Tag: Masaoka
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1947: MASAOKA’S POWERPLAY
The list of companies selected to make propaganda for the Occupying Forces in 1947 was very short. Alongside Daiei, Shochiku and Toho was a much smaller name: Nihon Manga Eigasha. And that was MASAOKA Kenzō’s firm.
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1946: MASAOKA & TOHO
Japan, on the other hand, remained Japan. General MACARTHUR, now the effective leader of the country, was completely upending it. But he chose to use as much of the existing framework of the state in place as he could to enact the changes needed to democratise the country.
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1943: MASAOKA, OFUJI AND THE LOST
The next animated film to come out in Japan – that still survives, of course – baffled me before I watched it, because I didn’t see how it could have been made.
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1940: AMERICA ON THE HORIZON
Our hero is a cutesy looking duckling who wants to play at war. He sounds like a kid, dresses like Donald Duck, and he’s been sent to the shop to get some “fish bullets” for dinner.
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1939: WHEN DIPLOMACY FAILS
Japan gets outmaneuvered, as World War II starts in Europe. Thankfully, a few people are still making animation.
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1936: MURATA’S END
On February 26th 1936, a group of young military officers, convinced that their brand of ultranationalism was correct and losing the internal struggle for the ear of the Emperor, attempted to overthrow the Japanese government; a coup d’etat.
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1935: ALMOST EVERYONE
Today, JO Studio works on a shoestring, Masaoka throws in the towel, a skiving fuel store owner keeps going, and Murata runs out of steam.
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1934: FOUR DIRECTORS
Masaoka Kenzō gets unlucky, Ofuji Noburo uses another name, Seo Mitsuyo monkeys around, and an unknown director drives his characters mad.
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1933: MASAOKA, OFUJI, AND TEAM GODZILLA
MASAOKA was the first Japanese director to make a talking animated picture. Unless he wasn’t and it was OFUJI instead. Elsewhere, Godzilla’s owners shake a claw or two.
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1931: NIKKATSU AND YAMAMOTO
In 1929, Nikkatsu Studios set up a new animation department at their studio in Uzumasa, to the north-east of Kyoto. They would soon hire “the father of anime”.