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Early days animation

Katsudō Shashin or the Matsumoto fragment, is a 1907 Japanese animated filmstrip that is the oldest known work of animation from Japan, possibly dating to 1907, although the exact origin is unknown and the creator of it has never been revealed. In this three second film strip, a young boy takes off his sailor hat. Instead of each image being photographed as was custom at the time, the images were rather stenciled/impressed onto film. Very little of the animations produced in this time survived to the use of flimsy celluloid used at the time, and eventually the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. After animations were complete, often times the strips were cut up and sold individually, so full length films have rarely been discovered. It is still disputed to this day whether or not the film strips found today are genuinely from this time in history as there have been many fake film strips produced.

Technology used: kappa-ban, tool used for stencilling magic lanterns and paper, rarely celluloid

Practitioners: Any surviving details about the practitioners at this point have been lost to time

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dry3ylvqmNM

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Pre War

Films at this point in history are still being produced using paper and cutouts, sometimes chalk drawings as well since celluloid is still expensive. Tennenshoku Katsudō Shashin film studios opens in 1914, known for creating the first coloured films, they were also known for hiring what would become on of the first anime creators in history. The founding fathers of anime at this point in history are Oten Shimokawa, Seitarou Kitayama, and Junichi Kouchi; little is known about these men, most started as political cartoonists or anime illustrators. "Nakamura Katana" Kouichi’s two-minute silent movie that tells the story of a samurai tricked into buying a dull-edged sword, was first released in 1917 and the second film to be produced for showing in a cinema after Oten Shimokawa's film Imokawa Mukuzo Genkanban no Maki which sadly hasn't survived the elements of time. 1918 saw an influx in films being produced, 8 of which have survived and one, Momotarō, which was the first animated film to be shown outside Japan, and Tarou Urashima which is based on the Japanese legend Urashima Tarō.

Technology: Nitrate (highly combustible) and stencils

Practitioners: Ōten Shimokawa, Seitarou Kitayama, and Junichi Kouchi

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlC0_gh0FpE

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1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and latter years

The Great Kantō earthquake which occurred on September 1, 1923 dealt incredible damage in Japan with 105,385 confirmed deaths. As a result of the earthquake, most production of anime was ceased, and many works destroyed. By 1924 however, Japan sprung back into action and began developing new films. Cinemas would hire benshi, storytellers who would sit next to the screen and narrate the silent movies. This effectively made them some of the first talkie films. They were descendants of kabuki jōruri, kōdan storytellers, theater barkers and other forms of oral storytelling. Yasuji Murata, Hakuzan Kimura, Sanae Yamamoto and Noburō Ōfuji were students of Kitayama Seitaro (one of the founding fathers mentioned earlier) and worked at his film studio. Kenzō Masaoka, another important animator, worked at a smaller animation studio. Kenzo is a highly important figure in the world of anime at this time and credited as being the first to produce cel animation with recorded sound.

Technology: Nitrate, paper cutouts, and stencils with celluloid being introduced as a staple

Practitioners: Yasuji Murata, Hakuzan Kimura, Sanae Yamamoto ,Noburō Ōfuji, Kenzō Masaoka

Video: http://www.openculture.com/2014/06/early-japanese-animations-the-origins-of-anime-1917-1931.html

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Pre WW2 and China

Throughout the 1930s, celluloid began to replace paper entirely and anime started to take inspiration from Disney animation. Kenzo Masaoka is a highly important figure in the world of anime at this time and credited as being the first to produce cel animation with recorded sound. Paper cutouts were still widely used for anime, however as Japan entered into war with China, paper became a scarce commodity, and celluloid became the main staple of anime. Due to the expense of creating animation, especially with the country going into war, studios depended greatly on sponsorship from the government. In order to get funding, the studios would produce war related or propoganda films to stay afloat. Film was heavily censored by the government and deemed inappropriate for children, but animation had found its place in scholastic and political use. These new ideals from the government also lead to a strict censorship and control of published media. Many animators were urged to produce animations which enforced the Japanese spirit and national affiliation.

Technology: Paper cutouts replaced by celluloid due to war with China

Practitioners:  Kenzō Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGvGMa2RFg

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WW2 and Anti American Propaganda

Japan joined the Axis powers and was enemies with many of the Allied countries, mainly America and China. Japan's involvement in the war only truly started after the bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7th, 1942. Due to government funding to support propaganda films, Japan was entering an age which was essentially the beginnings of modern anime. The first proper use of animations propaganda that we saw from Japan was during 1936, when a cartoon was released that showed a mouse (possibly Micky Mouse) attacking what seems to be Japan. In response to America's embargo on trading, Japan created Momotaro's Sea Eagles (1943), the film was aimed at children, telling the story of a naval unit consisting of the human Momotarō (or Peach Boy) and several adorable animals representing the Far Eastern races fighting together for a common goal, to bring down America and the West in a heavily dramatised retelling of the Pearl Harbour attacks. The film is 37 minutes long, making it nearly a feature film; the first of its kind in Japan. The first feature film credit would go to China for its 1941 Princess Iron Fan. Anime wasn't all bleak and war related, due to increased funding, studios had a bit more liberty to produce higher quality work. Shochiko studios, one of Japan's main media studios at the time, allowed Kenzo Masaoke to create Kumo to Chūrippu in 1943. The story tells It is a story of a ladybug being chased by a black-faced spider. The spider catches the ladybug, but then it rains, the spider drowns, and the ladybug is freed by a friendly fly. Shochiku then made Japan's first full-length animated feature, Seo's Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors in 1945, again with the help of the Navy.

Technology: Celluloid film

Practitioners: Kenzō Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo, and introducing Shochiko studios

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzjpsuRHiro&t=1820s

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Toei Animation and Mushi Production

After World War 2, Japan was occupied by Americans, this new shift from an empire to a democracy saw the founding of Tōei Animation and Mushi Production. Ōkawa Hiroshi, president of the Tōei company, saw Disney’s Snow White (1937). He fell in love with the colours and visual style and wanted to create a "Disney in the East" with his newly founded animation studio.They produced the first color anime full length feature film in 1958, called The Tale of the White Serpent. Its success in the US would mean that Toei and Mushi studios would create a feature film every year. Toei Animation was known for allowing its animators to create how they wanted, which would break anime out of its traditional style in later years. Toei Animation created what was called "the moneyshot", in which the background and secondary details of a shot would be drawn with far less detail, allowing all focus to go onto the main characters. This is a technique still used to this day and a technique which would help bring Toei into the US in the 80s. Post war, jobs were increasingly hard to come by, and many animators were happy to work for very little money. This would change in the mid to late late 1950s as Japan's unions were forcing companies to double pay, and many animation studios were struggling to survive. Hayao Miyazaki at this point, a strong advocate for fare wages, was still working for Toei.

Technology: Celluloid and learning Disney system of “assembly-line production” and the "money shot"

Practitioners: Yasuo Ōtsuka, Osamu Tezuka, Mori Yasuji and Daikuhara Akira

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6udo27guSNM

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Anime comes to America

On January 1, 1963, Fuji Television broadcast a 30-minute animated television series called Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy). The show became a major hit, starting an anime boom and a period of intense competition for TV audiences. The show was created in response to the low Japanese moral, especially with American influence and occupation at the time. Astro Boy symbolized the good in Japanese cutlure and taught children to help those around them. The success of Astro Boy marked the beginning of a new kind of anime industry. Mushi Productions continued to produce more anime television and found success with Kimba the White Lion in 1965, a film that would later "inspire" Disney's "The Lion King". The low franchise fees paid to the studio for Astro Boy meant that the company needed to come up with a way to drastically cut production costs. They would cut the number of drawings, trim the number of lines in each image to the bare minimum, and use more still images. They worked to make the storylines quicker and devised clever ways of simulating movement, from sound effects to the dialogue. They would also make money from merchandising and selling the license to various suppliers of goods, from dolls to confectionary. The original Speed Racer anime television began in 1967, and was brought to the West with great success. Other films such as Gokū no Daibōken, Princess Knight, and Sally the Witch were released at this time, to great success in the US. Sazae-san anime also began in 1969 and continues today with roughly 6,500 episodes broadcast as of 2014.

Technology: Celluloid

Practitioners: Osamu Tezuka and
Hayao Miyazaki (pre- Studio Ghibli)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4SmuiiwCV0

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the film market shrank sue to competition from television.
many young animators were turned into directors allowing for a wide variety of experimentation.
Heidi, Girl of The Alps (1974)- Isao Takahata is one of the first internationa success and started the possibility for animators like Hayao Miyazaki and Takahata to start a series of literal based-anime.
Italy, France and Spain grew an interest in japan's output.
Mecha came into being with examples such as space battleship Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam.

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space operas became more pronounced with the commercial success of star wars, this meant that anime such as Battleship Yamato and Mobile Suit Gundam were successful and revived as a theatrical film. this was the start if the anime boom in 1980s and of 'Japanese cinema's second golden age.
this was also the start of anime fans calling themselves otaku (someone with consuming interest commonly in anime and manga).
The Otaku subculture had effects on the people who were entering the industry, the most famous of them were the amateur production group Daicon Films which would become Gainax.
One influential anime was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984), it allowed for many experimental and ambitious projects to be funded shortly after its release. It allowed director Hayao Miyazaki and Iaso Takahata to create their own studio that would become known as Studio Ghibli with its first film being Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986).
The Success of Dragon Ball Z introduced the martial arts genre.
anime was brought to the home video market in the form of original video animation (OVA) this made a way t test less-marketable anime like adult genres such that include Cream Lemon (1984)
sports anime made its debut in 1983 with an anime adaption of Yoichi Takahashi's soccer manga Captain Tsubasa.
During the 1980s high-budget and experimental films increased each film trying to outclass or outspend its predecessors. Akira one of the most expensive anime of its time failed in japan but brought a much larger international fan base for anime, the film became a hit oversees.

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in 1993 the first airing of Jo-Jo's Bizarre adventure was released, this marked the first on and off airing schedule. this anime also had a very western style in character portrayal and this later inspired many more western looking anime such as Cowboy Bebop.
1995- Hideaki Anno wrote and directed the controversial anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, designed to revive the declining anime industry however during production he made it into a heavy critique of the subculture. The End of Evangelion grossed over $10 million in 1997 and started heavy censorship on anime on Japanese TVs. Actual robot anime where declining at this time however Mecha shows started thanks to Evangelion with the main theme of giant robots with some kind of religious or complex plots.
From these controversial anime an anime series broadcast started called late night experimental anime. experimental films were also released most famous is the cyberpunk thriller Ghost in the Shell (1995).
ghost in the shell, cowboy bebop and evangelion further increased the awareness of anime in international markets.
In 1997 Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke became the most-expensive anime film up until that time, costing $20 million to produce, Miyazaki personally checked each of the 144,000 cels in the film and it is estimated that he redrew parts of 80,000 of them.
By 1998 over 100 anime shows were aired on TV in Japan, shows like Pokemon, dragon ball z, sailor moon and Digimon brought international recognition and sailor moon and dragon ball z were dubbed in more than a dozen language.
another large success was the anime One Piece based off the best selling manga which is still ongoing.

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Mecha continued into the 2000s however the real robot genre was revived with the success of shows such as Mobile Suit Gundam SPEED (2002), Eureka Seven (2005), Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (2006) etc.
an art movement started by Takashi Murakami, it combined Japanese pop-culture with postmodern art and he called it superflat. (analysis of post-war Japanese culture through the eyes of the otaku subculture).
moe-style art, Bishojo (term for beautiful young girl) and Bishonen (term for beautiful young boy) character designs became popular with the rise of romance, harem and slice of life anime.
anime based on eroge and visual novels increased in popularity (fate/stay night- 2006) & (Clannad- 2008 & 2009)
the 2000s marked a trend of emphasis on the otaku subculture a critique anime by the name Welcome to the N.H.K (2006) is an example of this. during this time however anime that was aimed to a non-otaku audience also started to be produced.
a lot of older anime and high-budget feature films were revived in the 2000s.
anime films were nominated and won major international film awards.
There was a rise in popularity in North American markets which lead to a rise in anime-influenced animations such as avatar the last air-bender, samurai Jack, RWBY and Teen Titans.
By 2004 over two hundred shows were aired on TV

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in 2002 Spirited Away won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, in 2003 at the 75th academy awards it also won the academy award for best animated feature.
in 2004 Ghost in the Shell 2: innocence was in competition for the Palme d'Or.
In 2006 at the 78th academy awards Howl's moving castle was nominated for best animated feature.
In 2007 5 Centimetres Per Second won the Inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Award for best animated feature film

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in 2012 the Toonami (american TV program) in the US was relaunched as an adult-oriented action block on adult swim (american adult-oriented nighttime programming block of the children's basic cable networks) bringing uncut anime to a far wider audience.
The block oversees the premiere of English dubbed releases for various anime.
the retirement of of Miyazaki in 2014 with when Marnie was There, however he has come back for the production of 'How Do You Live?'
Various international anime distribution companies were shut down due to poor revenue.
attack in titan has been accused of promoting militarism by neighboring asian countries.