Tsutomu Shibayama’s Animation Top 20 (2003)

Tsutomu Shibayama (芝山努, b. 1941) admits that he is patting himself on the back by listing his own films in the Animation Top 20 questionnaire that he filled out at the Laputa Animaton Festival in 2003.  He uses the expression “temae miso” (手前味噌) – which literally means “home-made miso” but is colloquially used to express that one is singing one’s own’s praises.  Shibayama’s entire list but two are all movies from the popular Doraemon franchise which Shibayama has been involved with since the 1970s.  

Despite his long history as an animator and director in the anime industry, Shibayama writes that he does not feel that he is particularly discerning when it comes to the quality of animation and doesn’t really feel that he is suited to the task of ranking animation.

Paul Grimault’s The Shepherdess and the Chimneysweep (1953) – which later became the basis of his Grimault’s feature film masterpiece The King and the Mockingbird (1980)  – was the film that inspired Shibayama to become an animator himself.  Before this film, Shibayama had only seen Disney animation for children and the contrast between Grimault’s work and that of Disney made a great impression on him.

Frédéric Back’s The Man Who Planted Trees was so highly recommended to Shibayama by a friends that he finally “lifted his heavy bottom” and went to see it and it did impress him very much.

The rest of Shibayama’s list ranks what he feels are the best Doraemon feature films.  I did not have the impression that Shibayama was listing his own series out of mere egotism, but more out of a place of being proud of the work that he has done.  Some animators who work for big franchises grow weary of the limitations they set upon creativity.  It is nice to see someone who seems to truly enjoy what he does, even after all these years.

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012

1.

The Shepherdess and the Chimneysweep / La Bergère et le ramoneur

(やぶにらみの暴君, Paul Grimault, 1953)

2.

The Man Who Planted Trees / L'Homme qui plantait des arbres

(木を植えた男, Frédéric Back, 1987)

3.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan

(ドラえもん のび太の日本誕生, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1989)

4.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Wind Wizard

(ドラえもん のび太とふしぎ風使い, Tsutomu Shibayama, 2003)

5.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Robot Kingdom

(ドラえもん のび太とロボット王国, Tsutomu Shibayama, 2002)

6.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves

(ドラえもん のび太と翼の勇者たち, Tsutomu Shibayama,2001)

7.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Legend of the Sun King

(ドラえもん のび太の太陽王伝説, Tsutomu Shibayama, 2000)

8.

Doraemon: Nobita Gets Lost in Space

(ドラえもん のび太の宇宙漂流記, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1999)

9.

Doraemon: Nobita's South Sea Adventure

(ドラえもん のび太の南海大冒険, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1998)

10.

Doraemon: Nobita's Adventure in Clockwork City                             

(ドラえもん のび太のねじ巻き都市冒険記, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1997)

11.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Galaxy Super-Express

(ドラえもん のび太と銀河超特急, Hiroshi Fukutomi, 1996)

12.

Doraemon: Nobita's Genesis Diary

 (ドラえもん のび太の創世日記, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1995)

13.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Fantastic Three Musketeers

(ドラえもん のび太と夢幻三剣士, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1994)

14.

Doraemon: Nobita and Tin-Plate Labyrinth

(ドラえもん のび太とブリキの迷宮, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1993)

15.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Kingdom of Clouds

 (ドラえもん のび太と雲の王国, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1992)

16.

Doraemon: Nobita in Dorabian Nights

(ドラえもん のび太のドラビアンナイト, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1991)

17.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Animal Planet

(ドラえもん のび太とアニマル惑星, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1990)

18.

Doraemon: Nobita's Parallel "Journey to the West"

(ドラえもん のび太のパラレル西遊記, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1988)

19.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Knights of Dinosaurs

(ドラえもん のび太と竜の騎士, Tsutomu Shibayama, 1987)

20.

Doraemon: Nobita and the Steel Troops

(ドラえもん のび太と鉄人兵団, Tsutomu Shibayama,1986)


Source: Laputa Top 150 World and Japanese Animation

The Doraemon films are available via cdjapan:

Doraemon Shin, Nobita to Tetsujin Heidan - Habatake Tenshi Tachi  Blu-ray [Regular Edition]

Eiichi Yamamoto’s Animation Top 20 (2003)

Back by popular demand, individual questionnaire responses from Laputa Animation Festival’s publication of the Top 150 Japanese and World Animation (2003). 

Biographical information about the great animator Eiichi Yamamoto (山本暎一, b. 1940) in English is unusually sparse on the internet considering that he is one of the top anime directors of his generation.  It is somehow fitting that he was born the same year that Fantasia was completed by Disney, for his contributions to animation have been equally bold and groundbreaking as the work done by James Algar, Wilfred Jackson, et al.

Born in Kyoto during the Pacific War, Yamamoto’s father was called up for service and as an infant Yamamoto’s mother and her family moved to Shōdoshima where they stayed for the duration of the war.  The island is famous for its olives, soy sauce, and wild monkeys.  .  .   as well as being the setting of Keisuke Kinoshita’s classic film Twenty-Four Eyes (二十四の瞳, 1954).  As a school boy, Yamamoto already dreamed of becoming an animator and upon graduation from high school he got work at Otogi Pro under the anime pioneer Ryūichi Yokoyama (横山 隆一, 1909-2001).  He worked on the productions of Fukusuke (ふくすけ, 1957) and Otogi's World Tour (おとぎの世界旅行, 1960) before meeting Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫, 1928-89) in 1960.

In 1961, Yamamoto became one of the founding members of Tezuka’s Mushi Productions and he took on the task of animating Story of a Certain Street Corner (ある街角の物語, 1962) which won much acclaim including the first ever Noburo Ofuji Award at the Mainichi Film Concours.  He worked with Tezuka on the original Astro Boy Series and directed the Kimba the White Lion series (1965-7) and feature film (1966).

Yamamoto is perhaps best known for his work on the Animerama (アニメラマ) trilogy of films: A Thousand and One Nights (千夜一夜物語, 1969), Cleopatra (クレオパトラ, 1970), and Belladonna (哀しみのベラドンナ, 1973).  Although these adult themed films may have been conceived and co-directed by Tezuka, Yamamoto is generally credited as the main creative force behind these unique films.  Yamamoto was also the supervising director of Leiji Matsumoto’s influential anime series Space Battleship Yamato (1974-5).

The 20 films that Yamamoto selected for the 2003 Laputa survey reflect his love of both popular and avant-garde forms of animation. .  .  not to mention a taste for the eclectic and unusual.  Yamamoto’s generation were hugely influenced by the extraordinary cell animation produced by Walt Disney in the 1930s and 1940s.  Although they emulated Disney to a certain extent, with the Animerama films Mushi Productions also sought to move animation in a completely new and different direction than Disney.  The avant-garde spirit of these films was influenced by Yōji Kuri and the Animation Sannin no Kai, which is doubtless why Two Grilled Fish made Yamamoto’s list.

On the surface it may seem egoistic for two of Yamamoto’s own works to appear on this list, but it is not uncommon among the Laputa lists.  Puppet animation pioneer Katsuo Takahashi mentions his own work Nobara (野ばら, 1967) and Tsutomu Shibayama lists 18 Doraemon movies in his Top 20 List.  I enlisted my husband to help me translate Yamamoto’s comments about his selection which I have included below.  They reveal his quirky sense of humour. Although the list is numbered, Yamamoto claims the order is random. I am fascinated by the inclusion of The City of Lost Children which is not animation at all, but he suggests the aesthetics have an “anime taste” to them. 

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2012

1.

Fantasia

(ファンタジア, 9 Disney directors, 1940)

The film that inspired Yamamoto to become an animator.

2.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

(白雪姫, David Hand et al., Disney, USA, 1937)

“The dark beauty in Snow White reminds me of kabuki” - EY

3.

Two Grilled Fish

(二匹のサンマ, Yōji Kuri, 1960)

“Scary, terrible and disturbing to envision the progress of humanity in this way.” - EY

4.

One Thousand and One Nights

(千夜一夜物語, Eiichi Yamamoto, Japan, 1969)

Yamamoto claims that it was the first animation to be have an “Eirin cut”

(Eirin is the Japanese film classification – some would say “censorship” board)

5.

Belladonna

(哀しみのベラドンナ, Eiichi Yamamoto, Japan, 1973)

“Because I made it!” - EY

6.

Night on the Galactic Railroad

(銀河鉄道の夜  Gisaburo Sugii, 1985)

“Because a friend of mine made it!” - EY

7.

Laputa: Castle in the Sky 

(天空の城ラピュタ, Hayao Miyazaki, 1986)

“It has such a great chase scene!” - EY

8.

My Neighbor Totoro

(となりのトトロ, Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)

“It succeeded wonderfully in turning Japanese folklore into entertainment.” - EY

9.

Renown “Ye-Ye” Girls Commericals

(レナウンのイエイエ娘CM, 1960s)

http://www31.ocn.ne.jp/~goodold60net/yeye.htm

“Oh those were fun, weren’t they!” - EY

10.

Ugo Ugo Lhuga series

(ウゴウゴルーガ, Toshio Iwai, 1992-1994)

http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2005/08/ugo-ugo-lhuga-j.php

“This series was great because it turned poo into a character.  

Iwai took animation to a new level.  I watched it every day when it was on TV.” - EY

11.

Minna no Uta series

(みんなのうた, various, NHK, 1961-present)

“I congratulate the NHK on this series.  Please continue it forever!” - EY

12.

Hedgehog in the Fog

(霧につつまれたハリネズミ, Yuri Norstein, 1975)

“Well, I listed it because everybody says it’s great.”  - EY

13.

The Mighty River / Le fleuve aux grandes eaux

(大いなる河の流れ, Frédéric Back, 1993)

“I like it better than The Man Who Planted Trees” - EY

14.

American Pop

(アメリカン・ポップ, Ralph Bakshi, 1981)

Yamamoto enjoyed the combination of rotoscoping with human drama.

15.

Heavy Metal

(ヘヴィメタル, Gerald Potterton, 1981)

“Hmmmm… this one is ugly and beautiful at the same time (醜悪美).” - EY

16.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

(ナイトメアー・ビフォア・クリスマス, Henry Selick, 1993)

“A grotesque doll with an exceedingly beautiful heart.” - EY

17.

Beavis and Butt-head Do America

(ビーバス・アンド・バットヘッドDo America, Mike Judge/ Yvette Kaplan, 1996)

“Very queer characters, very strange story, knee-slappingly hilarious.

On the one hand there’s Disney, and on the other hand there’s this odd, queer stuff.

America produces such diverse [animation].” - EY

18.

Death Becomes Her

(水遠に美しく, Robert Zemeckis, 1992)

puppets and special effects Guy Himber, Alec Gillis, Don Elliot, et al.

“Fantastic animation techniques used with ‘humans’” - EY

19.

Run Lola Run / Lola rennt animation sequences

(ラン・ローラ・ラン, Tom Tykwer, 1998)

Animation designed by Gil Alkabetz

“The animation is good, as is the beauty of the camera work.  

The construction is also great.  

Lola with the tattoo on her belly is really kawaii” - EY

20.

The City of Lost Children / La Cité des enfants perdus

(ロスト・チルドレン, Jean-Pierre Jeunet/Marc Caro, 1995)

“There’s no “anime” in it at all, but it has an anime flavour to it. 

(he uses the katakana term アニメテイスト literally “anime taste”)  

Their debut film Delicatessen was also good.” - EY


Source: Laputa Top 150 World and Japanese Animation

Shigeru Tamura’s Top Animated Films

The fantastic world of Shigeru Tamura’s illustrations and animations is a curious combination of science fiction landscapes with 19th and early 20th century characters that look more European than Japanese. When I looked up Tamura’s response to the Laputa 150 poll, I half expected the list to include a lot of Eastern European animation because the young boy in URSA minor BLUE is called Yuri. While the list does include Yuri Norstein’s celebrated classic The Hedgehog in the Fog (1975), Tamura’s list actually reveals his fascination with a wide spectrum of animation styles.

Tamura lists 15 animation favourites in no particular order. He clearly loves early animation such as Winsor McCay’s groundbreaking film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), the early Felix the Cat series, and Betty Boop’s comical outing as Snow White (1933). He also displays a fondness for classic animation series such as Mickey Mouse when he was at his best in the 1930s and the Tex Avery classics (Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel, et al.).

As Tamura works mainly with hand drawn and computer animation, I was surprised to see such a variety of stop motion animation on his list. From the pioneering stop motion work in the original King Kong movie to the surreal worlds of Jan Svankmajer’s Alice (1988), the Brothers Quay's Street of Crocodiles (1986) and the bolexbrothers’ The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993), Tamura clearly has an admiration for innovative filmmakers. It’s particularly interesting to note his choice of Wallace and Gromit’s A Grand Day Out (amusingly called “Cheese Holiday” in Japanese) as a favourite rather than Nick Park’s more polished later Wallace and Gromit films. A Grand Day Out is pleasingly rough around the edges and has a more outlandish plot than the others.

What distinguishes Tamura’s own work for me has always been his bold use of colours and his fantastic imaginary worlds. I can see how the psychedelic colours of Yellow Submarine (1968), the imaginative worlds of Fantastic Planet (1973) and Laputa: Castle in Sky (1986), and the poetic splendour of Night of Bald Mountain (1933) would appeal to Tamura’s poetic sensibilities. If you haven’t seen the films and series on Tamura’s list, I highly recommend seeking them out.

Gertie the Dinosaur

(恐竜ガーティ, Winsor McCay, 1914)

Felix in Hollywood (1923)

Early episodes of the classic Felix the Cat series

(１９２０年代頃の猫のフィリックス, produced by Pat Sullivan, c.1920s)

The classic series ran from 1919-36

Paramount Pictures (1919-1921)

Margaret J. Winkler (1922-1925)

Educational Pictures (1925-1928)

The Band Concert (Wilfred Hand, 1935)

Mickey Mouse Series 1935-1939

(１９３５年-１９３９年頃のミッキーマウスシリーズ, Wilfred Jackson/David Hand/Walt Disney)

Snow White (Betty Boop Series)

(ベティの白雪姫, Dave Fleischer, 1933)

Night on Bald Mountain

(禿山の一夜, Une nuit sur le Mont Chauve, Alexandre Alexeieff/Claire Parker, 1933)

Happy Go Nutty (1944)

The works of Tex Avery

(テックス・アヴェリーの一連作品, 1942-1958)

Hedgehog in the Fog

(霧につつまれたハリネズミ, Yuri Norstein, 1975)

Street of Crocodiles

(ストリート・オブ・クロコダイル, Brothers Quay, 1986)

Alice

(アリス, Jan Švankmajer, 1988)

Laputa: Castle in the Sky

(天空の城ラピュタ, Hayao Miyazaki, 1986)

Fantastic Planet

(ファンタスティック・プラネット, La Planète sauvage, René Laloux, 1973)

Yellow Submarine

(イエロー・サブマリン, George Dunning, 1968)

Wallace and Gromit: A Grand Day Out

(ウォレスとグルミット チーズホリデー, Nick Park, 1989)

The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb

(親指トムの奇妙な冒険, Dave Borthwick, 1993)

King Kong

(キングコング, Merian C. Cooper/Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)

To support this independent artist you can order his work at cdjapan:

Ginga no Sakana - URSA minor BLUE (JP only)

URSA minor BLUE (soundtrack on CD)

Keiichi Tanaami’s Favourite Animation

Since I was a child, I’ve always loved Disney movies and cartoons in general. Each time I draw a picture regardless of what it’s for I always think about how it would look if animated. That’s why animating my drawings comes quite naturally to me. – Keiichi Tanaami (Tokyo, 3 August 2009)

The words that most often are used to describe Keiichi Tanaami's artistic style include “pop art,” “surreal,” “psychedelic,” and “experimental.” Watching his animated films, it is easy to make comparisons with Tanaami’s mentor Andy Warhol, other experimental filmmakers of the 60s like Stan Brakhage, and masters of abstract animation like Len Lye, Oskar Fischinger, and Norman McLaren.

In fact, Tanaami has been influenced in equal measures by both mainstream animation and experimental fare. During his interview for the DVD/book Set A Portrait of Keiichi Tanaami, the artist speaks of his childhood passion for Disney movies and shorts. On the 2003 Laputa survey, Tanaami listed a wide range of animation styles as his top animations of all time. Not only do American animated classics like Steamboat Willie, Superman, and Mr. Bug Goes to Town make his list, but also some of the best of world animation including works by McLaren, Suzan Pitt, Raoul Servais, and Paul Grimault. Tanaami also lists early experimental animation by  Fischinger,  Hans Richter, Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Porter.

In his commentary about his selections, Tanaami writes that the films of Oskar Fischinger have made a significant impact on him as an artist, influencing many aspects of his own animation. Of Raoul Servais’s Nocturnal Butterflies, he says that the film has a certain “je ne sais quoi” – a special quality or depth that one cannot achieve in digital formats. Tanaami does use computer technology in the editing process of his films today, but he and his frequent collaborator Nobuhiro Aihara still prefer to draw their films by hand.

Here are Tanaami's best of animation picks:

Superman

(スーパーマン, Dave Fleischer, 1941) 

Asparagus

(アスパラガス, Suzan Pitt, 1979)

Night on Bald Mountain / Une nuit sur le mont chauve

(禿山の一夜, Alexandre Alexeieff / Claire Parker, France, 1933)

Mr. Bug Goes to Town

(aka Hoppity Goes to Town / バッタ君町に行く, Dave Fleischer, USA, 1941)

Blinkity Blank

(線と色の即興詩, Norman McLaren, Canada, 1955)

Le petit soldat 

(小さな兵士, Paul Grimault, France, 1947)

Le roi et l’oiseau 

(王と鳥 やぶにらみの暴君, Paul Grimault, France, 1948)

Studie Nr. 1-13

(スタディ , Oskar Fischinger, experimental series, 1929-33)

Nocturnal Butterflies/Papillons de nuit

(夜の蝶, Raoul Servais, 1998)

Rhythm 21

(リズム２１, Hans Richter, Germany, 1921)

Steamboat Willie

(蒸気船ウィリー, Ub Iwerks/Walt Disney, USA, 1928)

Source: Laputa Top 150 World and Japanese Animation (2003)

A Retrospective of Keiichi Tanaami's animated films will be screened in Toronto on April 23rd with the proceeds going to earthquake/tsunami charity.  The retrospective will then travel to Winnipeg and Montreal.  Click here to learn more.

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011

Monkey Punch’s Top 20 Animation (2003)

Monkey Punch (モンキー・パンチ) is the pen name of Japanese manga artist Kazuhiko Katō (加藤一彦, b. 1937).  He is the manga-ka behind the popular series Lupin III which began in 1967 and has been adapted into various animated series and movies.  The most famous adaptations of his work being the Lupin III TV anime series and Hayao Miyazaki’s film Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) – the latter of which gets a nod on Monkey Punch’s selections for the top 20 animations of all time. 

The biggest influences on Monkey Punch creatively have been the work of Mad Magazine comic artists Mort Drucker (b. 1929) and Sergio Aragonés (b. 1937).  His favourite animation ranges from American cartoon classics to contemporary video game animation.  In addition to popular fare, Monkey Punch also demonstrates an interest in art animation such as Aleksandr Petrov’s beautiful paint-on-glass animation The Old Man and the Sea (1999), Dianne Jackson’s pastel and crayon cel animation The Snowman (1982), and Osamu Tezuka’s Jumping (1984). 

Judging from this list, one can see that Monkey Punch enjoys the fantastic and in particular, he seems to admire people who take risks with their animation.  From the cult classic fantasy films of Ralph Bakshi to innovations in animation styles and technologies by the folks at Pixar and MTV, Monkey Punch seems open to both the wild and the wonderful.  Sticklers will point out that the Thunderbirds is not really animation but puppet drama, which Monkey Punch also acknowledges, but he seems to have a pretty broad interpretation of the definition of animation.  He writes, for example, that he had to include the video game Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.² because he likes it so much that he just can’t help himself.  One could say that Monkey Punch is enthusiastic about animation in all its forms from hand-painted to CGI.

List Source:  Laputa’s Top 150 World and Japanese Animation(2003)

1

Fantasia

(ファンタジア, Disney, James Algar et al., 1940)

2

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

(白雪姫, Disney, David Hand, et al., 1937)

3

Tom and Jerry

(トムとジェリー, Hanna-Barbera/Gene Deitch/Chuck Jones, 1940-1967)

4

The Old Man and the Sea

(老人と海, Aleksandr Petrov. 1999)

5

The Snowman

(スノーマン, Dianne Jackson, 1982)

6

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro

(ルパン三世 カリオストロの城/Hayao Miyazaki, 1979)

7

Heavy Metal

(ヘビイメタル, Gerald Potterton, 1981)

8

The Lord of the Rings

(指輪物語, Ralph Bakshi, 1978)

9

Wizards

(ウィザーズ, Ralph Bakshi, 1977)

10

Watership Down

(ウォーターシップダウンのうさぎたち, Martin Rosen, 1978)

11

Æon Flux

(イーオン・フラックス, Peter Chung, TV anime, 16 eps., 1991-1995)

12

Thunderbirds

(サンダーバード, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson)
(Supermarionation TV series, 32 eps., 1965-66)

13

Wallace and Gromit Series

(ウォレスとグルミットシリーズ, Nick Park, 1989-on)

14

The Nightmare Before Christmas

(ナイトメアー・ビフォア・クリスマス, Harry Selick/Tim Burton, 1993)

15

Final Fantasy

(ファイナルファンタジー, video games/animation, Hironobu Sakaguchi, 1987-)

16

Luxo Jr.

(ルクソーJr, Pixar, John Lasseter, 1986)

17

Yellow Submarine

(イエロー・サブマリン, George Dunning, 1968)

18

The Simpsons

(ザ・シンプソンズ, Matt Groenig, 1989-)

19

Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.²

(ヘビイメタルFAKK2, video game, Ritual Entertainment, 2000)

 

20

Jumping

(ジャンピング, Osamu Tezuka, 1984)

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011

Keiichi Hara’s Top Animation Picks (2003)

The list that Keiichi Hara (原 恵一, 1959) submitted for the Laputa Top 150 World and Japanese Animation (2003) is fascinating as it reveals not only the animation that influenced him during his formative years, but it also his dissatisfaction with the state of animation in Japan in the early 2000s.

At the time of the poll, Hara’s talent as an animator had recently been recognized with the Mainichi Animation Award for Crayon Shin-chan: The Storm Called: The Adult Empire Strikes Back (クレヨンしんちゃん 嵐を呼ぶ モーレツ！オトナ帝国の逆襲, 2001), the eighth installment in the Crayon Shin-chan film series. Although he would stay with the Crayon Shin-chan franchise for several more films, there were already signs in 2003 that he might consider taking his career in a new direction.

The animation professionals polled in 2003 were asked to list what they felt were the 20 best animated works of all time. Keiichi Hara elected to nominate only six titles: 3 feature films and 3 TV anime series from the 1970s.

 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

(風の谷のナウシカ, Hayao Miyazaki, 1984)

Keiichi Hara considers Hayao Miyazaki’s adaptation of his own manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind the greatest animation every made in the history of world animation. During the recent Q+A with Hara in Frankfurt, he reaffirmed that he still admires Nausicaä.

Night on the Galactic Railroad

(銀河鉄道の夜, Gisaburo Sugii, 1985)

Hara also heaps praise on Gisaburo Sugii’s Night on the Galactic Railroad, which is an adaptation of a novel by Kenji Miyazawa. While chatting with Hara and Nippon Connection organizers earlier this month in Frankfurt, the subject of Miyazawa came up during a discussion about vegetarianism and Hara spoke of his admiration for Miyazawa’s writing. He mentioned particularly how much he enjoyed Miyazawa’s use of word play like onomatopoeia.

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

(人狼, Hiroyuki Okiura, 1999)

Most of the animation on Hara’s list comes from his childhood or the early part of his career in the animation industry. Jin-Roh is the only recent work that seemed to have impressed Hara, and he even writes that he wishes more animation would be like this film.

Ganba no Bōken

(ガンバの冒険, Osamu Dezaki, TV anime, 26 eps., 1976)

This anime impressed Keiichi Hara when he was a teenager because it was clearly so very different than other TV anime of the 1970s.

Space Battleship Yamato

(宇宙戦艦ヤマト, Leiji Matsumoto, TV anime, 26 eps., 1974-75)

This was a science fiction anime series that aired on TV in Japan when Hara was a teenager. He recalls that every week he eagerly anticipated the next episode. Although the project was conceived by producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki a year before animator and manga-ka Leiji Matsumoto came on board as a director, Matsumoto shaped the TV series to such an extent that he is generally credited with the unique look of the anime.

Future Boy Conan

(未来少年コナン, Hayao Miyazaki, TV anime, 26 eps., 1978)

Hara cites this TV anime as having a profound influence on his own work. The always sharp-eyed Benjamin Ettinger over at Anipages spotted the name of Shojuro Yamauchi (山内昇寿郎, name sometimes transliterated as Toshiro Yamauchi), a key animator on Future Boy Conan (and many other Miyazaki projects) in the credits for Hara’s Colorful (2010). Yamauchi passed away last year on the same day as Satoshi Kon. It is fortunate that Hara had the chance to work with someone whose work he admired.

It is noteworthy that Hara does not mention any foreign animation in his preferences. Yet despite his clear preference for anime, Hara writes in the comments section of the survey that he has been actually finding it difficult to watch animation. Somehow, he thinks that the characters and the voice acting make him feel sick and he wonders if too much anime is being produced, or if the talent levels of the animation staff has declined over the years, or if he is simply going crazy. He says that there is simply nothing worth watching anymore and he wonders if it would be better to reduce anime production by a third.

I would speculate that Hara’s comments on this survey reflect the animator’s weariness with producing “programme pictures.” He spent the better part of the 1980s working for the Doraemon and Esper Mami series, and at the time of this survey he had spent a decade making Crayon Shin-chan films. In the short amount of time I had to speak with Keiichi Hara in person, I had the impression of a very thoughtful man with wide-ranging interests from popular culture to literature and world cinema.   In his most recent films, he has taken on challenging subject matter and tried out new animation styles.  I think we have only just begun to see what great things this talented animation is really capable of creating. 

Summer Days with Coo [Blu-ray]

© Catherine Munroe Hotes 2011