Search results
102 results, page 1 of 3
Anime background art: Takamura Mukuo, Katsumi Handô, Hiroya Yamura, Shûji Konno roundtable – Translation and commentary
A 1981 roundtable focusing on anime background art, featuring Takamura Mukuo and his colleagues Katsumi Handô, Hiroya Yamura and Shûji Konno. Followed by a commentary on the sociology…
The Weathering Continent staff interviews – Translation
A series of interviews on the 1992 movie The Weathering Continent, featuring character designers Mutsumi Inomata and Nobuteru Yûki, director Kôichi Mashimo, animation director Kazuchika Kise and ar…
Japanese Animation, 1937-1958: or, more notes on Akira Daikuhara
The origin and core of this piece is my personal interest in Daikuhara, but it will not be another biographical piece like my previous one. I will rather…
Studio Z: An in-depth interview – Translation and commentary
A translation and commentary of Yoshinori Kanada’s first ever interview, published in OUT in 1978.
The World Masterpiece Theater as a “production model”
What is it that makes Japanese animation unique? What is it that makes it stand out from other traditions of animation, such as animation as it is or…
Experiencing the elsewhere in Hayao Miyazaki’s films
This article, centered on Hayao Miyazaki’s narratives, intends to highlight that his films are strongly structured around the themes of the hero’s uprooting and his opening to the…
Ponyo, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Birth: a complete chronology
Birth is an infamous name in Yoshinori Kanada’s career: often considered to be one of the animator’s most personal projects, it is also criticized for its confusing plot…
Tiger Mask, Arion, Dallos, Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
The early days of Kaname Pro
Studio Kaname Production is most famous for its OVA works, such as Birth and Genmu Senki Leda, which seem to embody the early years of the so-called “OVA…
Ashi Production and the Pers-kun movement
Following 1979’s Galaxy Express 999, Yoshinori Kanada had become one of the top animators in Japan and would go on to be an inspiring figure for many of…
Notes on Takahata & Miyazaki
The previous article on this blog, dedicated to Anne of Green Gables, contains a detailed discussion of Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki’s respective artistic evolutions between 1976 and…
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Green Gables is one of the most popular works in the World Masterpiece Theater series, both in Japan and in the English-speaking sphere. According to many…
Mobile Police Patlabor 2 The Movie
Patlabor 2 is widely considered to be one of the best anime films ever made. For all those involved, it was an incredibly ambitious and important production, far…
Mobile Police Patlabor The Movie
The two Patlabor movies directed by Mamoru Oshii are landmarks in anime history. Even without considering their intrinsic artistic qualities, their importance for the development of the aesthetics…
Mobile Police Patlabor, Photon: The Idiot Adventures, Twilight Q, Zillion, Grave of the Fireflies
The Story of Perrine
Like its 1977 predecessor Rascal the Raccoon, 1978’s The Story of Perrine is among the least-known World Masterpiece Theater entries in the English-speaking sphere. Such does not seem…
Dog of Flanders, Future Boy Conan, Perrine Monogatari, Anne of Green Gables
The History of Tatsunoko – Conclusion: Tatsunoko diasporas
suo Yoshida’s death from liver cancer on September 5, 1977, is generally understood as a turning point in the history of studio Tatsunoko. Although his sickness was known…
Gatchaman, Mobile Suit Gundam, Space Runaway Ideon, The Ultraman, Urusei Yatsura
The History of Tatsunoko – 6 – Repetitions
Without any aim to be comprehensive, this article will follow these developments and focus on two shows: 1974’s Hurricane Polymar and 1976’s Gowapper 5 Godam. Although very different,…
The History of Tatsunoko – 5 – Maturities
If one single work were to sum up Tatsunoko’s entire production, it would probably be Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. By far the studio’s most iconic series, it was…
The History of Tatsunoko – 4 – Difficult times
hern stands out among studio Tatsunoko’s productions for its unusually dark worldbuilding and dramatic intensity. It was also perhaps one of the studio’s most difficult productions – a…
The History of Tatsunoko – 3 – Mecha animations
mixture of expressionist motion and anatomical realism was born. It was also the moment when another one of anime’s key stylistic features developed: mechanical animation. Early TV anime…
The History of Tatsunoko – 2 – Experimental anime
The “realist” aesthetic and approach of the show was possible thanks to its director, who in fact debuted as chief director: the second of the three Yoshida brothers,…
The History of Tatsunoko – 1 – Early Days
anese animation studios whose origins go back directly to the so-called “first anime boom” – that is, the development of TV animation. For that reason, Tatsunoko’s first years…
Look Back
Well, we made it through another year. And, in a bit less than two months, Animétudes will celebrate its second anniversary. So, as I did last year, I…
Storytelling in the Midst of History: Reflections on Heike Monogatari
While the initial reception has been relatively subdued, many will no doubt look back on Heike Monogatari both for what it is and for what it represents; a…
Rascal the Raccoon
The World Masterpiece Theater entry for the year 1976, Marco, pushed studio Nippon Animation and the artists associated with it to their limits. As a result, the year…
The animation of Char’s Counterattack
When asked what was the biggest anime event of the year 1988, most people would surely answer Akira. Ghibli fans may note Grave of the Fireflies or My…
The politics of 80s anime: the 198X controversy
A common narrative of Japanese social history and anime history holds that, starting from the 1980’s, the Japanese population has gotten increasingly distant from politics. The rise of…
Toei and early TV anime – Part 2: the rise of gekiga anime (1966-1968)
Many of Tôei’s promising artists, who had for the most part worked on Fujimaru, were determined to follow up on the possibilities the TV show had opened. This…
Cyborg 009, Cyborg 009, Kyojin no Hoshi, Sabu & Ichi's Arrest Warrant, Tiger Mask
Toei and early TV anime – Part 1: Kaze no Fujimaru
The goal of this two-part research is to explore part of Tôei’s early TV production, mostly between 1964 and 1968. It will be centered around what is paradoxically…
Ghibli outside Ghibli, 1986-1991
While the idea of a unified “Ghibli aesthetic” or “style” is debatable at best, it makes no doubt that all the animators mentioned here brought something different to…
From the Apennines to the Andes
oxical reception and reputation. In Japan, it is just as well considered as Isao Takahata’s other two entries in the World Masterpiece Theater, with entire generations of animators…
Akira Daikuhara: the works and career of a forgotten anime pioneer
For Japanese animation fans and historians, the name of Akira Daikuhara (sometimes spelled Daikubara) should ring a bell as belonging to one of the major artists in postwar…
A Dog of Flanders
Flanders is among the most well-known works in the World Masterpiece Theater canon, both in Japan and overseas; it is perhaps the most famous outside of the select…
Current trends in action animation: Hiroto Nagata and Ryûki Hashimoto
In today’s landscape, this evolution and, possibly, a new development in action animation seems to be represented by two rising figures: Hiroto Nagata and Ryûki Hashimoto. At first…
The Crossing, and why technique matters in animation
As people who follow me on Twitter might know, I had the opportunity to attend the 2021 Annecy festival – the most important festival dedicated to animation in…
Yoshinori Kanada and the nature of animation
assumption of this series, and the reason why it has tried to trace how Kanada’s influence spread and changed over the years. However, I have said little in…
Heidi, Girl of the Alps
Heidi, Girl of the Alps needs no introduction. One of the most important and influential works in the history of Japanese animation, Isao Takahata’s first series for Zuiyo…
Artist spotlight: Hiroyuki Imaishi
Hiroyuki Imaishi is no doubt the most important artist to rise out of the Kanada school in the last 25 years: the renewal he contributed to trigger with…
The Kanada style now
Although the Kanada style has certainly known a rebirth in the 2000s, it seems that, in the 2010’s, it has gone through a new phase of decline. It’s…
Artist spotlight: Yoshimichi Kameda
Yoshimichi Kameda is undoubtedly one of the most important animators of the last 15 years. He is also one of the last really major animators today whose style…
Gainax and the Neo-Kanada Renaissance
1998 was one of the most important years in the history of the Kanada school. On the one hand, it was when Yoshinori Kanada himself left Japan—and, with…
His and Her Circumstances, Lupin III, Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, Gurren Lagann
Looking back, looking forward: Kanada’s late period
is generally held that Yoshinori Kanada went through two major shifts in the 1990’s, shifts that determined what the two last decades of his life and work would…
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Fullmetal Alchemist, Musashi, Legend of the Crystals: Final Fantasy
Yama Nezumi Rocky Chuck
Yama Nezumi Rocky Chuck, known in the English-speaking world as Fables of the Green Forest, can be considered the first show to fit into the extended World Masterpiece…
Moomin, Moomin, Triton of the Sea, Fables of the Green Forest
Artist spotlight: Shin’ya Ohira
This is just my personal opinion on the matter, but I don’t think many animators ever reached the same level of genius as Yoshinori Kanada in terms of…
The Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors, Urusei Yatsura, Bubblegum Crisis, Junkers Come Here, Megazone 23
The new generation of the 1990’s
More than the Kanada school, whose members appeared throughout the 80s, this new group of animators deserves the word “generation”. The six major animators I will focus on…
Takashi Nakamura spotlight
Yoshinori Kanada might be the most influential Japanese animator, but he isn’t the only one whose work revolutionized anime. Almost as important as him is Takashi Nakamura. Nakamura…
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Shashinkan, The Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors, Catnapped, Fantastic Children
The rise of realism
However dominant it became in the 80s, the Kanada style was never the only aesthetic of anime. Besides the heavily stylized motion of the Kanada school and the…
Robot Carnival, The Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors, Harmagedon, Only Yesterday
Directing Kanada
One of the most notable aspects of Kanada’s career is that, while he never directed anything by himself, he was closely associated with major directors: first Yoshiyuki Tomino,…
Galaxy Express 999, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Photon: The Idiot Adventures, Porco Rosso
Artist spotlight: Masami Obari
Among all the members of the Kanada school, one of the most important and original ones is probably Masami Obari. Along with Masahito Yamashita and Hiroyuki Imaishi, he…
Toshihiro Hirano and AIC studio
As I mentioned in the previous article about Graviton, the OVA boom was very much carried by small structures and the overlapping nets of connections made by their…
Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko, Macross, Megazone 23, Space Runaway Ideon, Urusei Yatsura
Artist spotlight: Shôichi Masuo
With this third artist spotlight dedicated to Shôichi Masuo, I’ll start analyzing the works of some animators who are not prominently affiliated with the Kanada school or style.…