Anime Firsts

[Fronzel]

What was the first giant robot show? The first magical girl show? The first magical girlfriend show? Et cetra with more cliches. It's interesting!



Wasn't the fitst robot show Getter Robo? Or was that just the first transforming robot?

[Kyuven]

kj1980 would know a lot better than me buuuut
Osamu Tezuka's "Tetsuwan Atom" (AKA "Astro Boy") was (probably) the first actual robot show
Gigantor (Tetsujin...28?) i'm almost positive is the first "giant" robot anime

one of the first "harem" animes (where 1 guy has a buncha girls after him) has got to be Urusei Yatsura (also the first time a female anime character uses the word "Darling" so much...a "trait" recently reincorporated into the character Neneko in Yumeria)
i don't know if it's the first shoujo anime, but Rose of Versailles set a LOT of standards in terms of shoujo anime today
Magical girl...ummmmmmm...*draws a blank* i think they just spontaneously appeared one day...

[HoboGod]

i wonder what the first extremly violent anime was....

[SimplyEd]

Originally Posted by HoboGod

i wonder what the first extremly violent anime was....

Hmm, i'm not too sure myself..probably something from Go Nagai..maybe Devilman?

[boneyjellyfish]

Originally Posted by SimplyEd

Hmm, i'm not too sure myself..probably something from Go Nagai..maybe Devilman?

I'd say that Go Nagai's most violent anime is Kekko Kamen!

[Kyuven]

Originally Posted by boneyjellyfish

I'd say that Go Nagai's most violent anime is Kekko Kamen!

it wasn't their first tho

[Maikeru]

anyone know what the first anime was?

[daliinn]

Originally Posted by Maikeru

anyone know what the first anime was?

i think it was Astro Boy but im sure Kyuven knows more on the subject

[Kyuven]

Originally Posted by daliinn

i think it was Astro Boy but im sure Kyuven knows more on the subject

the "first" anime were mostly world war II propaganda films actually
Astro Boy was the first TV one

[SimplyEd]

Originally Posted by Kyuven

the "first" anime were mostly world war II propaganda films actually
Astro Boy was the first TV one

Right, the first episode of Tetsuwan Atomu was indeed the first approach to what we would nowadays recognize as anime, an approach to animate the successful manga designs (which in itself where quite revolutionary, not just because of a rather new, distinctive style but also in a way of story-telling and flow) of young Tezuka in the early 1950's i think.

The thing is that, if i'm not mistaken, i once read somewhere that there is proof for japanese animation dating back to the late 1910's, although they were rather short and probably we wouldn't even recognize them as *anime*. But that's a whole different story

[Kyuven]

Originally Posted by SimplyEd

Right, the first episode of Tetsuwan Atomu was indeed the first approach to what we would nowadays recognize as anime, an approach to animate the successful manga designs (which in itself where quite revolutionary, not just because of a rather new, distinctive style but also in a way of story-telling and flow) of young Tezuka in the early 1950's i think.

The thing is that, if i'm not mistaken, i once read somewhere that there is proof for japanese animation dating back to the late 1910's, although they were rather short and probably we wouldn't even recognize them as *anime*. But that's a whole different story

it's true
they weren't exactly very memorable, at least not as memorable as their american counterparts (modern manga/anime owes its distinct style to figures like Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse)

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by SimplyEd

Right, the first episode of Tetsuwan Atomu was indeed the first approach to what we would nowadays recognize as anime, an approach to animate the successful manga designs (which in itself where quite revolutionary, not just because of a rather new, distinctive style but also in a way of story-telling and flow) of young Tezuka in the early 1950's i think.

The thing is that, if i'm not mistaken, i once read somewhere that there is proof for japanese animation dating back to the late 1910's, although they were rather short and probably we wouldn't even recognize them as *anime*. But that's a whole different story

Yes. The first anime was "Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki" (Imokawa Mukuzo, the Door-Man) which was made in 1917. It was a five minute short. A lot of experimental animes were made during the pre-WWII era, and by the 1930s, you see a lot of military propaganda anime such as "Norakuro Banzai," "Momotaro no Shinpei" and the like where Japanese characters go up against American cartoons characters such as Popeye, Betty Boop, and Mickey Mouse ("Norakuro" is amusing where this stray black cat goes around and eats Mickey Mouse).

It was not until the early 1960s where Tezuka Osamu brought anime to the TV with his "Tetsuwan Atom" where anime "actually started to take off." I would like to point out an error that many of you have been making - misconceptions as "Tetsuwan Atom" was the first televised anime series - it was not. "Tetsuwan Atom" started airing on Fuji TV in 1963. However, there was an anime called "Otogi Manga Calendar" on TBS which started airing one year earlier - in 1962. While "Otogi Manga Calendar" was popular at the time it was shown for being the first televised anime, unfortunately it went into the shadows due to the immense popularity (average rating 1963-1966 was 30%) of "Tetsuwan Atom."

Trivia info:
A. In the story, "Tetsuwan Atom" was born on April 7th, 2003. Professor Tenma made Atom after he lost his son, Tobio in a car accident. Last year, in the "real world" April 7th, 2003, "Tetsuwan Atom" was officially registered as a citizen in Saitama Prefecture, Niizashi City - the same city where Professor Ochanomizu cared and brought up Atom in the story (sadly, in the actual story, Atom had to go through a lot to become a citizen).

B. There are alot of themes that "Tetsuwan Atom" point out. One of the themes is "racial discrimination." The episode titled "The Black Looks" did not air in the United States due to circumstances surrounding civil rights in the US at the time. Much is speculated that Tezuka puts in such themes due to his experience in the late teens of being beaten up for no reason by the occupying American forces during the Occupational Period.

Several other "firsts:"

1958: "Hyakujaden" the first full-length motion picture anime (19 years after Disney's feat for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves)
1965: "Jungle Taitei" - Japan's first TV anime in color
1966: "Mahou Tsukai Sarry" - first magical shoujo anime
1969: "Sazae-san" starts its first airing - and continues to do so today every week
1972: "Mazinger Z" start the boom of super-mecha-robot series
1973: "Doraemon" starts its first airing
1974: "Uchuu Senkan Yamato" - one the first animes to vitalize the speculation that adults can enjoy anime as well. 1st SF anime boom
1978: "Gingatetsudou 999" - another hit by Matsumoto Reiji, the following year the movie was made it was the first time an anime made the top grossing film in Japan.
1979: Episode 99 of the Second Lupin III series (little is known that Miyazaki Hayao was the chief director of the entire second series 1977-1980) was the first anime that was broadcast in stereo.
1983: "DALLOS" the first OVA
1990: "Chibi-Marukochan" begins its airing, the first time an anime ED theme "Odoru Ponpokorin" gets selected to be on the prestigious NHK "Kohaku Utagassen"
2001: "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" make box-office record in Japanese history, first anime to win an Academy Award
2002: "Pia Carrot e Youkoso! Sayaka no Koimonogatari" - first full-feature length motion picture based on an ero-game
2003: "Shingetsutan Tsukihime" - first anime that is based on a amateur doujin game.

[Vulkar]

Originally Posted by kj1980

you see a lot of military propaganda anime such as "Norakuro Banzai," "Momotaro no Shinpei" and the like where Japanese characters go up against American cartoons characters such as Popeye, Betty Boop, and Mickey Mouse ("Norakuro" is amusing where this stray black cat goes around and eats Mickey Mouse).

I think those would be really interesting to watch.

[Secca]

Originally Posted by kj1980

1972: "Mazinger Z" start the boom of super-mecha-robot series
1973: "Doraemon" starts its first airing

woah, I remembered watching Mazinger Z long time ago, I never know it's older than Gundam. really surprising.

Doraemon too, I remember still seeing them on TV when I was a kid, didn't know it's that old.

[Fronzel]

Gundam was the first "realistic" robot show, where there's lots of robots and they don't have personalites.



"Mahou Tsukai Sarry," was the first magical girl, then? Any more infomation? I'm curious.

[Slade xTekno]

Originally Posted by Fronzel

Gundam was the first "realistic" robot show, where there's lots of robots and they don't have personalites.

Gundam? Realistic? Lol.
I see your point. Gundam was the anime where the robots were piloted by humans.

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by Fronzel

Gundam was the first "realistic" robot show, where there's lots of robots and they don't have personalites.

"Mahou Tsukai Sarry," was the first magical girl, then? Any more infomation? I'm curious.

Actually, "Mazinger Z" was the first anime that brought upon the idea "robots are piloted from the inside." Before then, the idea of robots as seen in "Tetsujin 28go" was that "robots are controlled by remote control." In a sense, "Mazinger Z" and their successors "Great Mazinger," "Getter-Robo," "Getter Robo G" "UFO Robo Grendizer" were forefronts in setting the robotic standards of "Kidousenshi Gundam" (1979).

As for "realisitic mecha anime," once again, "Gundam" overshadows an earlier Tomino work that people often look over - "Zambot 3" (1977). Both "Zambot 3" and "Kidousenshi Gundam" (1979) did not do so well in its first airing. However, it was when "Gundam" was shown in a re-run where the massive success (and franchise) began. While "Zambot 3" may have been the first mecha anime which was "realistic" in a sense of wartime issues, "Kidousenshi Gundam" elaborated that further to involve a more vivid detail of both sides of the war. Before these two animes, most robotic anime were rather plain between the distinctions of good versus evil - some group of people uses robots to protect Earth from aliens trying to take over/destroy Earth. "Gundam" however involved two sides of humanity using robots as a weapon to kill each other for some obscure reason - just like nuclear weapons between the US and the USSR.


Regarding "Mahou Tsukai Sarry:"

The anime "Mahou Tsukai Sarry" was based on Yokoyama Mitsuteru's manga "Mahou Tsukai Sunny." There is this funny story about "Sunny" had to be changed to "Sarry" because there was a complaint from a small transistor company who owned the rights to similar sounding names of its company name. That company name is now a huge multinational corporate giant - "Sony."

Yokoyama Mitsuteru was one the forefront manga-kas in the 1960s and also created classics as "Tetsujin 28go," "Kamen no Ninja Akakage," "Babel II" and "Sangokushi." It is interesting to point out that he was actually a shounen manga artist but made a cute magical shoujo manga for Ribon after seeing the American TV show "Bewitched."

A. Though the manga didn't last that long (only 13 chapters), Toei Animation bought the rights to the manga and wanted to make an anime out of it - seeing that it might do better if it is animated (what a risk!)
B. Toei took upon that risk because at the time, the only anime that was on TV were all male centered and from shounen mangas.
C. Toei also knew that there was a market out there for girls too when they found out little girls were watching the American TV show "Bewitched" late at night around 10PM.
D. "Mahou Tsukai Sarry" was a huge success well beyond expetations of Toei. Originally called for 13 episodes just as in the manga, it was such a huge success that they were able to air it on color from the 18th episode and continued on until 1968 spanning 109 episodes.

A simple outline of "Mahoutsukai Sarry" would be: A princess from the Magical Kingdom by the name of Sarry hates studying magic. She has a strict father and a kind mother, but one day, Sarry escaped her studies by going to the human world. There, she pretends to be a fifth grader and befriends many people. She decides to stay in the human world. However, her father find out, but being as strict as he is, he actually has a soft heart for Sarry - and reluctantly agrees with Sarry's compromise - she can stay here in the human world to learn responsibility - with the exception that her identity of being a magical girl not be exposed. In a sense, "Mahoutsukai Sarry" built up all the magical girl themes that we all know up to today.

[Fronzel]

Originally Posted by kj1980

It is interesting to point out that he was actually a shounen manga artist but made a cute magical shoujo manga for Ribon after seeing the American TV show "Bewitched."

Hah! That's hilarious! And it's the original magical girlfriend show, too!

[Kyuven]

Originally Posted by kj1980

Actually, "Mazinger Z" was the first anime that brought upon the idea "robots are piloted from the inside." Before then, the idea of robots as seen in "Tetsujin 28go" was that "robots are controlled by remote control." In a sense, "Mazinger Z" and their successors "Great Mazinger," "Getter-Robo," "Getter Robo G" "UFO Robo Grendizer" were forefronts in setting the robotic standards of "Kidousenshi Gundam" (1979).

As for "realisitic mecha anime," once again, "Gundam" overshadows an earlier Tomino work that people often look over - "Zambot 3" (1977). Both "Zambot 3" and "Kidousenshi Gundam" (1979) did not do so well in its first airing. However, it was when "Gundam" was shown in a re-run where the massive success (and franchise) began. While "Zambot 3" may have been the first mecha anime which was "realistic" in a sense of wartime issues, "Kidousenshi Gundam" elaborated that further to involve a more vivid detail of both sides of the war. Before these two animes, most robotic anime were rather plain between the distinctions of good versus evil - some group of people uses robots to protect Earth from aliens trying to take over/destroy Earth. "Gundam" however involved two sides of humanity using robots as a weapon to kill each other for some obscure reason - just like nuclear weapons between the US and the USSR.

wasn't Zambot 3 that series where they turned people into bombs?

[Radd]

Originally Posted by kj1980

The anime "Mahou Tsukai Sarry" was based on Yokoyama Mitsuteru's manga "Mahou Tsukai Sunny." There is this funny story about "Sunny" had to be changed to "Sarry" because there was a complaint from a small transistor company who owned the rights to similar sounding names of its company name. That company name is now a huge multinational corporate giant - "Sony."

Yokoyama Mitsuteru was one the forefront manga-kas in the 1960s and also created classics as "Tetsujin 28go," "Kamen no Ninja Akakage," "Babel II" and "Sangokushi." It is interesting to point out that he was actually a shounen manga artist but made a cute magical shoujo manga for Ribon after seeing the American TV show "Bewitched."

Sunny the Magician was also later brought in as Alberto the Impactor's daughter in 'The Night the Earth Stood Still: Giant Robo', which brought together a lot of Mitsuteru's characters into a single world. Even characters from wildy different time frames such as characters from Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin.