Animation: A World History

5

Asia

Japan1

The Allied occupation lasted from 1945 to 1952: the influence the United States exercised over Japan was remarkable. However, it was just during the reconstruction years that animators and animation studios tried – despite the post-war chaos that pervaded even the world of cinema – to turn the isolated and craft-oriented business into an industrial venture.

In September 1945, veteran animation director and producer Yamamoto Sanae² met with the official in charge of the occupying American military General Headquarters cinema department, and was allowed to reopen the animation film production. In October, about a hundred specialists gathered at Shin Nihon Dogasha’s studio. Among them were people of the renown of Murata Yasuji and ...