Non-anime Japanese animation?
David Crowe
: Has anyone seen any good experimental/underground-type animation from Japan
: that wouldn't quite fall into the category of Anime? (nothing at all against
: "anime" there are lots of things that are very much anime that I like) Apart
: from Japanese animation, I really like Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animations,
: and Jan Svankmajer's films. Has anyone seen anything from Japan similar to
: these? I think Katsuhiro Otomo belongs somewhat in the category of non-anime
: animators, if you compare Akira to most anime, they're really different.
"Anime" is animation made in Japan. The term has no stylistic
connotations. Period.
Two tapes that you might find interesting (but are both out of print) are
Robot Carnival (a collection of off-beat and experimental anime shorts)
and Neo-Tokyo, (which had an Otomo feature, the "Running Man" segment seen
on MTV and one other that I can't recall, with a circus framing sequence.)
--
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Maybe some new bumps would improve your personality, eh?
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OgreMag DG
that wouldn't quite fall into the category of Anime? (nothing at all against
"anime" there are lots of things that are very much anime that I like) Apart
from Japanese animation, I really like Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animations,
and Jan Svankmajer's films. Has anyone seen anything from Japan similar to
these? I think Katsuhiro Otomo belongs somewhat in the category of non-anime
animators, if you compare Akira to most anime, they're really different.
"Santa backwashed in his milk! I could sell this!"
-Max, Sam and Max
"Raving a sand dust Gunfighter has returned from the hell !!"
-from a Japanese spaghetti western page
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-Jackie Chan, Drunken Master II
Anita Bath
>OgreMag DG wrote:
>: Has anyone seen any good experimental/underground-type animation from Japan
>: that wouldn't quite fall into the category of Anime? (nothing at all against
>: "anime" there are lots of things that are very much anime that I like) Apart
>: from Japanese animation, I really like Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animations,
>: and Jan Svankmajer's films. Has anyone seen anything from Japan similar to
>: these? I think Katsuhiro Otomo belongs somewhat in the category of non-anime
>: animators, if you compare Akira to most anime, they're really different.
>
>"Anime" is animation made in Japan. The term has no stylistic
>connotations. Period.
>
>Two tapes that you might find interesting (but are both out of print) are
>Robot Carnival (a collection of off-beat and experimental anime shorts)
>and Neo-Tokyo, (which had an Otomo feature, the "Running Man" segment seen
>on MTV and one other that I can't recall, with a circus framing sequence.)
Another Otomo feature you might like is "Memories". Specifically, the
"Cannon Fodder" segment, which was filmed in a rather unusual fashion (the
cameraview never cuts away). Other films you might want to check out
include "Angel's Egg" (by Mamoru Oshii), "Night on the Galactic Railroad"
and "Kenji's Spring" (both by Macross' Shoji Kawamori). However, I wouldn't
really categorize any of them as "underground" films, though, they are very
experimental in the way the stories are told. Personally, I'd put them in
the "funny brownies" category (ie: the director must have downed a few
plates before filming) ^_^
M Arnold
>Has anyone seen any good experimental/underground-type animation from Japan
>that wouldn't quite fall into the category of Anime? (nothing at all against
First of all, what does "anime" mean? As far as I know, it just means
"animation" (which I believe is from the English word ["animeeshon"], as
that's what's listed in dictionaries, but others [Antonia Levi...] claim
it's from French), and in the West it usually refers to Japanese animation
in particular. However, after reading your post here and a couple of
other recent messages about "gaijin manga," I'm discovering that there's
quite a lot of confusion. When people refer to a "manga style" or "anime
style," they don't seem to realize it's an idea that *they*--the foreign
viewers and "fans"--have created for themselves to, in essence, stereotype
animation and comics from Japan. There are as many drawing styles as
there are artists and authors in Japan, and while trends and techniques
come and go, there is no national "style" involved. Tezuka Osamu is the
"God of comics" in Japan, and his works often look like Disney, for good
reasons. "Anime" is neither a style nor a genre.
I more or less understand what you're trying to get at, though, and I'd be
interested in hearing some responses to this as well. The only
live-action experimental Japanese filmmakers I can think of right now are
Terayama Shuji and Tsukamoto Shinya (of "Tetsuo" fame--his earlier stuff),
but I'm sure there are more. Oshima does some weird stuff at times, but
he's usually classified as part of the "Japanese New Wave." At any rate,
experimental film, whatever that is, exists in Japan. Now as far as
animation goes though... it's a little harder to say. I would definitely
call "Evangelion" experimental, especially "The End of Evangelion." Oshii
Mamoru's "Angel's Egg," "meikyuu bukken file 538" and "maroko" (or the
6-episode "gosenzosama banbanzai" OVA series--"maroko" is the edited film
version) also seem to approach that. His live action films are nearly
experimental too. But when we're talking about "experimental" and
"underground" in English terms, popular works like "Evangelion" would have
to be excluded. And theres a whole lot I haven't seen... anyone else?
Mike A
OgreMag DG
I think the meaning of Anime that i'm thinking of is your average animated TV
shows, OVA, and Movies. By non-anime, i'm meaning the more cultish/underground
type stuff. Does the word Anime have any style connotations? I kind of think
of it that way.
OgreMag DG
>interested in hearing some responses to this as well. The only
>live-action experimental Japanese filmmakers I can think of right now are
>Terayama Shuji and Tsukamoto Shinya (of "Tetsuo" fame--his earlier stuff),
>but I'm sure there are more. Oshima does some weird stuff at times, but
>he's usually classified as part of the "Japanese New Wave." At any rate,
>experimental film, whatever that is, exists in Japan. Now as far as
>animation goes though... it's a little harder to say. I would definitely
>call "Evangelion" experimental, especially "The End of Evangelion." Oshii
>Mamoru's "Angel's Egg," "meikyuu bukken file 538" and "maroko" (or the
>6-episode "gosenzosama banbanzai" OVA series--"maroko" is the edited film
>version) also seem to approach that. His live action films are nearly
>experimental too. But when we're talking about "experimental" and
>"underground" in English terms, popular works like "Evangelion" would have
>to be excluded. And theres a whole lot I haven't seen... anyone else?
I've seen Tetsuo the Ironman. I think that's the kind of non-anime anitation
i'm asking for (I think of anything with stop-motion as being partially
animated) Not sure if it would work as well as an animation though, maybe if
it was done by Otomo, the "special effects" in Akira did have kind of a sense
of stop-motion to them, especially Tetsuo's metal arm, the scene where the
wires and garbage form the arm looks a lot like a reverse-edited type effect
like you'd see in a live action film. I think part of what made Tetsuo so
spooky was that "live-action cartoon" style.
I think Akira is a somewhat underrated film, you hear people talking about it
enough, and how cool it is, but you rarely ever hear anyone talking about how
technically brilliant the film is. I think it will probably still look better
than most current animation in 2008. Watch it subtitled and letterboxed
sometime, like a completely different film. I think you can order it most
places for about $30.
Christina Bernard
have different drawing styles.
____________________________________
- Come visit my webpage! -
http://www.geocities.com/broadway/6786
M Arnold
>I think the meaning of Anime that i'm thinking of is your average animated TV
>shows, OVA, and Movies.
...only Japanese or including other countries' works?
Mike A
Enrique Conty
OgreMag DG <ogre...@aol.com> wrote:
>Has anyone seen any good experimental/underground-type animation from Japan
>that wouldn't quite fall into the category of Anime?
No. Anime is just the word for animation, so all animation is anime.
Now that I've made my smartass comment for the day:
Yes, I've seen experimental animation from Japan. Some work with
stop motion, but not cutouts (which is kinda strange, you'd *expect*
paper cutout animation to have a history in Japan...)
If you can, check out Osamu Tezuka's "Jumping" laserdisc.
--
E n r i q u e C o n t y
co...@enteract.com
http://www.enteract.com/~conty/
Enrique Conty
Enrique Conty <co...@enteract.com> wrote:
>In article <199807110255...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
>OgreMag DG <ogre...@aol.com> wrote:
>>Has anyone seen any good experimental/underground-type animation from Japan
>>that wouldn't quite fall into the category of Anime?
>
>No. Anime is just the word for animation, so all animation is anime.
>
>Now that I've made my smartass comment for the day:
>Yes, I've seen experimental animation from Japan. Some work with
>stop motion, but not cutouts (which is kinda strange, you'd *expect*
>paper cutout animation to have a history in Japan...)
Oops, caught myself there. They use cutouts quite a bit, but as an
animation technique in a traditional ink-and-paint project.
For example: the ohmu sequence at the beginning of Nausicaa of the Valley
of the Wind. The Ohmu was a collection of painted cardboard sections,
moved indpendently...
OgreMag DG
>
>
Japan
OgreMag DG
>stop motion
I've seen Tetsuo the Ironman, although it was live action, it had lots of stop
motion.
> but not cutouts (which is kinda strange, you'd *expect*
>paper cutout animation to have a history in Japan...)
>
>
I'd be interested in seeing something like that from Japan, since I love Terry
Gilliam's cutout animations.
Johann Chua
>David Crowe wrote:
>
>>OgreMag DG wrote:
>>: Has anyone seen any good experimental/underground-type animation from Japan
>>: that wouldn't quite fall into the category of Anime? (nothing at all against
>>: "anime" there are lots of things that are very much anime that I like) Apart
>>"Anime" is animation made in Japan. The term has no stylistic
As in created and produced. A lot of animation is farmed out to Korea, China,
Taiwan and the Philippines, to cut costs.
>>Two tapes that you might find interesting (but are both out of print) are
>>Robot Carnival (a collection of off-beat and experimental anime shorts)
>>and Neo-Tokyo, (which had an Otomo feature, the "Running Man" segment seen
>>on MTV and one other that I can't recall, with a circus framing sequence.)
>
>Another Otomo feature you might like is "Memories". Specifically, the
>"Cannon Fodder" segment, which was filmed in a rather unusual fashion (the
>cameraview never cuts away). Other films you might want to check out
>include "Angel's Egg" (by Mamoru Oshii), "Night on the Galactic Railroad"
>and "Kenji's Spring" (both by Macross' Shoji Kawamori). However, I wouldn't
Night on the Galactic Railroad was directed by Gisaburo Sugii, who also did Tale
of Genji and the Street Fighter II movie and TV series.
Kurt Pruenner
> If you can, check out Osamu Tezuka's "Jumping" laserdisc.
On a european "cultural" TV channel called "arte", they had a feature about
anime some time ago, and while the feature itself wasn't very impressive, they
showed a 5-10 minute animation from Tezuka called "Jumping" - was that all, or
is there more on the LD? (I loved it, by the way - very funny stuff)
-- (Remove "spam-me-not" from my eMail-adress to reply ;)
Kurt B. Pruenner kurt.p...@spam-me-not.jk.uni-linz.ac.at
Haendelstrasse 17 http://wildsau.idv.uni-linz.ac.at/~k30a2e7/ (best bet)
A-4030 Linz/AUSTRIA http://students.linznet.at/kurt.pruenner/ (last resort)
np: Banco De Gaia - Sunspot (Maya)
Be sure to check out http://www.buzz.scene.org/ if you like electronic music
and find that trackers are not powerful enough to make your own songs...
Trackers were nice <sigh>, but... BUZZ rules!
Innpchan
writes:
>>Two tapes that you might find interesting (but are both out of print) are
>>Robot Carnival (a collection of off-beat and experimental anime shorts)
>>and Neo-Tokyo, (which had an Otomo feature, the "Running Man" segment seen
>>on MTV and one other that I can't recall, with a circus framing sequence.)
>
>Another Otomo feature you might like is "Memories". Specifically, the
>"Cannon Fodder" segment, which was filmed in a rather unusual fashion (the
>cameraview never cuts away). Other films you might want to check out
>include "Angel's Egg" (by Mamoru Oshii), "Night on the Galactic Railroad"
>and "Kenji's Spring" (both by Macross' Shoji Kawamori). However, I wouldn't
>really categorize any of them as "underground" films, though, they are very
>experimental in the way the stories are told. Personally, I'd put them in
>the "funny brownies" category (ie: the director must have downed a few
>plates before filming) ^_^
>
>
And fer (The Anime) GOD's sake don't forget Tezuka's "Legend of the
Forest"!!!!!
thepig
***
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bagpipes. After that you just wanna die.
***
C.J. Scott --the pig
JHarvell78
anime figure Gisaburo Sugii, responsible for such diseperate projects as the
animated version of "The Tale of Genji" and the anime adaptation of Street
Fighter 2.
Jess Harvell
Penny Candies Records
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