The history of anime
The history of anime begins at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers experimented with the animation techniques that were being explored in the West. Though filmmakers in Japan experimented with animation earlier, the first widely popular anime series was Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy(1963). During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing unique genres such as mecha. Notable shows in this period include Lupin III and Mazinger Z. During this period several filmmakers became famous, especially Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii.
In the 1980s, anime was accepted in the mainstream in Japan, and experienced a boom in production. The start of the Gundam franchise, and the beginnings of Rumiko Takahashi's career began in this decade. Akira set records in 1988 for the production costs of an anime.
The 1990s and 2000s saw an increased acceptance of anime in overseas markets. Akira and Ghost in the Shell (1995) became famous worldwide. Series like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop were popular in Japan and attracted attention from the West. Spirited Away shared the first prize at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, and Innocence: Ghost in the Shell was featured at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
The First Generation of Japanese Animators
Sadly very few complete movies made during this time have survived until now. The reasons vary, but they are mostly commercial. After they had their big time, reels (being property of the cinemas) were sold to smaller cinemas in the country and then disassembled and sold as strips or single frames.
Shimokawa Oten: A political caricaturist and cartoonist, who worked for the magazine Tokyo Puck. He was hired by Tenkatsu to do an animation for them. Due to medical reasons, he only was able to do five movies, including Imokawa Mukuzo - Genkanban no maki, before he returned to his previous work as a cartoonist.
Kouchi Jun'ichi: A caricaturist and painter, who also had studied watercolor painting. 1912 he also entered the cartoonist sector and was hired for an animation by Kobayashi Shokai later in 1916. He is viewed as the technically most advanced Japanese animator in the 1910s. His works include around 15 movies.
Kitayama Seitaro: Distinct from the other pioneers of his era, Kitayama made animations on his own. He even founded his own animaton studio Kitayama Eiga Seisakujo (which sadly was closed because of lack of commercial success). His animation technique was the chalkboard animation and, later, paper animation (with and without preprinted backgrounds).
The Second Generation of Japanese Animators
Murato Yosuji, Kimura Hakuzan, Yamamoto Sanae and Ofuji Noboro were students of Kitayama Seitaro and worked at his film studio. Masaoka Kenzo, another important animator, worked at a smaller animation studio. In 1923, the Great Kantō earthquake destroyed most of Kitayama studio and the residing animators spread out and founded studios of their own, knowing that one could make money with the production of animations.
During this time, the first youth protection laws were adopted, which also lead to censorship of some early animations for children under the age of 15. On the other hand, films that offered educational value were supported and encouraged by the Monbusho (the Ministry of Education). Hundreds of thousands of yen were spent for this purpose. Animation had found a persistent place in scholastic, political and industrial use, which lead to high demand of new content.
Naruto
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and dreams to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all. The series is based on a one-shot manga by Kishimoto that was published in the August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump.
Naruto was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from the 43rd issue of 1999 to the 50th issue of 2014, with the chapters collected into seventy-twotankōbon volumes by Shueisha. The manga was later adapted into a televisionanime, which was produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex. It premiered across Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyo and other TX Network stations on October 3, 2002. The first series lasted 220 episodes, while Naruto: Shippuden, a sequel to the original series, has been airing since February 15, 2007. In addition to the anime series, Studio Pierrot has developed ten movies and several original video animations. Other types of merchandise include light novels, video games, and trading cards developed by several companies.
Viz Media has licensed the manga and anime for North American production. Viz serialized Naruto in their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, as well as publishing the individual volumes. The anime series began airing in the United States and Canada in 2005, and later in the United Kingdom and Australia in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The films, as well as most OVAs from the series, have also been released by Viz, with the first film premiering in cinemas.Naruto: Shippuden was first released by Viz in North America in September 2009, started broadcast on Disney XD in October of the same year and onAdult Swim's Toonami block in January 2014. Viz Media began streaming both series on their streaming service Neon Alley in December 2012.
As of October 2015, the manga has sold over 220 million copies worldwide, making it the third best-selling manga series in history.[4] The manga is also available in 35 countries outside Japan.[5] It has also become one of North American publisher Viz Media's best-selling manga series. Their English adaptation of the series has appeared in the USA Today Booklist several times and volume 7 won the Quill Award in 2006. Reviewers of the series have praised the balance between fighting and comedy scenes, as well as the characters' personalities, but have criticized it for using standard shōnenmanga plot elements.
One Piece
is a Japanese mangaseries written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized inShueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since July 19, 1997, with the chapters collected into eighty tankōbon volumes to date. One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a funny young man whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. With his diverse crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy explores the grand line in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as "One Piece" in order to become the next Pirate King.
The manga has been adapted into an original video animation (OVA) produced by Production I.G in 1998, and an anime series produced by Toei Animation, which began broadcasting in Japan in 1999 and has aired 728 episodes to date. Additionally, Toei has developed thirteen animated feature films, two OVAs, and five television specials. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising such as a trading card game, and a large number of video games. The manga series was licensed for an English language release in North America & the United Kingdom by Viz Media and in Australia byMadman Entertainment. The anime series was licensed by 4Kids Entertainmentfor an English-language release in North America, before the license was dropped and subsequently acquired by Funimation in 2007.
One Piece has received widespread critical acclaim, primarily for its art, characterization and humor. Several volumes of the manga have broken publishing records, including highest initial print run of any book in Japan. The official website for Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga announced that the manga has set a Guinness World Record for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author". As of June 2015, the manga has 320 million copies printed worldwide,[1] making it the best-selling manga series in history.
Bleach
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of the hotheaded teenager Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper (死神 Shinigami?, literally, "Death God")—a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. His new-found powers force him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife, and set him on journeys to various ghostly realms of existence.
Bleach has been serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 2001, and has been collected into 70 tankōbon volumes. The series has spawned a media franchise that includes an animatedtelevision series that was produced by Studio Pierrot from 2004 to 2012, twooriginal video animations, four animated feature films, ten rock musicals, andnumerous video games, as well as many types of Bleach-related merchandise. English-language releases of Bleach are coordinated by Viz Media, which has released several volumes of the manga each year since 2004, and published chapters of Bleach in its Shonen Jump magazine since November 2007. Sixty-three volumes were released in English. Viz Media secured foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Bleach anime in 2006. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing dubbed episodes of Bleach in the United States that Fall, and Hulu later began to stream subtitled versions of the anime a week after each episode aired in Japan. Viz Media has also released each of the Bleach feature films in English.
Bleach received the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen demographic in 2005, and is among the best-selling manga in both Japan and the United States. Bleach has sold more than 84 million copies in Japan since its publication, and continues to perform commercially despite significant downturns in both the Japanese and English manga markets. Among critics,Bleach is most commonly praised for its action scenes and art, but criticized for its stereotypical characters and plot elements.
Plote
Ichigo Kurosaki is a teenager who can see ghosts, a talent which lets him meet supernatural trespasser Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia is one of the Soul Reapers, soldiers trusted with ushering the souls of the dead from the World of the Living to the Soul Society —the afterlife realm from which she originates—and with fighting Hollows, monstrous lost souls who can harm both ghosts and humans. When she is severely wounded defending Ichigo from a Hollow she is pursuing,
Rukia transfers her Spirit Pressure to Ichigo so that he may fight in her stead while she recovers her strength. Rukia is thereby trapped in an ordinary human body, and must advise Ichigo as he balances the demands of his substitute Soul Reaper duties and attending high school. For aid in hunting the Hollows, the pair ally with a trio of other spiritually empowered teenagers: Ichigo's high school classmate Orihime Inoue, best friendYasutora "Chad" Sado, and the Quincy Uryū Ishida. Eventually, Rukia is arrested by her Soul Reaper superiors and sentenced to death for the illegal act of transferring her powers into a human. Ichigo and friends move to rescue her, and in order to enter the Soul Society they enlist the help ex-Soul Reaper scientist Kisuke Urahara, who enables Ichigo to access his own Soul Reaper powers. Shortly after the party's arrival in the Soul Society, conflict arises among the captains of 13 Court Squads when it seemed that captain Sōsuke Aizenis apparently murdered. Learning more of a Soul Reaper's capabilities, and dealing with a Hollow-based secondary personathat manifested from his training with Kisuke, Ichigo fights his way through Rukia's childhood friend Renji Abarai, Squad 11's unsurpassed warrior Kenpachi Zaraki, and ultimately Rukia's final jailer, her brother Byakuya Kuchiki. It was only at the climax of the rescue and the Soul Society on the verge of civil war that Aizen reappears, revealed to have faked his death and arranged Rukia's execution to obtain the Hōgyoku that Kisuke planted in Rukia's Gigai. Aizen is then joined by his fellow conspirators, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen, as they use Hollows to cover their escape into the Hollows' world Hueco Mundo (虚圏 （ウェコムンド） Weko Mundo?). From this point, Ichigo and Rukia are reconciled to the Soul Reapers, who view Ichigo as a powerful ally and designate him as an official Substitute Soul Reaper.
Ichigo soon finds himself and his friends in escalating skirmishes with Aizen's army of humanoid Hollows, the Arrancars, as they are joined by the Vizards, Soul Reapers who were among the victims of Aizen's experiments in creating Soul Reaper/Hollow hybrids. The Vizards proceed to help Ichigo control his inner Hollow as he developed a personal rivalry with the Arrancar Grimmjow Jeagerjaques of the ten Espada. When the Espada Ulquiorra Schiffer kidnaps Orihime, Ichigo and his allies enter Hueco Mundo to invade Aizen's palace Las Noches. However, as Ichigo rescues Orihime, Aizen reveals her abduction was a distraction as he and his strongest warriors launch an attack on Karakura Town as part of his plan to sacrifice the souls of the living to create an Ohken for his true goal: killing the Soul King who reigns over the Soul Society. Though the Vizards join the Soul Reapers that remained to face their mutual enemy, Gin revealing his own agenda of assassinating him, Aizen reveals he used the Hōgyoku to become a Hollow-like being and overpowered everyone. But Ichigo, learning his father is a Soul Reaper and that Aizen has been manipulating his progress since birth, is ultimately able to subdue Aizen at the cost of his Soul Reaper powers and becomes a normal human. Months later, preparing for life after high school, Ichigo is called back into action when Xcution, a gang of Fullbringers—supernaturally aware humans like Chad—manipulate him and his loved ones in a scheme to siphon his Fullbring abilities. After his Soul Society allies restore his Soul Reaper status, learning that Xcution's leader Ginjo Kujo was his predecessor and that the Substitute Soul Reapers are not fully trusted, Ichigo defeats Ginjo while resolving to continue fighting with the Soul Society against any threat.
In the final arc, an army of Quincies known as the Wandenreich appear and declare their own war on the Soul Society, after enslaving the Arrancars. The group is led by Yhwach, the ancient progenitor of the Quincies who was once worshiped as a god on earth. Yhwach has returned from long hibernation in the afterlife, and seeks to kill the Soul King like Aizen. In their first invasion, the Wandenreich killed many Soul Reapers with Head Captain Yamamoto among the deceased. Furthermore, as Uryū is recruited into the Wandenreich, Ichigo learns the truth that his abilities as both Vizard and as a Fullbringer were because his mother was a Quincy who was indirectly affected by Aizen's experiments. After coping with the revelation, Ichigo and his friends aid the Soul Society in fighting the Wandenreich's second invasion as Yhwach proceeds to reach the Soul King's Palace in the ensuing chaos and, eventually, slays the Soul King.[3]
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