Frameworks of Teaching and Researching Japanese Animation

Abstract

This book examines Japanese animation from the perspective of scholars and practitioners originating and residing in Japan and the East Asian region. Its chapters, rooted in teaching and research ideas on Japanese animation, look at animation studies and animation history in Japan, focusing on the popularity of the Chinese wartime animated film Princess Iron Fan (1941) and the establishment of the Japan Society for Animation Studies. The book also considers the legacies of the pioneers of Japanese animation, such as Ōfuji Noburō (1900–1961) and Masaoka Kenzō (1898–1988), and the influences of Tezuka Osamu (1928–1989) in Japan and other parts of East Asia, as well as the effects of the all-female performance troupe Takarazuka Revue Company on Tezuka’s creative consciousness. In addition, it discusses the extensive influence of manga-anime stories in South Korea, citing Astro Boy and Mazinger Z as examples; the continental East Asian roots of traditional Japanese art and painting; and artistic animation developments and methodologies in twenty-first-century Japan. Finally, the book chronicles the growth of commercial animation studio Toei Co. Ltd. and the making of the animated feature film, Flying Phantom Ship (1969).