Westward Expansion of Japanese Animation

Hello.

My name is Jacob Trask,

and my presentation is on the Western expansion of Japanese animation.

Japanese animation or as it's commonly referred to as enemy,

consists of hand drawn and computer animation that originated from Japan.

Popular myths about anime include the over sexualisation of women

in the assumption that all who watch anime in the US are incredibly weird.

While an argument can be made for the former,

many female characters are drawn to be voluptuous,

and sexualisation has been an issue.

The latter is just a very poor generalisation.

While anime was not popularised in the West until the 19 nineties,

it can be traced back to some time in the year 1917,

with short films created by attention.

Makallah

So Tarell Katayama

and Junichi Couch e.

Sadly, most of these works were destroyed during the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.

Since then, however, animation in Japan

continued to grow and evolve.

Yeah,

1967 saw the emergence of Speed Racer or as it was known in Japan, Mach Go, go go!

Speed Racer was an anime show about automobile racing,

with its lead character being named Speed Racer.

The show originated as a manga, a Japanese comic

written by Tatsuo Yoshida in the 19 sixties before making its jump to the screen.

It was actually based on a previous and more

popular work by the artist called Pilot Ace,

of which the main story was used as a starting point for Speed Racer.

Yeah,

Speed Racer is the first time that Japanese

animation made a significant impact in the West.

Being watched by 40 million people,

it quickly became the Western standard for Enemy

and to find it in the US Up until the nineties,

the show itself had multiple remix

video games

movies,

including a critically panned,

an unsuccessful live action American remake from the directors of The Matrix.

Speed Racer set the golden standard for anime until 1988 came along.

On the top left, you'll see a picture

of the first issue of the manga, from which Speed Racer is based. Upon

to the right of it, you'll see it's still from the show

and to the bottom.

An artist rendition.

Akira takes place in 2019, 31 years after the World War Three destroyed Tokyo.

It follows a biker gang as one of their own is turned

into a psychopath with psychic abilities by an escaped government experiment.

Akira was a landmark in Japanese animation,

mixing mature themes and powerful visuals

that set a precedent for nearly every anime show and movie to follow.

Akira was a huge success in Japan and in America

and was hailed for breathtaking animation and visuals

along with its compelling characters.

The movie itself

is made up of 2212 shots and 160,000 single pictures,

which is 2 to 3 times the standard amount for any animation at its time.

It also utilised 327 different colours,

50 of which were created specifically for the film.

It has gone on to become a cult sensation

and is still talked about today in American culture,

with its apocalyptic themes and

government corruption ageing incredibly well over time.

Akira was written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo,

who also wrote the manga of the same name,

and it was not expected to be a big success,

especially in the US

The film went on to guard

together

49 million in US dollars,

a ginormous profit compared to its $5 million budget.

As it stands,

special editions of the movie are still being

released and selling out on home video.

There is also a live action adaptation in the works from director Taika Waititi

and a planned anime series set to cover the entirety of the manga

from which the film is based.

The impact of the film is still felt today,

even in live action American films

and to the top left,

you will see

the first issue.

The cover for the first issue of Akira the Manga

and the other two pictures are still taken from the movie of the two main characters,

Canada and Tetsuo.

In 1998

the enemy show Cowboy Bebop came to be from director Shinichiro Watanabe.

Cowboy Bebop became very quickly known for its mature story,

Phenomenal M animation, and it's jazzy soundtrack.

The show itself told the story of a group of space bounty hunters who

roam the galaxy catching bounties while also coming to terms with their dark pasts.

The show,

consisting of 26 episodes,

was not a hit in Japan at the start, and due to its more mature material,

only 12 episodes were aired before it was cancelled

in 2000 and one,

an English language Dub,

was completed and released as the first anime show to

be presented through Cartoon Network's adult themed segment Adult Swim.

The English language dub of the show is widely considered to be

the best English dub out of any enemy to this day,

with an iconic lead performance from Steve Blum,

who voices the main character of Spike.

The show is credited for re popularising anime in the States in the two thousands

and continues to be named as one of the best enemies of all time.

It was a financial success in the United States

and eventually in Japan,

and it went on to include an anime movie

as well as an English language live action remake series,

which comes out in November on Netflix

and on the right to the top. We have a still from the show of our character Spike,

as well as a poster

and a still from of the whole crew from the show

to conclude,

Japanese anime has continued to grow at a constant rate

and continues to grow popular more and more over the time in the US,

some questions for thought

are Why do you think it has grown to be so popular?

And what effect has the age of streaming had on its growth in the US?

There is really so much to be done with.

Okay,

there is really so much that can be done with animation.

And Japan

is making a stay as one of the most creative outlets for this animation.

As it stands, there are over 26,000

enemies in creation

and towards the bottom of this page, you'll see four posters

for multiple different, very popular enemies.

And these are my sources. Thank you very much for listening.

Westward Expansion of Japanese Animation

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