Series ・ 10 parts

A History of Anime: 100 Years of Japanese Animation

In 1917, on a small screen in Asakusa, pictures drawn by hand one frame at a time began to move. From the three pioneers Oten Shimokawa, Seitaro Kitayama, and Junichi Kouchi, to Kenzo Masaoka's wartime masterpiece — the story of a hundred years of Japanese animation begins here.

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01 The Dawn of Moving Pictures — The Birth of Japanese Animation In 1917, on a small screen in Asakusa, pictures drawn by hand one frame at a time began to move. From the three pioneers Oten Shimokawa, Seitaro Kitayama, and Junichi Kouchi, to Kenzo Masaoka's wartime masterpiece — the story of a hundred years of Japanese animation begins here.
02 The Challenge of the Feature Film — The Age of Toei Doga In 1958, Japan's first full-fledged color feature-length animation, 'The Tale of the White Serpent', was released. At Toei Doga, founded under the banner of becoming the Disney of the East, young talents gathered. This is the story of the dawn of feature animation, where people who would later carry the anime world honed their skills.
03 The Astro Boy Revolution — Osamu Tezuka and TV Anime In 1963, Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy burst into living rooms as Japan's first full-fledged TV anime. The limited animation that moved with fewer drawings, and the commercial model that made weekly broadcasts possible. This is a neutral look at both sides: the revolution that turned anime into a national pastime, and the shadow of low budgets that would later feed labor problems.
04 The Age of Robots and Heroes — The Diversification of the 1970s Mazinger Z in 1972, Space Battleship Yamato in 1974, and Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979. In a 1970s when giant robots and science fiction swept the screen, anime expanded from something for children into expression that drew in older audiences as well. A neutral tracing, faithful to the historical record, of diversification and the budding of fan culture.
05 The Birth of Japanimation — The Leap of the 1980s In the 1980s, anime found new vessels beyond the box of children's television. The OVA in 1983, 'Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind' in 1984, the founding of Studio Ghibli in 1985, and 'AKIRA' in 1988. We trace, on a factual basis, a decade in which both expression and market expanded at once.
06 Ghibli and the World — Hayao Miyazaki's Achievement From 'My Neighbor Totoro' in 1988 to 'Princess Mononoke' in 1997, and then to 'Spirited Away' in 2001. Studio Ghibli's hand-drawn animation went beyond domestic blockbusters to win the world's recognition in Berlin and at the Academy Awards. We trace, on a factual basis, the path of that achievement and the difficulties born of reaching the farthest point.
07 The Shock of Evangelion — The Revolution of the 1990s In 1995, a single robot anime began in TV Tokyo's early-evening slot: 'Neon Genesis Evangelion.' Its story of the darkness of the human heart became a social phenomenon, helping push forward two systems that would shape the industry to come — late-night anime and the production committee model.
08 Cool Japan — Advancing into the Global Market In the 2000s, Japanese anime crossed borders. 'Pokémon' thrilled children worldwide and 'anime' came to be recognized abroad as a genre of its own, even as the battle against the shadow of piracy began. We trace the era when culture became national policy, from both its light and its shadow.
09 The Streaming Revolution and a New Golden Age — When the World Watches Together The late 2010s, when streaming services like Netflix dissolved borders and 'Your Name' and 'Demon Slayer' rewrote the record books. Episode 9 looks, within what has been reported and from a neutral standpoint, at the golden age born of simultaneous worldwide release — and at the shadow of the working conditions on the production floor that sustained that prosperity.
10 Toward the World's ANIME — The Future of Anime An era in which the overseas market has overtaken the domestic one and generative AI poses questions to the production floor. The expanding global market, changes in technology, the cultivation of talent and the reform of working conditions — the final chapter surveys, without rushing to an answer, where anime, now a culture born of Japan, is headed. At the close of a hundred-year story.