Did you know that in the Seventies Sanrio founded an animated film company with the aim to break into the American market? Or that the first anime deliberately exploiting kawaii phenomenon was Magical Talroot-kun in 1990? These are just some of the trivia more or less known you can find into Storia dell’Animazione Giapponese (History of Japanese Animation), a book written by Guido Tavassi and published in Italy by Tunué, back in the Italian bookstores with a new edition updated to celebrate a century of Japanese animation. We have browsed it for you!
The volume is a very complete historical analysis (the first of its kind) about thousands of productions and authors who left their mark in the Japanese animation industry, from its origin in 1917 to 2012. Decade by decade (and even year by year), the author retraces all the steps of the evolution of Japanese animation, highlighting not just the most famous events or production (like the birth of Studio Ghibli or Sailor Moon phenomenon) , but also the independent and less mainstream scene. Don’t worry, despite the strictly historical angle, the book is very interesting and never boring!
Storia dell’Animazione Giapponese, by the way, it’s not just history. The first part, in fact, includes a short and very useful introduction to technical terms and movie production phases, that let us go “behind the scenes” to discover the work of the animators, voice actors and directors. The historical part, also, is enriched by many analysis dedicated to important authors, works and events. Particularly interesting is the essay by Marco Pellitteri retracing European and American anime boom in the ‘70s and ‘80s, a period very dear to many of you (we dare you not to feel a bit of nostalgia).
This book cannot be missed in the library of all scholars and lovers of animation who want to know more (much more) about old and new trends of Japanese animation business. Unfortunately it’s published only in Italy, but if you can read the language, you can buy it until the end of the month on Tunué online shop with a 25% discount (where you can take a look to a little preview). Enjoy the reading!