime Expo in Anaheim comes the fascinating 'Before Anime: Japanese Animation 1925-1946,' an assemblage of pre-war anime -- or Japanese animation -- works. The surging popularity of anime here in the states would lead one to concoct a certain measure of characteristic features of the prototypical anime, such as, say, overwhelmingly cute and homicide-inducing talking rats, or generously endowed Japanese cyborg babes. The otaku, Japanese for anime veteran, will be shocked to find such carefully drawn characters absent from the earlier works of Japanese animators.
A disclaimer for otaku: these short films are not introduced with pop vocal theme songs. There are no nurses with laser beams here, okay? No space heiress with three vaginas fucking a horse with tentacles wearing a ... well, you get the idea. Substituting for the vicissitudes of the ani-porn plot is, happily, good ole' fashioned storytelling values and a rare insight into the seeds of Japan's multi-billion dollar anime industry. 'Before Anime' is a must for the anime completist, and also an exceptional introduction and education for the cineaste into the history of what is currently the nation with the highest amount of animation auteurs. That the tradition of Japanese animation stretches back as far as the mid-'20s should come as no surprise to enthusiasts, but those who consider Tezuka Osamu the originator of Japanese cartoons will be amazed to see the advanced display at such an early eon.
This is an excellent article I found from Bryan Hartz. He also has a series of articles about the AX...not just for kids.
Mark
The Anime Times
posted by Mark Alderwood at 9:04 PM
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