3409


What is the first anime ever produced in Japan?

And what is the first anime film and first anime series produced?

I heard that it was Astro Boy, is that true? And what is the first ever manga
produced in Japan?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-04-16T23:37:05.477
3408
2023-07-28T17:13:54.400
2015-12-16T11:25:29.160
19149
88
question
anime-history manga-history
What is the first ever produced anime and manga?


What is thought to be the first anime was a 3 second clip that is 50 frames
long, called [Katsudo
Shashin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsud%C5%8D_Shashin). In it, a boy
writes 活動写真, which means "moving pictures" on a board. Its creator and date of
creation are unknown, but it is thought to be from circa 1907.

There is an anime short from June 1917 named なまくら刀 ([An Obtuse
Sword](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namakura_Gatana)) that is 2 minutes long
and a 1918 film adaptation of [Urashima
Taro](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urashima_Tar%C5%8D_%28anime%29), or 浦島太郎
that are thought to be the first films. The Kyoto International Manga Museum
cites [Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no
Maki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imokawa_Mukuzo_Genkanban_no_Maki) from
April 1917 as the first Japanese produced animation, though the Wikipedia
article implies that there were previous works.

The first color anime feature film, which is sometimes considered to be the
first anime by modern standards, is
[Hakujaden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_White_Serpent), which
was created in 1958.

おとぎマンガカレンダー, or [Otogi Manga
Calendar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otogi_Manga_Calendar), was the first
anime series to be produced and the first to be televised. It ran from
1961-1964. Astro Boy first aired in 1963, making it one of the older anime
series, but not the oldest. However, Astro Boy was the first 30 minute anime
series as well as the first anime series that aired weekly.

![Chart](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IcN8R.png)

Manga is a little bit more complicated because comics existed and it's hard to
draw the line between where something stops being a comic and begins being a
manga. [Sazae-san](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sazae-san) was a comic strip
published from 1946-1974 that has the longest ever anime series based off of
it. [Astro Boy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro_Boy) is more generally
referred to as a manga, and it began in 1951. There doesn't seem to be one
specific manga cited as the first manga, though it seems to often be consider
to have begun after WWII, as explained in
[this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_manga).

Edit: To add to this, [Momotaro: Umi no
Shinpei](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momotaro%27s_Divine_Sea_Warriors) (桃太郎
海の神兵) was the first feature-length anime, which means that, at 74 minutes, it
passed the 40 minute mark to be considered feature-length.

Edit 2: Some new information has been added based on information in the Kyoto
International Manga Museum


CC BY-SA 4.0
2013-04-17T00:31:18.547
3409
2018-09-25T07:40:14.633
2018-09-25T07:40:14.633
93
93
3408
answer


# The First Anime

### Astroboy's Claim to Fame

_Astroboy_ **(1963)** is often thought to be the "first anime", but that's
false. It does merit some firsts though: it was the first anime to be
broadcast overseas, and also the first anime that was broadcast regularly that
lasted a full TV slot's duration.

### What Astroboy isn't, and the real 'first anime'

The first known animation to come from Japan is [_Katsudo
Shashin_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsud%C5%8D_Shashin). Experts debate
its age, but it's thought to have been created between **1907 - 1911**. This
short clip was likely shown in a private home to entertain guests, rather than
be publicly available.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YnPij.jpg)
>
> Many of the frames from _Katsudo Shashin_
>
> This clip is out of copyright, you can watch it on the [Wikipedia
> page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsud%C5%8D_Shashin)

Anime's growth then was primarily attached to live action. Actors would
interact with fictional anime characters for a short segment of a show. The
most screen-time anime would get would be during advertisements, or
occasionally once-off films that were shown as a novelty. The main reason for
this is that the production costs for anime were prohibitive if a company
wanted any significant amount of time animated.

Another area where anime was being used was in the armed forces. Studies at
the time discovered that recruits learned faster and remembered better
instructional videos that were animated. With the need to train many troops
with the appearance of World War 2, anime became utilized more and more. At
the height of the war, the first feature length anime film was produced -
[_Momotaro's Divine Sea
Warriors_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momotar%C5%8D:_Umi_no_Shinpei)
**(1945)** \- a propaganda cartoon for the masses.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/soCqlm.jpg)
>
> Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors features a lot of military content.

Without significant funding such as the military's, anime was still non-viable
for any studios. Several productions were made, including [_Otogi Manga
Calander_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otogi_Manga_Calendar) **(1961)** \-
the first anime series to be televised. The _exact_ first tv anime is
contestable though - The first televised stand-alone full episode anime [Three
Tales](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Tales_\(anime\)) beat Astroboy by a
single year however in **1960**. Or a shorter clip (8 minutes) - [Mole's
Adventure](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/19/national/ntv-unearths-
oldest-tv-anime-film/) in **1958**

Japan wasn't devoid of animation, however. Disney was doing very well in the
West and many of their movies were imported to Japan, and did consistently
well in the box office. [_The Tale of the White
Serpent_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_White_Serpent) was
released in **1958** to try and rival the productions of Disney. Toei (the
animation studio responsible) had difficultly making a significant profit off
film however, and had to support their work with money made from
advertisements.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgynNm.jpg)
>
> _The Tale of the White Serpent_ was heavily influenced by Disney works,
> although Toei tried to keep some of its own influence in the drawings

In **1963** , Astroboy was released and had great impact on the industry.
Osamu Tesuka (Director & Author of Astroboy) made large breakthroughs on how
anime was produced and significantly reduced the financial investment
required. This probably belongs better in another question, but for a taster
some of his innovations included:

  * Realising that Intros, Outros, "Previously On", "In the Next Episode" segments could be reused - cutting animation time per episode significantly.

  * Reuse of backgrounds and celsheets, and reducing the amount of movement onscreen also reduced the time to animate each episode. (Fun fact - before Tesuka, animation studios would give fans who showed up to the studio cel sheets because the fans loved them and the studio had no use for them. They're now worth a lot of money)

Thus anime as a viable industry for television was born and more competitors
began to appear onto the market.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/OJJTnm.jpg)
>
> Flying through the sky at its basics only needs one cel sheet, and a moving
> background.

Two years later **(1965)** , another Tesuka work made a mark on the world -
[_Kimba the White Lion_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimba_the_White_Lion),
the first colour TV anime series to be broadcast to the public.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hIw66.gif)
>
> Kimba the White Lion also used many of Tesuka's animation tricks, such as
> repeated segments of running.

# The First Manga

The development of manga was a gradual evolution from ancient Japanese
artworks such as Yamato-e, paintings on folding screens _(byōbu)_ **(as early
as 646AD)** , which often told stories when read from right to left.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KYuxA.jpg)
>
> Depiction of the Battle of Sekigahara from the Edo era
>
> _Hikone-jo Bon Sekigahara Kassen Byobu_ by Kano Sadanobu

There are many different stylistic developments in _(byōbu)_ artworks, but the
next relevant stage for manga is the popularization of portable artworks that
told stories. [_Makimono_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handscroll)
handscrolls. These existed for many years ( **pre 300AD** ) but were mostly
for written messages at first.

_**The Scrolls of Frolicking Animals**_ or [_**Chōjū-jinbutsu-
giga**_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Dj%C5%AB-jinbutsu-giga) are
attributed by some to be the first manga drawings. These are held in the Tokyo
National Museum and consist of several volumes.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/9zl0Z.jpg)

The invention of the printing press brought ukiyo-e (woodblock paintings) to
the general public.Some historians believe these to be the _first manga_.
These were sold commercially for many years from as the **17th century** right
through to the **19th**.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7B3e2.jpg)
>
> Ukiyo-e print of the new printing process

Along with ukiyo-e woodblock paintings, other woodblock paintings started to
become popular when many of them were bundled together and sold as a set.
[Kusazoshi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusaz%C5%8Dshi) picture books (**
1600-1868**) in varying forms (the colour of the cover of the books often
indicated the genre/target audience) were now available to the general public
as a commercial product. These were primarily written stories with picture
accompaniments, but are sometimes regarded as the origin of manga.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KxbW6m.png)
>
> the poet Izumi Shikibu - by Komatsuken circa 1765.

With printing came newspapers and magazines, and at certain stage, comics
strips began to be printed in newspapers - mostly strips that were sent in
from the public. In particular, _Japan Punch_ was known for its political-
based cartoons. These were very popular with the public and in **1874** , the
first comic-strip magazine was published - _Eshinbun Nipponchi_. These
productions are argued by other academics to be the conception of manga.

> ![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fHi4f.jpg)
>
> Cover Page of Japan Punch (April 1883)

As you can see, the _first manga_ is very much up for debate.

# Additional Reading

This a very interesting topic and believe it or not, this long post is very
summarized. I'd recommend some of the following books to learn more about
anime history.

  * [Japanese Animation: East Asian Perspectives](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=zCNlAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=Hakujaden%20funding&source=bl&ots=luxidf-lSS&sig=1N3JM0rNWT533wsGyvNGIYls65o&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VZdhVfKjKsTLmAXe9IOgAg&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Hakujaden%20funding&f=false) (Book, Reference)
  * [Anime: A History](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/1844573907) (Book, Reference)
  * [A Drifting Life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Drifting_Life) (Manga, Autobiographical)
  * [Starting Point - Hayou Miyazaki](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/1421561042) (Book, Autobiographical)
  * [How the printing process for woodblock prints worked](http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/%7Ejnc/prints/process.html) (Online)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-05-24T09:53:07.497
21788
2016-05-19T02:33:31.623
2020-06-17T09:17:53.303
-1
1530
3408
answer
  
  
_Tetsuwan Atom (1963)_ is considered the first anime not because it was the
first animation from Japan, but because it invented the concept and helped
create the anime industry.

But I'll argue that it was only a prototype and that it wasn't until _Ursuei
Yatsura (1981)_ that anime became what it is known for today. It invented many
of the tropes that are carried on to this day. It also released right on time
for home video, which helped reshape the entire industry in its image.

Or if you are looking for the first time Japan produced something one can call
"animated"...

**Katsudou Shashin (1907)**  
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eDpr2l.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eDpr2l.png)

I wouldn't call this an "anime", however.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-28T17:13:54.400
68181
2023-07-28T17:13:54.400
22562
3408
answer