Anime The influence of Japanese anime on Disney animated movies

Hi!

My name is Michiel Schut, a Dutch student, Studying Graphic Design at the University of Lincoln, U.K. I’m writing my essay about the Japanese manga and anime influences on Disney animation.
During my research, I came across this forum and I think many of you know more about this subject. I would like you to fill in this questionnaire, however you don’t have to fill in questions you don’t like or can’t answer. You can reply or send it to: mfschut@hotmail.com

Thanks in advance!
Michiel Schut

THE INFLUENCE OF JAPANESE MANGA AND ANIME ON DISNEY ANIMATED MOVIES


Name:

What is your relationship with Japanese anime/manga or Disney?


1. Can you recall any Disney animated movies that have a Japanese influence?



2. How can you tell an animated movie has Japanese influence? (In which way is the Japanese style different from the western style?)



3. When did you become aware that Disney animated movies were influenced by Japanese artwork? (And which western movies, producers, artists started this?)



4. What is it in Japanese anime that makes it more attractive than the western drawing style?



5. Can you think of any negative aspects of the influence that Japanese anime has on Disney animated movies?



6. Can you also recall any Japanese anime that has western influences? (in drawing style or any other influence)



7. Can you, based on the latest Disney movies like Lilo and Stitch, starting to speak of western anime?



8. Do you think this influence will change in the next 10 years? (Do you think Disney movies will be more, the same or less influenced by Japanese anime?)



9. Is it hard for western people to understand Japanese anime movies, because of the Japanese metaphors, jokes and mythology used in these?

 

Heh... more like the other way around....

 

the reason that japanese animation is clean (less sketchy) is becuse in America animation is looked down apon There are only a very small amount of animation on network TV (FOX.) In Japan animation is made for all ages.

 

the reason anime eyes are so big is becase of mickey mouse...so really without disney there wouldnt be anime...fun isnt it?

 

As has been mentioned a couple of times already, it was actually Japanese animation that was inspired by Disney. True, modern Disney animation has adopted some of the elements of modern Japanese animation, but it was still Disney that influenced anime.

I'd answer the questions for you, but I find it hard to do so as I'd be explaining the above for each one. Good luck with the survey. ^_^

 

First and foremost, to clarify on anime being inspired by Disney, it was essentially American comic books (that inspired manga) and to some extent the character designs in the movie Bambi (just look at the eyes.)

Now, on to the survey.

Scott Clifford.

Audience member.

The Lion King is essentially Kimba The White Lion with some minor alterations.

Additionally, it can be argued that Atlantis has a lot of similarities to The Secret of Blue Water.

Furthermore, character designs have in recent years become more anime-ish (compare, say, Sword in the Stone to The Little Mermaid).

Character designs, first and foremost. Additionally, mech designs tend to be quite different (compare, for example, the mechs of Battletech to the majority of Japanese mecha. North American mechs tend to simply be walking tanks whilst Japanese mecha often are like extensions of the pilots body due to having articulated hands and even a completely humanoid chassis. Japanese mechs tend to look more like unique heroes rather than mass produced armored vehicles save for a few series, such as Macross or Gasaraki. I should note that no, Battletech is not owned by Disney, but it exists.)

Personally I noticed around the late 90s. Prior to that I didn't give it much thought.

Often times there is more life in an anime movie. Compare, for example, the Sharon Apple concert scenes in Macross Plus to, oh, I don't know, some of the scenes from The Chipmunks Movie. (Again, this is not a disney property)

While initially one may not be inclined to say there is more life, I've noticed that a North American animated which is "lively" tends to have a limited number of things to focus on, while in anime there can be a lot going on-screen at the same time (looking at the Sharon Apple concert scene from Macross Plus, in one segment roughly 6 seconds long, there is Sharon, singing, wreathed in flame, surrounded by 5 gigantic gyroscopic machines within a whirlpool of distortion flanked by a battalion of bizarrely distorted men walking in an odd motion.) The sheer intensity of the scene in mind-boggling and it's almost hard to catch it all during your first viewing.

Conversely even in modern Disney films, the liveliest scenes tend to have the main character(s), perhaps with a few others, singing. There may or may not be some limited background action such as a few lasers flicking on and off, but it doesn't even approach what we saw in Macross Plus (Macross Plus, by the way, is a 1995 production, so for comparisons sake one might wish to look at other 1995 releases. I'll see if I can find the actual release schedule of the Macross Plus episodes, as it originally came out as a miniseries, not a movie.)

Furthermore... well, I may be somewhat biased in this, but when the Japanese have a big battle, it's BIG. Literally thousands of people/ships can appear on-screen at one time and stay in view for long periods of time.

Additionally, the Japanese use of using what is unsaid to express emotions tends to be extremely well done. Facial expressions can be more powerful than speech sometimes.

Furthermore, a lot of the designs can actually be extraordinarily complex in anime. Look at some of the Valkyrie designs of Macross and you'll see thousands of pieces of machinerey, while western animation does tend to keep it extremely simple.

Due to the target audience of Disney films, a lot of what anime does right simply cannot be utilized (due to the confusion high speed, high energy moments might cause in children and also some Japanese values that don't always translate well.)

Not particularly other than the aforementioned "genesis" Bambi gave anime.

While a couple scenes from Lilo and Stitch were somewhat anime like (Stitch's escape in a lone fighter pursued by dozens and dozens of fighters comes to mind), I'm not going to confuse it for Macross Plus anytime soon.

I do believe certain elements may make it in. Expect to see more intense visuals. However, do not expect to see the same level of violence, sexuality or even detail.

It can be hard sometimes. The creator of Lain has actually said that he doesn't expect Western audiences to fully understand Lain, as Lain was intended for an audience that lost World War 2 and has that part of history to deal with.

One particular Japanese belief that some might find irritating is that that which is beautiful is made even more beautiful if its existence if brief. Some people just do not like brief flashes of imagery or can not keep up with it.

Mythology, I do not feel, is an issue as it does not come into play with each genre, and some genres which utilize mythology do not even use japanese mythology (such as Record of Lodoss War, which had very European designs).

As far as jokes go, it depends on what sort of joke it is. Puns rarely work in other languages to begin with.

hope I've been some help.

 

I suppose I have a few minutes to maybe point you in the right direction. You must however realise that japanese animation can vary greatly in style and content and there are lots of very good studios and artists producing different kinds of work. Works by Gibli studio for instance is very different from what the rest of japan are making. So comparing all that to just Disney might not be a good idea. You should really research this afterwards on your own.

None except I watch a lot of both eastern and western cartoons.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire so I've been told but I haven't seen it myself. There are numerous animated series made in the west that had definitely copied japanese animation styles like batman from the early 90s, the new he-man, transformers etc.

Don't know, haven't seen any animated movies myself with a big japanese influence.

heeh, you should probably broaden your topic to not just represent western animation with one studio. First time I noticed western animation being influenced by japanese animation was in an early episode of Batman when Robin was riding his motorcycle. He did the 90 degrees turn on his bike then skidded away from the camera complete with sparks on the wheels and everything just like in Akira =)

That's a subjective question and the answer depends on the preferences of whoever answers. And it's not just the drawing style people loves about japanese anime, the content of the shows are usually a lot more imaginative, tragic, silly, entertaining and grownup than what the west have produced. Also the japanese are not afraid of controversy, shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion has lots of christian references and is one of the best shows ever made.

No, not on disney cause I haven't really see a change in disney. In western cartoon on tv though, there are shows that just copies the drawing style but it looks unnatural, stories are dreadful and it just doesn't work. I am thinking of this particularly bad one about 3 high school girls I've seen on tv but I don't know the name of...

Like what a lot of people said, very early japanese anime was heavily influenced by disney stuff but japanese cartoon have evolved away from that and you it'll be hard to find any that are influenced by modern day disney stuff.

Eh? Anime is just really a word the japanese adopted to mean animation/cartoon I think. Western anime = western cartoon? That kinda has no meaning.

Who knows. Disney don't make good movies anymore. Their movies remain formulaic, predictable, too childish and the musical scores too corny for modern day kids. Pixar is taking over as the king in the west.

Depends on the individual I guess so you need to rephrase the question to "is it hard for you (assuming you are a westerner) to understand...." etc. I usually have no problems understand the shows but it also depends on the content of the show. A sci-fi show will probably explain a lot of the back-history to let the audience know what is going on while a show based on feudal japan and samurai might assume you know about the mentality of the samurai and not explain bushido to you. Watching something really wacky like FLCL on the otherhand can be confusing even to a japanese person I'd imagine =)

 

thanx!

Hi!

First of all, thanx for all your reply's!! I think you have pointed me in the right direction

I already did knew of the influence Disney had on Osamu Tezuka, however I'd like to investigate now on the reverse influences. At first my topic was not only Disney but 'western animation', however my essay is limited to 5.000 words and I'm already over that...

Oh, and Disney has made a great movie not so long ago, haven't you see finding nemo?? That's really not only for children, I laughed a lot during that movie!

Anyways, if anything more pops up in your heads, let me know!!

Michiel

 

Finding Nimo was made by Pixar, which is Disney-owned.

 

Disney doesn't own Pixar, a good thing in my opinion. This is what Pixar's site has to say about the relationship...

Maybe it's not up to date cause that little paragraph didn't mention Finding Nemo but it looks like Disney could be out of it after the 5 movies since Pixar is probably successful enough now to finance all their projects.