From a Tezuka-centered perspective, the legacy of the Animerama films is difficult to assess. They were certainly pioneering, but the studio had to pay a heavy toll for that, and the mangaka grew i…| Animétudes
For three years now, I have published something special on every July 21st, “Kanada Day” as I call it, the anniversary of the death of legendary animator Yoshinori Kanada. Since I arrived in Japan …| Animétudes
According to Eiichi Yamamoto, the years 1970-1971 represented Mushi Pro’s “second golden age” [1]. There seems to be some truth to this statement: the number of new productions was at its highest, …| Animétudes
With the huge debt left by its former acting director and the end of Mushi’s partnership with NBC Enterprises, the studio found itself in an increasingly difficult financial situation from the seco…| Animétudes
While I’m hesitant to speak of “golden ages”, if Mushi Production had one, it was certainly the years 1965-1966. Still riding on Tetsuwan Atom’s prodigious popularity, the studio considerably expan…| Animétudes
In the previous article of this series, I stated that Tetsuwan Atom’s production was “centered on one document, the storyboard”. Although the production pipeline of anime has changed a lot with tim…| Animétudes
A 1981 roundtable focusing on anime background art, featuring Takamura Mukuo and his colleagues Katsumi Handô, Hiroya Yamura and Shûji Konno. Followed by a commentary on the sociology of background…| Animétudes
A series of interviews on the 1992 movie The Weathering Continent, featuring character designers Mutsumi Inomata and Nobuteru Yûki, director Kôichi Mashimo, animation director Kazuchika Kise and ar…| Animétudes
Rather than narrate Mushi’s supposedly inevitable fall, I’d like to paint a related, but different picture: that of a studio which, by the end of Tezuka’s presidency and the entir…| Animétudes
Osamu Tezuka, the God of Manga, is also the father of modern anime – not only did he coin the word, his Tetsuwan Atom was the first animated TV serial in Japan, and pioneered the “limited ani…| Animétudes