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dragonclaw29 · 1 year

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Top Ten Manga

It’s been a minute since I last uploaded a top ten of any kind, Grad school will do that to you. However, now with my studies almost over I thought I would revisit my top ten manga and see what new titles have amazed me!

-Note I am not including Webcomics so if you want Manhwa and the like let me know and I will make a separate list.

10. Sakamoto Days

Starting off with a bang we have Sakamoto Days. In a world of assassins even a mild mannered fat store clerk could be a tough challenge. That is definitely true for Sakamoto the former top assassin in Japan. Watch as Sakamoto is targeted by Esper's, Triad members, and old friends as he battles to protect his home and his daughter. It’s a fantastic read and great for the action lover and comedian a like.

9. Claymore

Claymore tells the tale of an elite class of women tasked to fight off monsters who plague the land. Clair the last member of this group must protect the peace, her new friend Rakka, and her self. However, dark secrets lurk in this world and the shadowy organization that dispatches the Claymores may not be as kind as they appear.

8. A Story about a Droid

I debated about including this because it is such a short read. But it is also a very good and cute read. This story is about a droid who finds a baby and decides to take care of him. In order to care for the child the droid puts on a human disguise. The story follows the droid and her child as she raises him in a post apocalyptic world.

7. Berserk

RIP Muria I will always be heartbroken that you passed before finishing this wonder of a story. This manga has always been one of my favorites and for good reason. The art is fantastic, the story is gripping, and the characters are dynamic. However, this manga is shocking, cruel, and depressing- not for the faint of heart.

6. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun

Monthly Girls Nozaki is the tale of a girl in love. Chiyo has been in love with Nozaki for a while and she finally decides that she has had enough. Working up the courage she confesses to him, only for him to give her an autograph. Turns out her class mate is world famous in the realm of shoujo manga and has never been in love. Chiyo’s confession goes right over his head leaving her dumbfounded but not hopeless. This manga is a great romantic comedy including some of my favorite characters in fiction. Definitely worth a read if you want to laugh a night away.

5. Dungeon Meshi

Have you ever been playing DnD and been like “hmmm I wonder what a Mimic tastes like?” If so I have the manga for you! Dungeon Meshi or delicious in dungeon follows a group of adventures as they venture into a dungeon to save the main character Laos’s sister. However, with no supplies they are forced to eat their way through to survive, much to the disdain of the party except for Laos he loves it.

4. Sousou No Frienen

We all know elves live a long time but sometimes it doesn’t hit an elf until they have seen their old comrades fade away. Frenen is old even and has wandered the world in search of rare magic, and I mean rare not necessarily useful. Only after being recruited to aid the hero’s party and defeating the demon king does she come to realize that human relationships are complex and that time is fleeting. This is a great fantasy manga with great magic and quirky characters as I write this I am rereading the manga for the fourth time.

3. Yotsubato!

Man aren’t five year old's hectic little animals?! Yotsuba is a young girl in a new neighborhood who isn’t afraid to wander off, get into trouble, or of anything except for maybe scary statues. This manga follows her life with her dad living every day to the fullest. If you are feeling down this is a great pick me up. I reread during finals and it really helped.

2. Tongari Boss/ Witch Hat Alter

Witches are born with the ability to use magic and normal people aren’t. At least that’s what they say but what happens when a young girl gets a glimpse at the secret of magic. What if the reason magic is solely for witches because of the great danger magic can place not only yourself but the world in. Witch hat alter is one of the best fantasy manga out there right now and I want the next chapter to come out already!!!

1. Chainsaw Man

I remember the conversation that led me to read chainsaw man years ago. It went something like

“Hey dude you should totally read this manga it’s badass!”

“Really? What’s it about?”

Insert a few seconds of silence

“Well.. It’s about a dude who turns into a chainsaw and kills devils”

“That’s insane”

“Trust me it’s sooo good you have to try it! It has a section where he rides a shark into battle while on fire!”

And with that fateful line I decided to give it a read. All I can say is thank you for telling me to read it because I love this manga. It is so funny, and crazy, and sad, and mind bending, and so many other things. I never thought a story about a dude who literally has a chainsaw growing out of his face would make me cry but life works in funny ways.

Well that’s my list. I hope you find some of these recommendations helpful. If you have any questions, or want more let me know!! Have a great Summer!

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akatsuki-shin · 5 months

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So, if you were asked to write your top 5 (or top 3) fav from JJK, what genre will you put them (or you agree that they should be in shounen)....

(Inspired by this memes that said : Yuji is born to be in shoujo but forced to shounen. Gojo & Getou are born to be in shounen ai but forced to shounen....)

Yeah, SatoSugu should just live in the shounen ai world so they have an excuse to actually kiss. 😭

Yuji would do well in those funny slice of life like "Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou" or "Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun." 😂 Would be even better if he can drag Megumi, Nobara, and Gojo into it because these four people have only 1 brain cell and Megumi's the only one in charge of it. They'd be the perfect cast.

I think Mechamaru is the one who really fit into the shounen genre here. The way he suffers from the moment he is born, his struggles to break free of that struggle, all the ups and downs along the way, and him pining for that one girl who is constantly supportive of him + wanting to see his friends just screams shounen to me. He's practically driven by the power of love and nakama. 🔥

I'm a bit torn about Nanami. He would be so cool to star in a suspenseful detective/mafia stories full of mysteries and thrilling actions. But a part of me wants to give him a break by putting him in a slice of life, too, but more mature-themed like "The Way of the Househusband." Plus, that one's starring Tsuda Kenjiro, as well. 👀

It may be cool to throw Choso into the seinen genre, along with Yuki and Tengen for support. He has a lot of struggles he needs to go through in order to make peace with himself and his life, but the theme is more mature than shounen.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #呪術廻戦 #gojo satoru #geto suguru #yuji itadori #megumi fushiguro #nobara kugisaki #mechamaru #nanami kento #choso #anime #manga

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obstinaterixatrix · 1 year

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yo bookwalker’s having a coin boost event on yuri until 6/25/23, there’s a sale but it only applies to ‘yuri is my job’ (personally I wasn’t compelled by that one). anyway here are some of the series on the list I like:

Still Sick—office lady romance about a woman who draws yuri being found at a convention by a coworker, one of my absolute faves (3 volumes, complete)

5 seconds before a witch falls in love—collection of stories, main story is a two-shot about a witch hunter and a witch duking it out (really like this one) and there’s a oneshot about the most normal girl in existence but a demon and angel obsess over her (not personally a fan). regardless if you like the oneshot, imo the main story is SUUUUPER worth it, I love it a lot (1 volume, complete)

Failed Princesses—high school romance with the energy of a hot-blooded shounen. these gals shout passionately about their feelings. the main character is a popular girl who’d talk shit about the unpopular girl but then her boyfriend cheated on her and the unpopular girl was like ‘hey. you have to be happy. you’re not allowed to be unhappy (because I resent you for being the perfect popular girl)’ and the popular girl was like ‘oh my god… you are sooo NICE I’m obsessed you forever now’ (this is all in like the first two chapters) (6 volumes, complete)

black and white—honestly? I’m not entirely sold on the writing (I don’t think it really coheres in terms of why the relationship develops how it does) but the novelty of having office ladies violently beat the shit out of each other carries it, especially since sal jiang’s art is really good. like those gals are BRAWLING for real, it’s kind of refreshing (1 volume, incomplete)

here are series that I fell off of because I lost interest but they weren’t bad or anything:

The two of them are pretty much like this—slice of life established relationship between a voice actress in her early 20s and a novelist in her 30s (I think). it’s cute, it’s good for folks who like fluff, I fell off because it felt more meandering whereas I like stories with heated drama and momentum (3 volumes, probably ongoing?)

School zone girls—high school gag 4koma, really good for folks who like the *stupid* high school energy. This is a manga with rowdy gals who are idiots. I fell off because it’s one of those really long + big cast kinda manga, yknow, like tsurezure children or gekkan shoujo, so it’ll probably suit folks who like those types (4 volumes, ongoing)

Hello Melancholic—high school gals in a band (I think they do jazz? or it’s some kind of brass band? well the main character plays trumpet), it’s pretty cute and has a solid gloomy gal with hella anxiety + excitable gal who Will Get Her Way No Matter What dynamic, I just fell off of it because I wasn’t interested at the time (3 volumes, complete)

Otherside Picnic—college gals investigating another world/urban legends, the main character is someone who just wanted to chill in another world and the love interest is Looking For Someone Who Disappeared. it’s fun and entertaining, it’s a light novel and the main character has a lot of fun biases—when she says she’s just a normal girl who has experienced a normal life, she is absolutely lying. Good for folks who like urban legends and kind of… investigative arcs? Action and mystery vibes? I read up to volume 4 and fell off because that was all that was out (7 volumes, incomplete, vol 8 is coming out in august)

She loves to cook, she loves to eat—slice of life with working women, the main character loves to cook, the love interest loves to eat. Good for folks who like more grounded stories, the main character thinks a lot about how she’s seen as A Great Potential Wife rather than someone who just has a hobby and the love interest gets underestimated a lot (I think she works in construction??) and gets judgement from being a woman who, yknow, likes to eat. from what I read it’s a very tentative kind of romance of a couple of women finding someone comfortable to be around, I fell off because I get more grabbed by internal/interpersonal conflict rather than external/societal influences but I think it’ll grab folks who 1) like more grounded stories, 2) likes food (3 volumes, I think incomplete?)

Catch these hands!—ex-delinquent and her old classmate that’s obsessed with her. The artist did love live doujins, I think? Anyway it’s fun, would appeal to folks who like things that are lighthearted and who enjoy weird women. I don’t think I was compelled by the emotional focus but I don’t think that means it was bad (4 volumes, complete I think)

I didn’t like these but a lot of people do:

Even Though We’re Adults—messy adult relationship, one of them is married to a man and the other one is like ‘this is so fucking stupid do NOT go through with this it is SUCH a bad idea’ and she goes through with it. shimura is a pretty renowned yuri mangaka, she’s the one who did aoi hana, it’ll probably be a good read for people who like emotionally complex and pretty miserable stories. didn’t have enough humor for my tastes and I fell off pretty early (6 volumes, ongoing)

Run away with me, girl—gorgeous and unique art, it’s about two gals who were high school sweethearts and then one of them went off to be with a guy, the gals reunite as adults and they end up running away together. one of the gals is pregnant and was in an abusive relationship, which is why she’s running. again, for people who like emotionally complex stories. I wasn’t satisfied with the love interest’s development, kinda reminded me of octave, but I know other folks who would probably enjoy how the narrative approaches her (3 volumes, complete)

SHWD—buff women and sci-fi action horror. good art. I don’t think any of the character archetypes or dynamics appealed to me but if you’re desperate for buff women and like sci-fi/action/horror this will help probably (1 volume, incomplete? idk)

Roadqueen—mira’s art is gorgeous but I’m not super compelled by the writing. Good for people who want something goofy and hot-blooded, the vibes are kind of… shounen gag manga? I think? (1 volume, complete)

I’m in love with the villainess—manga adaption of a light novel, one of the most successful (and. one of the very few) villainess transmigration romances, the main character transmigrates into the protagonist and her favorite character is the villainess. one of my friends really likes it and there’s some Sincere Feelings on What It’s Like To Be A Lesbian, but I find it to comedy-focused for my tastes in the beginning. There’s also a spinoff from the villainess’ perspective. Actually I don’t remember if I linked to the manga adaption or the light novel… uh… figure it out yourself.

Bloom into you—everybody loves this one. It has good writing. I don’t like it. High school slice of life coming of age, very emotions-focused, probably like 10 volumes or something I dunno

Superwomen in love—I actually despise this one but according to my strict principles I’m including it because the concept is unique and would appeal to people probably. it’s like tokusatsu yuri with a general defecting from the evil organization and teaming up with the hero. I would’ve liked it more if it was more sincere and less gag-focused. Read it for a fun time but not a deep time until they sprinkle in pathos of heroism and love etc and then they go back to comedy. I guess. I fell off a couple volumes in I dunno it probably gets better. However I like tokusatsu and romance too much to continue.

#recs #ff recs #THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE #why do I do this to myself. I know why but still.

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khattikeri · 6 months

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9 ppl to get to know better

ty for the tag @adangersandwich! doing this now that i have my new laptop ahlkdsfjklsd

1. three ships: me realizing that i prefer platonic/It's Complicated duos WAY more than romantic ships... lol. i don't really write fic for these three but i do adore them romantically

hua cheng/xie lian (heaven official's blessing) chaerin eun/jihyeon jung (surviving romance) yuzuki seo/hirotaka wakamatsu (gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun)

2. first ever ship: i don't remember. really i don't. probably danny/sam from danny phantom or beast boy/raven from teen titans '03...?

3. last song: this cover of S.C.R.E.AM. by DYES IWASAKI (link opens to youtube)

4. last film: rewatch of the first jurassic park movie w eden!

5. currently reading: mdzs novels! i finished tgcf and now i'm about to start mdzs vol 2 :D<

6. currently watching: honestly nothing lol. the older i get the less patience i have for anime or live action shows...

7. currently consuming: glass of water ^-^

8. currently craving: honestly. boba :3

tag nine ppl - (pls don't feel obligated to do this + if you aren't tagged n still want to do this go for it!)

@deeperspacenine @mychemikuromance @your-jellyfish-senpai @landofplagueandlullabies @thegoodkindoftrash @nightowlfury @mush-rook @heartablazed @buried-stars

#keri chats #tag game #thank u sandwich ilu

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strawdxll · 6 months

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get to know me meme

TAG NINE PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER!

I. favourite colours: red? idk pink is cool too ig

II. favourite flavours: depends on what we talking about. for ice cream it's probably rocky road

III. favourite genres: comedy, action, coming of age, fantasy,

IV. favourite music: i listen to many genres but my favs are r&b and rap. also a huge fan of pop-punk uwu

V. favourite movies: an extremely goofy movie, high school musical (lmfao), how to train your dragon, shrek

VI. favourite series: gurren lagann, avatar the last airbender, hunter x hunter

VII. last song: hot sauce by nct dream lol

VIII. last series: probably rewatching gekkan shoujo nozaki kun and sasaki and miyano back in august lol i hardly watch things anymore due to my busy work schedule.

IX. last movie: either teenage mutant ninja turtles: mutant mayhem or blue beetle. both 1000/10 would recommend. i started kung fu panda with my fam a few weeks ago for thanksgiving but we never finished it so idk if it counts lol

X. currently reading: the sunbearer trials by aiden thomas (luv fellow queer chicano authors uwu) and whatever fics are open on my web browser lol

XI. currently watching: jjk lol and mha with a pal. nothing crazy lol

XII. currently working on: deez. jk lol 2 personal writing projects & my gym gains💪

Tagged by: @ratiosalaryman Tagging: @impishsensei @wormb0i @celesticlnstcrs @nabiias @chikoyama @anvevennad @vartouhix + whoever wants to steal this idk man. i don't know nine people

#ooc; dashboard game #ooc; munday meme

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mxlanieblog · 2 months

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🫧About Me🫧

I’m a 19 yo female, I watch anime, k-dramas, horror, tv shows and series’ (basically everything). I will mainly write about anime just an fyi. I write smut but probably when it’s requested only, and I don’t write smut for minors or about minors!

Top Anime’s I will write about currently if requested: (these change depending on my brainrot levels)

1. Seven Deadly Sins

2. My Hero Academia

3. Attack On Titan

4. Black Clover

5. Dr. Stone

6. Vinland Saga

Anime’s worth Mentioning!

Haikyuu, Akame Ga Kill, One Punch Man, Tokyo Ghoul (s2), Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun, Saiki K, Blue Exorcist, Food Wars (s3), Death Note, The Promise Neverland, Jujutsu Kaisen (s1), Noragami, Your Lie in April, High Rise Invasion, Black Butler, HxH (Arena arc), Dakaichi, Kakeguiru, Sk8 Infinity, Devilman Crybaby, Gekkan Shouju Nozaki-Kun, One Piece Live Action, Blue Period, Spriggan, Spy X Family (s1), Mob Psycho 100, Demon slayer (s4)

Seven Deadly Sins

My Hero Academia

Attack On Titan

Jujutsu Kaisen

Vinland Saga

———————————————————

#anime #my hero academia #attack on titan #black clover #spy x family #head cannons #vinland saga #master list #anime masterlist

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shimamitsu · 1 year

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Anon coming back!

Thanks for answering!

I'd say manga recs please, i used to be very into manga but life n stuff happened i even forgot what i was reading and most manga/anime recs are too mainstream.

I don't mean to be mean but bn/ha just doesn't scratch the itch for me.

I love me some slice of life or those kind of stories which seem calm but are full of interpersonal conflicts that push the characters to grow.

More seinen inclined than shonen, also love shojos and kodomos.

But good battles are also welcome.

Overall from what I've seen on your blog i think you have good taste or at least it aligns with mine so i trust you with whatever you throw my way.

yeaaahhh i can see we have similar tastes :D hehe so excited i'll give you my finest recs 👍

for stories that are calm but have interpersonal conflicts that push the characters to grow, here are some of my favorites: heavenly eats (hope manhwa recs are ok!), hirayasumi (if you like sukirofa you're gonna love this one) and tokyo alien brothers by the same author, bl metamorphosis (also sukirofa's cousin), box of light (this one's also supernatural and has a little bit of action and drama), let's go karaoke!, zeikin de katta hon (about the ups and downs of working at a library), i think our son is gay + if you add romance to the formula: after school lessons for unripe apples, unlucky mansion and these three manhwa by omyo <3: when the day comes, the stories of those around me and salty studio (these are so perfect for the kind of story you described bc. that's omyo's whole deal).

most of those are slice of life manga but if you want some more wehre nothing happens but they're an absolute delight: mr. villain's day off, yotsuba&!, tsuki to suppin, captivated by you, country diary: spring to summer and country diary: autumn to winter.

and as always, my usual recs (bc they're the most perfect mangas/hwas and everyone should read them): akane banashi, dai dark, dungeon meshi, no home, gekkan shoujo nozaki kun, witch hat atelier, shimanami tasogare anddd i think that's all

i have a faves list in anilist which you can also check, most of the ones i just mentioned are there + other ones i might be forgetting

hope you enjoy them!!! :D

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the-summer-hikaru-died · 1 year

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ENOUGH with the still cut!!

WHERE IS THE RELEASE DATE!!! AAAAAAAAARRGGHHH!!

#gekkan shoujo nozaki kun #monthly girls' nozaki kun #the comic bang #izumi tsubaki #mikoshiba mikoto #nozaki umetarou #sakura chiyo #kashima yuu #hirotaka wakamatsu #hori masayuki #seo yuzuki #gsnk #live action #chinese drama

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cocoabubbelle · 4 months

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Will there ever be a live-action adaptation of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun/Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun? I’d watch it.

#shenanigans #Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun #gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun #Chiyo Sakura #Umetarou Nozaki #Mikoto Mikoshiba #Yuzuki Seo #Yuu Kashima #Masayuki Hori #Hirotaka Wakamatsu #Ken Miyamae #Mitsuya Maeno #Miyako Yukari #Yukari Miyako #Mayu Nozaki #Ryōsuke Seo #fan cast anyone??#probably writing the names wrong now that i’m thinking about it.#oh well

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canmom · 1 year

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Animation Night 149: Toei

Hi there. It’s Thursday. You know what that means (yes, it means i’m freeeeee)

Today we will be rolling back to some of the earliest days of anime!

The story of Toei goes back to 1946. In the immediate aftermath of WWII, there were very few games in town when it came to Japanese animation (or, to be fair, animation in most places). During the war, animators had been recruited to make propaganda films such as Momotaro: Sacred Sailors, among them Akira Daikuhara.

In the immediate aftermath, Kenzō Masoaka (of Benkei tai Ushiwaka, for anyone who remembers AN24) began the first effort to make an animated film post-war. This film was titled Sakura: Haru no genso (Cherry Blossom: Spring’s Fantasy); it was followed by a series of three films about a cat called Tora-Chan. But Masoaka’s studio struggled, constantly closing and re-opening. At the time it was operating under the name 日本動画映画 Nihon Dōga Eiga or Japan Animated Films, or just the abbreviation 日動映画 Nichidō Eiga. In 1956, they were bought by live action studio Toei (itself approaching 20 years old, founded in 1938) and renamed to Toei Dōga, where they started making increasingly elaborate animated films.

Toei of this era was sometimes called the rather patronising name ‘Disney of the East’. There is some truth to it, in that their ambition, especially in the early years, was certainly to make animated films as elaborate as those of old Walt. Their first feature was 白蛇伝 Hakujaden (1958), based on a Song Dynasty Chinese legend about a lost pet snake who transforms into a woman in the hopes of reuniting with her former owner, a monk who thinks that’s sus, and two pandas who try to sort it all out; in English it’s variously translated as The White Snake Enchantress, Legend of the White Serpent or even Panda and the Magic Serpent.

Part of the goal of the film, to Toei Dōga president Hiroshi Ōkawa, was a gesture of reconciliation towards China after the whole ‘invading and occupying’ thing.

The film was Rintarō’s first animation job; it also left a massive impression on a young Hayao Miyazaki, who wrote the following in Gekkan ehon bessatsu: Animēshon (1979), trans. Beth Cary and Frederik L Schodt in Starting Point:

What I’m saying here is that when young people feel attracted to the heroes of a tragedy [context: such as The Diary of Anne Frank], whether in animation or other media, a type of narcissism is really involved; this attraction they feel is a surrogate emotion for something they have lost.

From personal experience, I can say that I first fell in love with animation when I saw Hakujaden, the animated feature produced by Toei Animation in 1958. I can still remember the pangs of emotion I felt at the sight of the incredibly beautiful, young female character Bai-Niang, and how I went to see the film over and over as a result. It was like being in love, and Bai-Niang became a surrogate girlfriend for me at a time when I had none.

It is in this sense that I think we can achieve a type of satisfaction, by substituting something for the unfulfilled portion of our lives.

The feelings evoked by Bai-Niang may go some way to explaining the role of similar girls in Miyazaki’s movies...

Hakujaden has some curious properties as a work of animation. It was, especially for the time, astonishingly elaborate and straining the technical capabilities of the industry (although the claim on Wikipedia that it had 13,590 staff seems rather dubious lmao). The drawing count is stratospheric thanks most scenes being animated on ones and twos - the opposite of the limited animation techniques that anime would later perfect. Despite that, it is also the work of an inexperienced team, and compared to later works its animation can feel awkwardly timed, the flood of inbetweens turning everything to mush.

Nevertheless, there are two stars of the show in terms of animation. One is Yasuji Mori, who would later be one of Toei’s star animators, creating scenes such as the dance at the beginning of this post - as well as teaching Miyazaki after he joined Toei. The other is Akira Daikuhara, who was way ahead of the game on effects animation, creating the film’s transformation sequences. Daikuhara would go on to be one of Toei’s main animators of human characters, while Mori tended to take the animal/mascots; he has been a relatively forgotten figure, although that’s starting to change with articles like these ones by Matteo Watzky, whose research just digs deeper and deeper.

Toei’s early films tend to follow the precedent set in Hakujaden, adapting folktales from (mostly) China and Japan. In 1959 they covered a Japanese story in Shōnen Sarutobi Sasuke; 1960, they took on Saiyūki (Journey to the West); then Anju to Zushiōmaru (The Orphan Brother, 1961) and Arabian Nights: The Adventures of Sinbad (1962).

In this period of Toei, there was a lot of ambition, and also a feeling of inadequacy compared to the elaborate animated films being made in other countries. Hayao Miyazaki, who joined Toei in the 1963, wrote in 1982:

I used to create feature-length works for Toei Animation, but compared to the works just mentioned, they were obviously far inferior, at least technically. Sort of like showing rabbits slipping and falling, that sort of thing. We wondered if we would ever catch up to the level of what was being done in America, France or Russia, or if it were even possible to do so. Frankly, we really didn’t know.

To begin with, we didn’t even know what we had to do to reach the same level of excellent as the best works out there. We knew we had constraints, such as short production schedules, small budgets and so forth, but above and beyond that, we began to develop an inferiority complex: we wondered if we even had the basic talent needed to proceed. In retrospect, the only thing that probably kept us going, and drove us to pursue such a long-term goal, was our determination.

Miyazaki’s words should be taken with a grain of salt, since they definitely suit his personal myth-making. Still, conditions at Toei in the 60s were rough, leading to the first major unionisation struggle of anime history, which I wrote about in AN70. The studio started bringing on part-timers paid hourly rather than a salary, and created severe pay discrepancies, which were met with strikes and departures from the studio. Saiyūki took such a tole on its director Taiji Yabushita that he was hospitalised; Yasuji Mori would later create the term ‘anime syndrome’ for this sort of overwork because it was not the last time by any means.

However, I’m going to zoom over all of these to get to the わんぱく王子の大蛇退治 Wanpaku Ōji no Orochi Taiji (The Naughty Prince’s Orōchi Slaying, more commonly translated The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon) in 1963 - not because it’s necessarily more important, although it’s remembered as one Toei’s best films, but because I happen to have a fantastic analysis of one of its key scenes on hand thanks to AniObsesive and Toadette.

youtube

Wanpaku Ōji breaks from precedent in many ways, particularly its visual design, which takes on highly simplified shapes reminiscent of the then ultra-modern UPA style by way of haniwa figures. The story at least follows the pattern, adapting a Shinto myth in which the storm god Susanoo battles (guess what) an eight-headed dragon Yamat no Orochi. Susanoo is motivated by the death of his mother Izanami, and goes on a journey to try to find her, which leads him to the village of Princess Kushinada - a village with a dragon problem, which they’ve kept at bay only by sacrificing Kushinada’s seven sisters. Susanoo, horny for a princess who looks like his mum, decides it’s time to intervene.

The dance scene above comes in the middle of the movie, in which the goddess Ame-no-Uzume performs an increasingly mystical dance. It was an ambitious experiment of Makoto Nagasawa, who had joined as an inbetweener on Saiyūki, with large spacing and broad motion to create a snappy feeling. Animation Obsessive writes:

Typical motion at Toei, Nagasawa said, would be “neatly in-betweened from the first [key] pose to the last [key] pose.” In other words, in-betweens smoothed out the movement and made it longer, more complete and more realistic. By contrast, Nagasawa’s drawings of Uzume are often at wide intervals, with minimal in-betweens. Sometimes, she basically teleports from one frame to the next.

Even when the intervals aren’t that wide, the way Uzume moves remains big, broad, clear and non-real. Nagasawa pushes her gestures, increases her speed, shows us only what he wants to show us. The action is crisp, always holding its abstract shape. No naturalistic touches distract from the core form of what Uzume does.

Alongside Nagasawa, Yasuji Mori was now coming into a role close to that of the now-standard 作画監督 sakuga kantoku aka sakkan or animation director, an experienced artist whose job is to correct the drawings from many different key animators to keep them on-model. Modern anime productions tend to have a strictly hierarchical approach where the characters are designed by one or a few character designers, usually also the lead sakkan. At Toei, things had been a bit more fluid - the individual animators would often design the characters they were going to animate, with a division of labour closer to the old Disney style. On this film, it became more of a hybrid: Mori drew the final model sheets, but the animators would submit suggested designs to him.

For the most elaborate scenes, such as the dance, they went to great lengths to record a suitable score and record live-action footage with professional ballet dancers. I encourage you to read the AniObsessive article for the details.

At the time of Wanpaku Ōji, Toei was starting to face competition. The already-renowned mangaka Osamu Tezuka had founded MushiPro, which was rapidly taking over TV, and the sphere of TMS satellite studios were starting to get going and siphon away many of their best people such as Yasuo Ōtsuka. Still, the animators at Toei were determined to try and stand alongside international animators:

The team was well aware of the trends in world animation at that time. According to Nagasawa, they were watching work from Canada (Norman McLaren), Czechoslovakia (Jiří Trnka), Russia (The Snow Queen), France (The King and the Mockingbird) and so on. It was all bold, new animation. In The Little Prince, Toei took up the challenge this work presented, without simply copying it. The team contributed to modern animation while staying rooted in the ancient, and in Japan itself.

Subsequently, Japanese animation is sometimes divided into a ‘Toei tradition’ vs. a ‘MushiPro tradition’, of full vs limited animation respectively, followed by the various successors such as Ghibli on the one hand and Madhouse on the other. As ever this is not really very accurate, and both ‘lineages’ crossed over extensively (just look at Kanada).

Toei’s own output adapted to the times. Takahata’s Horus: Prince of the Sun (AN 70) might be the last of the ambitious movies in their old style; after this, the fairytale films were gradually replaced by gekiga animation such as Tiger Mask, super robots like Mazinger Z, and then at the end of the 70s increasingly science fiction adaptations of Leiji Matsumoto’s works (AN 146). In the 80s, shōnen exploded onto the scene and Toei made a lot of Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya, later joined by other franchises like PreCure, Digimon and One Piece. So Toei remains one of the largest and most robust animation studios in Japan. They’ve got a lot of salaried staff, a union(!), and regular work in the form of wildly popular franchises. But occasionally they’ll make something cool and weird within that remit, like Hosoda’s One Piece film (AN61), Kyōsōgiga (AN98) - or Interstella 5555 which we watched last week.

So! Tonight though we’re going to go back and look at those ambitious early days, where it started, with snakes and dragons and a bishōjo who’s 美 enough to inspire the entire career of Hayao Miyazaki. Animation Night 149 will begin at 20:00 UK time (UTC), (13:00 California time), at twitch.tv/canmom - hope to see you there!

And next week I have a serious treat for you, because the Inu-Oh BD finally dropped. Can’t think of something more perfect for #150 than returning to Masaaki Yuasa.

And now to spend the rest of the day until 8pm on intensive gamdev 😵‍💫

#animation night

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