Thirty-five years ago, Japans entertainment industry found an answer to its problems. Still developing in the aftermath of defeat in World War II, and the subsequent restructuring plan instituted by the United States, Japan was without surplus resources. There was no money for the production of films. American films soon began invading the Japanese entertainment industry. Yet the Japanese people longed for entertainment which would reflect their own culture. And so animation… developed in Japan to fill the void of high-budget film-making (Marin, 69).
In the years that followed, animation would take a pop-cultural foothold in Japan that has grown and transformed, and yet exists today. Even with the onset of increasing economic fortitude, animation continued to flourish within Japans entertainment industry. The creative possibilities of animations unparalleled visual story-telling capacities had been discovered by Japanese filmmakers, and would continue to be exploited into the present age. Japanese animation, more commonly referred to as anime, or Japanimation, has somewhat different origins than western animation.
Where animation developed to entertain European and American children through comedic exploits, anime was created to entertain wider audience groups. Indeed, one might find difficulty in characterizing all anime together; the Japanese have viewed animation as a medium of creation rather a form of entertainment limited in audience and expression. Anime is included in a group from which the United States has traditionally banned animation; specifically, anime is considered a form of creative expression, much as are literature, modern art, live-action films, and other arts.
A man by the name of Osamu Tezuka first envisioned animations possibilities in Japan in the 1960s (Ledoux, 1). Tezuka realized the power animation could lend to story-telling, and produced a myriad of animated films and television programs from which modern-day anime has made its genesis. At first heavily influenced by Disneys animation, Tezukas animation soon transcended the confines within which American animation had placed itself. Tezuka can be credited today with being the first to produce animation for a sophisticated audience.
Osamu Tezuka adapted comics, the most popular form of entertainment in Japan, to his animation. Tezuka was a creative dynamo whose comics tackled nearly every possible subject: science fiction, action/adventure, romance, horror, and adult drama, creating a readership which encompassed nearly every possible age group (Ledoux, 2). When he began producing animation, it too was varied in subject matter. Keeping with Tezukas creative process, nearly all animation in Japan has been derived from comics, which are known there as manga.
This tradition for the most part still exists today. In the present age, anime is extremely popular in Japan and abroad. In Japan itself, anime constitutes approximately sixty percent of all television programming (Ed Goodwin, president of CA West). In Europe and Asia, Japanese animation has been widely accepted as well (DUinfo). One anime property, known as Sailormoon… moves $250 million a year in tie-in toys world widefive times the U. S. sales for the once mighty Power Rangers(Karp, 36).
Only one type of animation in the world can stand comparison to the nation of Japans animation as a whole: the animation of Disney. Disney animation is generally regarded to be the worlds most technically superior animation. But is Disney animation of superior quality to anime? Comparing the patrons of these two groups of animation, Walt Disney and Osamu Tezuka is like comparing Rembrandt to da Vinci. Both pairs have been aknowledged as masters in their respective fields. Rembrandt and da Vinci were painters, Disney and Tezuka were animators.
However, the creative processes of the individuals within each pair are vastly different. Like Rembrandt, Disney had a studio of artists; much of the animators work was produced by others under his limited supervision and then given his signature. Tezuka on the other hand, was a renaissance man like da Vinci; Tezuka produced all of his own work, and was a master of multiple topics and genres as opposed to Disneys one (i. e. family entertainment). These comparisons hold true for modern day anime and Disney animation.
In addition, Disney has greater resources than anime. According to Carl Macek, who has been responsible for the American importation of various anime titles including Robotech and Akira, Disney spends on average eight times more money to produce a feature-length animated film than does the typical Japanese animation studio (Matsumoto, 72). Considering Disneys enormous resources, compairing a Disney animated film to the average anime might seem indecorous; and yet, an intimate connection has been drawn between Disney and Japanese animation by anime fans of late.
When American animation fans familiar with anime made their way to theatres during the summer of 1994 to see Disneys current animated feature they were shocked. The Lion King seemed to a direct plagiarization of Osamu Tezukas Jungle Taitei, meaning Jungle Emperor(known in the U. S. as Kimba, the White Lion) an animated venture predating the former by nearly twenty-five years. In the years since, discussions considering the possibility of such an impropriety have appeared in such American publications as Newsweek, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times, as well as a plethora of anime fanclub newsletters and animation magazines.
Trish Ledoux, author of The Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation and publisher of the magazine Animerica best described the similarities between the two films that have upset fans: In 1994, Disney studios released the theatrical animated feature The Lion King which, although promoted as an original story was perceived by many anime buffs to be more than a little beholden to Tezukas Kimba, the White Lion.
Both stories are tales of young male lions whose fathers are done in by the trencher of a nefarious older male relative (Scar in the Disney version, Claw in Tezukas); both include anthropomorphic talkative parrots(Zazu in Disneys, Coco in Tezukas); both provide wizened baboon sages for their young protagonist(Disneys Rafiki, Tezukas Mandy the Mandrill), not to mention the cackling evil hyena henchmen; both feature morale-boosting visages of ghostly patter lions in the clouds above [Ledoux, 16].
Manga artist Machiko Satonaka circulated a petition demanding that Disney acknowledge its debt to Tezuka; with over 400 signatures, eighty percent of which came from fellow artists, the petition was sent to Disney (Ledoux, 39). Disney issued a statement that none of their animation staff had ever heard of Kimba, the White Lion or Tezuka, despite a statement from Simba (The Lion Kings lead character) voice actor Matthew Broderick claiming that he thought he was being cast for a remake of Tezukas classic.
Whether or not anime has directly influenced Disneys animation, Japanimation aficionados agree that overall, Japanese animation is superior to American animation. Anime fans may not be aware of the methods of production involved with animation, and its finished quality; nevertheless, animes superior utilization undoubtedly contributes to what is liked about Japanese animation better than American animation. Most of those familiars with anime realize that it is of a more sophisticated nature than is animation of the U. S.
And anyone who has watched Japanese animation will bear witness to the fact that it must appeal to a wider variety of audiences than American animation. But a fraction of animes collective qualities, these characteristics establish the core of its transcendence of Americas animation. Japanese animation is produced with care and quality unseen by American animation. A number of aspects of animation production lend exemplary evidence of Japanimations superiority. Foremost among these is the usage of modern technology in the process of animation.
In this, the computer age, animation technology most certainly encompasses the use of computers to enhance animation. Anime does not simply use computer effects though. Instead it assimilates computer effects into hand-painted frames of animation, resulting in a symbiosis of fluid color and movement. Computer animation is by nature very different from hand-painted animation; a disparity in the smoothness of movement and the visual texture of computer and hand-painted animation exists that makes the incorporation of one into the other a difficult process.
In order for the process to be achieved smoothly, the animators involved must be masters of both arts. Japanese animators have mastered this incorporation process, and achieve it in a manner that does not appear contrived. Todays cutting-edge Japanese directors havent neglected computer animation as an option… theyve worked to incorporate it into traditional cel-based features to create even more startling effects (Goodwin). By contrast, American animation typically does not utilize computers, and when it does, the computer effects tend to be utilized inappropriately, in a choppy manner that interferes with the animation.
Photography, essential to the animation process, also presents an example of animes superior utilization of technology. A recent technique used by Japanese animators to enhance their work has been to photograph three-dimensional models in order to add an element of realism to animation backgrounds. This technique brings Japanese animation to a whole new level; it allows the viewer to imagine that the animated storys courses of events are proceeding in a conceivable setting. Three-dimensional model photography has been pioneered by Japanese animators and is yet to be seen at all in American animation (Pollack, 32).
American animators generally do not experiment with such creative uses of technology. For this reason, Japanimation tends to have a cutting-edge quality that is not associated with American animaton. In an artform that is primarily hand-painted though, the painting technology itself is quite important. The Japanese make use of airbrushes more commonly and effectively than do Americans in animation (DUinfo). This of course adds an aesthetic quality to anime generally not achieved in American animation.