When it comes to Japanese anime, the first thing that comes to mind is Hayao Miyazaki.
From Castle in the Sky to Wind Rises, Miyazaki's anime has the power to heal the soul, and is also full of humanistic concerns and social responsibility.
However, in addition to Miyazaki, Takahata, Mori Oshii, Yuki Tomino, Katsuhiro Otomo, Yasuhiko Ryokazu, Kaiji Kawaguchi... A generation spent its adolescence in the 1960s and 1970s, experienced the trend of post-war social movements, and since then joined the Japanese animation industry together, profoundly creating a golden age of post-war Japanese animation.
The Paper asks for an invitation
Xu Jing, a researcher of animation culture
☞ Let's talk about the golden age ☜ of Japanese anime
The Golden Age of Japanese Anime
@Frajka: What time period do you mean when you say the golden age of Japanese manga, and is there a specific beginning and end?
Xu Jing: The Golden Age is a relative concept, which was basically defined in the late 1980s and 1990s. The output of Japanese animation in this period far exceeded that of the previous period, including a large number of classic and high-quality original works, the style of works was extremely rich and diversified, and the scale and cooperation of the animation industry far exceeded that of other countries in the world during the same period. Therefore, in a longitudinal and horizontal comparison, this period is personally considered to be the best time for Japanese anime.
@MagicWaltz: If postwar ideas influenced the Golden Generation, what was pre-war Japanese animation like?
Xu Jing: The earliest modern Japanese animation originated in 1917 Kitayama Kiyotaro's "Ape and Crab Battle". Before the war, Japanese animation works were still in the stage of stylistic exploration, and their works mostly combined with the emerging animation technology in the West and traditional Japanese painting themes, but they did not reach the level of industrialization and scale, and there were not many works. During World War II, the art of animation was heavily used in Japanese wartime propaganda, such as 1945's "Momotaro No Kaijin Soldier", and other more classic works such as the "Wild Dog Kuroyoshi" series.
@ Miao Xiao Meow Adult: Is there a clear difference in the production of anime movies and dramas?
Xu Jing: As far as Japan is concerned, there is not much difference in the basic production technology of film animation and television animation, but the different channels of the two releases determine that there are certain differences in the corresponding project planning, business model and production management process. In addition, the inheritance of the two in Japan is also different, Japan's post-war modern film animation started from Toei Animation, and then was inherited by Hayao Miyazaki, Takahata, etc., and the production often pursues animation quality excellence; while TV animation was pioneered by Osamu Tezuka, the early production cost was limited, the construction period was tight, so many TV animation production techniques were formed, such as the typical "one shot three" and so on. However, many techniques were later widely adopted and applied to film animation.
Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy
Hayao Miyazaki with his fairytale world
@Surging netizen niIrqe: Why do you think that after Miyazaki, there has never been a Japanese anime master who has influenced the world? Is Miyazaki's animation brilliant because he insists on hand-drawing, and later computer animations no longer have such a texture?
Xu Jing: There are still many animation masters with world-class influence in Japan. Miyazaki is currently the oldest generation of japanese animators, a representative of the Japanese film animation line, participated in and directed a large number of post-war Japanese modern animation milestone works, and has a wide impact on japanese and even the world's mass culture. Personally, I think that the charm of Miyazaki's works is not only highly entertaining, but also includes a sense of social responsibility and a keen insight into the times.
@Yamayuki Yuki Qing unintentional: Why does the animation represented by Hayao Miyazaki also have a great impact on us? What kind of existence does anime have for Japan? More than Japanese dramas and movies?
Xu Jing: First of all, because of the reform and opening up, Chinese audiences have the opportunity to contact Japanese animation comics. Secondly, the cultures of China and Japan are one and the same, and many works easily resonate with Chinese audiences. Anime is one of the components of Japanese mass entertainment culture. Anime art is not unique to Japan, but the artistic style and industrial scale of Japanese anime works are indeed unique in the world. Today, it is also a veritable national "soft power" of Japan.
Totoro
@MagicWaltz: What is the relationship between Takahata and Miyazaki? Why is Miyazaki famous, but not many people know Takahata?
Xu Jing: Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki met as early as the Toei Animation period, Takahata is older than Miyazaki, for Miyazaki Hayao is a teacher, but also a brother and a friend, after the 70s Miyazaki's personal creative style gradually formed, since then the two have also added a layer of competitive relationship.
There are many reasons why Miyazaki's fame feels louder, such as Miyazaki's fame from the 80s and 90s of the last century to before 2015, which was also a period of full expansion of the influence of Japanese animation around the world. For example, in the early days of the Chinese market, the publicity was not professional enough, and there were many cases of equating Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki. Takahata is actually very famous, but the style of works of this period is more niche and non-commercial in comparison.
@ Change of Heart: In response to Miyazaki's refutation of the "dualism of clean pollution" presented by Hayao Miyazaki in the "Valley of the Wind" manga, do you think that Miyazaki is more inclined to "dirt is the intrinsic attribute of human beings, and should accept such human nature and recognize the meaning of life in this world", or "Human beings could have overcome dirt and returned to purity, but this road is too long, it is difficult to see the hope of the future from the current dirt, we should recognize this difficult process of return, and do not give up recognizing the meaning of life because there is no light in the road ahead"?
Xu Jing: At the end of Nausicaa, Miyazaki abandons black-and-white values and negates dualism and utopian route design, handing over the choice of destiny to the present world, the human beings of the present world, and the imperfect world of the present after being transformed.
Where this choice will ultimately go, it does not matter whether it is correct or not. What is important is that the choice itself expresses Miyazaki's attitude: to be able to live according to one's own choice is to live the real life.
The japanese in the eyes of the Chinese people
@Watermelon Coke Flavor: Why are most Japanese anime very hot-blooded? The protagonist also has a lot of cultivation process from waste wood to become powerful, is this the habit of making anime in Japan?
Xu Jing: The highly market-oriented nature of Japanese animation works determines that the plot model is extremely market-oriented, and the popular and gold-absorbing plot settings will be continuously copied and evolved. The grassroots promotion routine is aimed at the largest range of general audiences, and it is a program that has been tested by the market and is the spiritual satisfaction of low-cost accounting. The situation is similar in Online Literature in China.
In addition, some of these topics and values are also rooted in traditional Japanese values, such as advocating that individuals should be self-reliant and loyal, and strive to get ahead, and also have the color of traditional Japanese values such as Bushido.
"Slam Dunk Master"
@ZiFeiyu: Why did japan once have a lot of mechanical hime and futuristic anime, which are very different from the Miyazaki era?
Xu Jing: The future science fiction genre has always been an important category of Japanese animation, which can be traced back to some animation promotional films in Japan during World War II. The original modern Japanese anime after the war also had many science fiction works, and the popularity has continued to this day. Japan's independent scientific research industry in the post-war transformation into the civilian market continued to develop, Japanese science fiction anime themes to a certain extent by its influence and birth, in addition to the Hiroshima Nagasaki nuclear explosion incident also had a great impact on Japanese science fiction animation creation. Many works such as "Astro Boy" and "AKIRA" can see depictions or innuendos of nuclear energy.
@muderun: I would like to ask the author to talk about Rumiko Takahashi, in addition to some large works, she has also published many small short stories, I feel very delicate and very skilled.
Xu Jing: Aunt Takahashi's long-form production is stable, the gold-absorbing ability of her works is evergreen, and her popular long-form production capacity is also outstanding among her contemporaries. The quality and output of short works can be regarded as the top level in Japanese short comics, and many works show quite profound insight and pen power in the portrayal of the current situation of Japanese society and various typical characters such as white-collar workers, housewives, and the elderly. We can see the changes in Japanese society and ideology in recent years.
@pallid: Why do I feel that the theme of Japanese anime is getting narrower and narrower? Judging from the anime I have watched, they are all related to love, daily life, and blood, and the japanese anime characters seem to be about to be homogenized, and some anime characters just change a set of clothes and hair color.
Xu Jing: The Japanese animation industry is highly market-oriented and commercialized and large-scale. Under the existing animation technology conditions, popular themes, plot stylization and character routines are inevitable, but there are still many good works. Part of the reason is that in recent years, Chinese audiences have had many more access to Japanese anime works in real time than before. Unlike the previous introductions, most of them are selected products. It may also affect the viewer's personal feelings.
What other questions do you have about Japanese anime?