Shintaro Ishihara talks about anime
May 31st, 2009 by James
Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara recently gave an interview in which he commented on the popularity of Japanese animation:
“I think Disney was shocked by Japanese anime. Japanese anime isn’t unrealistic like Western style animation, nor do its characters feel made-up. Shows like ‘Anpanman’ are part of the fabric of our society. That kind of imagery, that personality of character, is something universal.”
For more quotes from the interview, check out this AltJapan post.
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Quite agreed with what he said…and i think that’s the reason why 2D animation in Japan survived much longer compared to Western’s
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So true. Ampanman is almost photorealistic.
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I think Disney was only shocked that ALL of Japan stole their formula of animation. Virtually all anime is a derivative of golden era, (Bambi,) Disney animation principles.
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Not really. Where did Disney get their “inspiration” for those golden era styles in the first place?
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Don’t know where Disney got their “inspiration”, as you say, but (modern) Manga and Anime were highly influenced by Western animation, Disney’s in particular. This isn’t even in dispute.
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They got their inspiration for those styles primarily from drawing from life, Eddie. There’s an excellent book all about it called “The Illusion of Life” if you’re really interested.
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Disney spent a lot of time and money on studying design and art. They then developed their own standards; the first one that comes to mind is the appeal to fundamental cuteness in design: large rounded eyes, rounded forehead, small nose angled up. John K. maintains an excellent blog about animation where he talks about, among other things, animation history and evolution. Here’s a list of his posts tagged with ‘disney’ there is also one tagged with ‘disney principles’ http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/Disney . He occasionally mentions Japanese anime… usually when discussing disney principles in use today. So, this governor like most politicians, is ignorant; any one who lives in Japan over a few years, I wager can not disprove the lack of nearly anything original in Japanese culture. Japan = the Borg.
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“I wager can not disprove the lack of nearly anything original in Japanese (modern) culture.”
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Max Fleischer?
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I can’t believe that nobody said it yet, but I’m going to be the first to ruin the entire debate: Kimba.
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OMG – am i so glad that ampanman, doreamon, crayon shincan and their ilk are here to save the day. what would we do without these realistic heros!!!!
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I guess you guys have never seen リアルアンパンマン
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm1781420
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv8mCt046sk
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Shintaro Ishihara must be a genius to realize that most Disney movies are based on Fairytales.
No wonder that he became the governor of Tokyo!!
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The only thing that makes anime more “realistic” than western animation is the fact that they have many more drama series, and less emphasis on costumed crusaders.
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Isn’t that a quote from about two or three years ago?
And talking of universal, where’s the Anpanman-land and Anpanman-world in the US, Euro-Anpan, and Anpan Hong Kong?
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I heard Anpanman is popular in some other Asian countries (along with Doraemon and Chibi Maruko-chan).
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I don’t agree with what the governor is saying. I see Anpanman everyday, kids watching dvd, and I hate it. I can’t still grasp it. I would rather let my kids see animal planet then Anpanman. I don’t mind the governor saying that western animation is unrealistic but Anpanman is so unrealistic and makes me sick. Anyway, just my two cents.
PS: I am not bashing Japanese animation as a whole just what this governor is saying about Anpanman.
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I’m pretty sure he’s thinking of Evangelion. If you take out the giant robots and weird monsters, it’s pretty much spot on with Japanese society.
Almost universal insanity, serious daddy issues, multiple adult-child relationships hinting at statutory rape, slavish devotion to duty, government conspiracies, living on beer and instant ramen, masturbation, a plot to eliminate individuality, use of Catholic symbology because it looks cool, uwaki, suicide attacks against impossible odds, an aging society, historical revisionism, and presentation of a 14-year-old clone-girl as the otaku fantasy woman.
Yup, it “isn’t unrealistic like Western style animation, nor do its characters feel made-up. ”
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Ah, good old Ishihara. Always good for a chuckle.
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This was obviously a very ignorant comment from the governor, but I’m hoping there was some kind of misunderstanding here. As much I didn’t want him to use Anpanman as an example, I do think Japan did revolutionize animation in a way that was so original, Disney never saw it coming.
Disney is and always will be the godfather of the study and execution of animated characters — the characters’ ability to have “life” in its motions and interactions in situations to tell a story. If you think about what made Disney so great to begin with was its ability to instill “magic” and “wonder” of our imaginations — fairytales — something that tapped into the hearts of our childhood in all of us. Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Dumbo, Sword in the Stone, Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland — you name it. All wonderful classics that should never be undermined.
What Japan has done however was allow animation to be the vector of adulthood and real life drama which tapped into our adult life in a way it was never done before. Some classics like Ashita no Joe, Ace o Nerae, or even something like Black Jack comes to mind. I’m not saying those were the first anime to appear in Japan, but it all exploded from there when those same ideas started to fuse with the vast array of science fiction to the complex anime world we see today.
Not too many years ago as many of you probably remember, even with such a rich history, Disney started to struggle to find an audience as their ticket sales started to dwindle. I think Disney’s attempt to keep up with their own standards staying on the top of the food chain of the technical aspect of animation is further demonstrated by partnering with Pixar.
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I am tired about these sarcastic comments people have been making about my giant bread shaped head. It’s a natural disability that anyone could have been born with! Anpanman is a brave show that lets me hold my loaf- err, head- up high and be counted, flying in the face of decades of discrimination by its bold representation of how charming heroic and handsome those with Baked Head Syndrome (or BSD) really are.
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I’ve always wanted to smoke what he’s been smoking all these years.
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