Animation Magazine's 35 Year Anniversary Issue

Page 78

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Riding the Japanese New Wave

Paprika

The next generation of visionary anime auteurs leave a huge artistic mark on the pop culture landscape. By Charles Solomon

A

lthough few people realized it at the time, 1998 was a banner year that marked a turning point in Japanese — and world — animation. Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata already had established reputations as feature directors when their work appeared on a singular double bill in April: My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies. The two films, one charming and the other heartbreaking, showcased their personal strengths. Takahata was a poet who could work in a variety of genres, but even his comedies were tinged with a humanist melancholy. Miyazaki was a visionary, able to carry audiences to realms far beyond their imaginations, capturing their attention with an image as simple as two girls standing in a rainy forest. The brooding, dystopic visuals and brilliant filmmaking in Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (also 1988) excited audiences around the globe. The cutting and camera work in the motorcycle sequence has often been imitated, but never equaled. In another odd juxtaposition, the violent Akira and the gentle Totoro were the two films that sparked the shift of anime

Naoko Yamada

from an outré obsession for hard-core fans to a mass market in the U.S.

Rise of the Auteurs The three films marked the rise of the auteur animation director in Japan. Then as now, the Japanese industry turned out numerous features by filmmakers whose work was competent, interesting and entertaining. Miyazaki, Takahata and Otomo proved that anime features could be as personal and compelling as the best live-action films. More than 30 years later, when many American animated features feel homogenized, top Japanese directors continue to create films with strong individual stamps. The rise began slowly, then accelerated, as filmmakers explored complex social and psychological issues. Mamoru Oshii’s landmark feature Ghost in the Shell (1995) largely defined the cyberpunk genre. His vision of a gritty, oppressive future proved so compelling, it survived lesser spinoffs, including Rupert Sanders’ disastrous 2017 live-action remake starring Scarlett Johansson. Satoshi Kon’s directorial debut Perfect Blue

Mamoru Oshii

Satoshi Kon

(1997) impressed viewers on both sides of the Pacific: Critics compared the film to Hitchcock, and Madonna showed clips from it during her Drowned World Tour in 2001. Kon followed Perfect Blue with Millennium Actress (2001), Tokyo Godfathers (2003) and Paprika (2006). The boundaries dividing reality, fantasy, memory and the cyberworld thinned eerily in Kon’s films. Neither the characters nor the viewer could be certain what was real, anticipating the current “post truth” era. Had he not died tragically of pancreatic cancer at 46 in 2010, Kon would undoubtedly still rank among the world’s leading animation directors. Although the information is carefully guarded, industry publications estimate the budget of a major American studio feature at around $150 million. Japanese films are made at a fraction of that cost, with smaller crews and, often, shorter production schedules. The budget for Paprika was reportedly around ¥300 million, less than $3 million. These budgets don’t allow for the opulence of American CG features. Viewers can’t see details like the individual stitches in a character’s sweater or clumps of realistic fur blowing in the wind. No

Makoto Shinkai

www.animationmagazine.net 74

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Masaaki Yuasa jun|jul 22

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Articles inside

Animated Musings

4min
pages 150-151

Autonomous Animator

3min
pages 148-149

Creative Connections

4min
pages 152-153

Tech Reviews

10min
pages 144-147

Conjuring New Demons

6min
pages 142-143

Experiencing the World of Tomorrow Today

49min
pages 118-139

Unleashing the Dinosaurs Again

7min
pages 140-141

A Few Words from Monsieur le Délégué

6min
pages 102-103

First Look: Netflix Animation Spotlights

3min
pages 116-117

Flight of Fancy

6min
pages 106-107

20 Movies to Catch at Annecy

6min
pages 104-105

Brief and Beautiful Visions

15min
pages 108-115

An Animation Legend Looks Back

6min
pages 96-99

35 Animated Shorts to Explore, Ponder Ignore or Enjoy*

8min
pages 84-87

The Strike That Shifted the Landscape

7min
pages 100-101

The Essentials:35 U.S. Studio Movies of the Past 35 Years

1min
page 82

On Representation and Diversity: How Far Have We Come?

7min
pages 80-81

Riding the Japanese New Wave

5min
pages 78-79

A Lot Can Happen in 35 Years

9min
pages 76-77

Reflections on 1987 and the 35th

4min
pages 74-75

A Crowd-Sourcing Pioneer

4min
pages 72-73

35 Years of Great Quotes

11min
pages 68-71

Blue Skies Ahead for Red Animation

6min
pages 66-67

Drawn to Excellence

6min
pages 62-63

Cyber Group Expands Its Giant Footprint

6min
pages 64-65

Daughter of Invention

6min
pages 60-61

On Being a True Warrior

7min
pages 58-59

Crouching Teen, Hidden Powers

6min
pages 56-57

A Hero Who Keeps on Giving

6min
pages 54-55

And Never Feed Them After Dark

6min
pages 50-51

From Stage to Animated Screen

6min
pages 52-53

A Toon Town Trailblazer

6min
pages 44-45

Sophisticated Sci-Fi Is Back

8min
pages 46-49

The Red Ribbon Army Returns

3min
pages 42-43

Mavka, the Spirit of Ukrainian Culture

5min
pages 40-41

The Tiniest Movie Star

7min
pages 36-37

The Way of the Feline Samurai

6min
pages 38-39

Teddy Bears vs. Unicorns

6min
pages 34-35

Whatever Happened to Those Chipmunks?

6min
pages 32-33

A Real Disney Heroine

7min
pages 20-23

A Toy’s Origin Story

10min
pages 16-19

Here Be Monsters

9min
pages 24-27

Make It Extra — with a Side of Optimism

8min
pages 28-31
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