The brief history of Anime and how it became

Anime is animation that typically comes from Japan. The first Anime screened was in 1917 and was 2 minutes in length about a samurai testing out a new sword. Anime did not take off straight after this though, it took time. In 1937 Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a big hit and influenced many Japanese animators.

In the 1970s Manga became very popular and so they became animated. From comics to full feature length films, Anime became very popular after this.


Above - The first Anime recorded: Momotaro's Divine Sea Warrior

Osamu Tezuka was the first pioneer in Anime and 'is referred to as the “god of manga”, his contribution was enormous and influential' (Bryce, Davis, 2006:2). In 1963 Tezuka created the first hit Anime television series; Astro Boy. Astro Boy was such a hit that 1 year later it was being played on television sets in the US. Astro Boy has recently been made into a feature length film with big stars doing the voices such as Nicolas Cage. Astro Boy's big success opened many doors for Anime and is one of the reasons it is so big today.


Above - the original Astro Boy.
Below - the new film of Astro Boy.



Reference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime accessed on 25/05/10

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka accessed on 25/05/10

M.Bryce & J.Davis. (2006) Manga/Anime, Media Mix: Scholarship in a Post-Modern, Global Community, CAESS