Ask:
In light of the recent losses of influential manga artists like Kentaro Miura, Kazuki Takahashi, Buichi Terasawa, Takao Saito, Kazuhiko Kato, and Kazuo Koike, which current artists do you think will influence the anime medium in the future? This is prominent as pioneers like Hayao Miyazaki, Rumiko Takahashi, Goh Nagai and Yoshiyuki Okumura near retirement.
Answer:
Considering my age, I don’t even know what a hot take actually is, but this could be one. Artists and creators had more opportunities to influence the development of the anime industry during the youth and development eras of the industry. I don’t mean that the anime industry has come to a standstill; However, the sector now has a maturity that did not exist fifty or more years ago. Mitsuteru Yokoyama practically invented both the magical girl and robot anime genres because it’s his Mahoutsukai Sally And Tetsujin 28 were among the first examples of their genres. Go Nagai revolutionized the industry by creating a magical girl for male viewers. He also practically launched the “super robot” genre. Leiji Matsumoto introduced the space opera to manga and anime. Yoshiyuki Tomino and Ryosuke Takahashi founded the “real robot” subgenre. Although not as well remembered now, Yoshitake Suzuki introduced the first transforming robot. Rumiko Takahashi introduced the subgenre of the romantic harem comedy. Functionally, Masami Kurumada and Buronson practically co-founded the modern shounen action genre.
In terms of animators, Isao Takahata is respected for portraying anime characters as believable, living people with daily lives and concerns, rather than just characters used to advance a plot. Ichiro Itano is beloved as the creator of the ‘Itano Circus’. Following Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki has become perhaps the second most beloved animator in history, after Walter E. Disney. Osamu Dezaki not only gave anime its signature dramatic directing style, he is also responsible for the first use of computer-generated graphics in anime.
All these firsts were inevitable progress. If these specific creators hadn’t contributed, someone else would have eventually done so. But now that anime has been around for 66 years, the likely majority of “firsts” for the industry have all happened. Furthermore, before the digital age, there were fewer opportunities and resources for individuals to share their creations and artistic talent. For a manga to become widely known, it had to be professionally published and distributed. With very rare exceptions, in order for an anime to reach a large audience, it had to be professionally produced. The digital age has both broken and changed these limitations. Individual independent creators in the modern era have far more opportunities than ever before to influence their peers. Additionally, the existence of self-published pop culture light novels, video games, web blogs, and software programs like Yamaha’s “Vocaloid” synthesizer, which didn’t exist fifty years ago, now gives so many more creators more opportunities to influence the anime. medium. Historically, manga artists have had perhaps the greatest influence on the anime industry. Contemporary history seems to confirm the fact that in the digital age, manga artists are no longer the most prominent influences in the development of the anime production industry.
Hayao Miyazaki is beloved worldwide as the world’s greatest living animator. He began animating professionally in 1963 and directed his first feature film in 1979. Video game animator Makoto Shinkai released his first solo anime short in 1996. At the time of writing, both men are responsible for three of the ten highest-grossing anime in Japan. movies ever. In less than 30 years, Makoto Shinkai has created and directed one-third of the highest-grossing anime films of all time, tying his box-office record with Miyazaki’s. In other words, a self-taught, independent artist who started animating in his own apartment while his girlfriend did voice acting has, in just 28 years, become one of the two most successful anime creators in history. While Makoto Shinkai’s signature visual style and heartfelt storytelling aren’t the only influential ones, his life story should be there for future generations of aspiring artists.
Masaaki Yuasa is not a newcomer to the anime industry. However, he is perhaps the preeminent eclectic, esoteric, “indie” anime director in the industry. Included Nekojiru-sou (2001), Thinking game (2004), Kaiba (2008), Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei (2010), Yoaketsugeru Lu no Uta (2017), Devil man cry baby (2018), and Inu-Oh (2021) to name a few: No other professional Japanese animator is so committed to developing so many unusual, expressionistic and experimental mainstream anime releases. He also directed an episode of the French animated series Dedicated and the American series Adventure Time. Any contemporary student of animation must be aware of Yuasa’s work and probably cannot escape some reaction to and influence from that work. If anything, Yuasa’s production shows what kind of creative and artistic flexibility is possible within mainstream commercial animation in Japan and beyond.
Regardless of one’s predilection for his writing, General Urobuchi could be called Japan’s modern-day Philip K. Dick or Robert Heinlein, despite Urobuchi apparently prominently drawing inspiration from Philip Dick in particular. Are Magi Madoke’s magical girl launched an entire subgenre of deconstructive, existential magical girl anime. Are Godzilla anime film trilogy introduced a shockingly unique perspective on the old franchise. Are Destiny zero has arguably even overshadowed Kinoko Nasu’s origins Lot/stay night series. Urobuchis Psycho Pass franchise might not exist without the previous work of Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov, but the Psycho Pass franchise has undeniably been hugely successful and influential, especially by combining speculative science fiction with political speculation.
One manga creator whose influence may still be prominent is Eiichiro Oda. The A piece manga is now 27 years old, the anime series 25 years old, which means that at this point, new Japanese young adults entering the entry levels of Japanese anime production studios have spent their entire lives growing up alongside A piece. Some of these new, young professional animators can draw inspiration from the characteristics of A piece. Others may deliberately try to develop their style in contrast to Oda’s.
