The revolution of animation expression in Japan around 1960

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the meaning of the revolution that happened to animation in Japan from the 1950's to the 60's. There are two features to which I pay attention: the historical peculiarity of the revolution, and the common trend of the animation movies for commerce and those for non-commerce. There are three topics that are the points of the discussion: the trends of domestic production companies, the introduction of overseas animation movies, and the transition of criticisms. This paper clarifies the following: first of all, the revolution of the animation expression at that time invented a new image by the abstraction of form or movement and by the unification with sound; secondly, the revolution supported the attempt of small-scale productions or independent animators who opposed to major movie companies; and thirdly, however, the same revolution contributed to the lowering of the cost of commercial studios. These phenomena can be related to the revolution of the expression of the audiovisual arts that happened widely from the 1950's to the 60's.