Music in Japanese Animation - Essay Example

Music in Japanese Animation Introduction: Brief history of Japanese animation The beginning of Animè of Japanese animation s back to the earlyyears of the 20th century. Patten (2004) mentions that the earliest Japanese animation was inspired by the pioneer animators of France, Germany and the United States. Animè during that period was basically an approach by Japanese filmmakers to experiment with the animation techniques. The first known animè was screened in 1917, which was a two minute clip of a samurai trying his new sword on a target only to face defeat. It is only in the 1930s that animation has successfully become an alternative from of story-telling in Japan. The reason for its lagging behind the European and American film industries is the small market size of Japanese live-action industry suffering from budgeting and other restrictions. Shooting films set on European or American backdrop was almost next to impossible for Japan due to lack of finance as well as absence of a fantasy world in Japan. In other words, the scope was really limited for Japanese film industry. However, with the advent of animation, artists got the freedom and flexibility of creating any character in any setting. Japanese animators were tremendously inspired by the success of Walt Disney’s 1937 feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A substantial amount of contribution is credited to the legendary manga artist and animator Osamu Tezuka, who adapted and simplified many of the Disney animation techniques in the 1960s in an attempt to reduce cost. This period is also known as the birth period of modern animè in Japan. While the initial phase of Japanese animation saw some imitations of foreign cartoons, most of the scripts were Oriental folk tales dramatized in traditional Japanese art styles. Today, Japanese animation is a successful and widespread industry that has been adapted by the western animation industries as well. The contribution of the animè of Japan has been tremendous, in the words of Poitras (2001), “Outside of Japan, animè has become the major way in which non-Japanese are exposed to Japanese culture.” Japanese animè and music: With regard to the music used in Japanese animation, its closest association is with the Japanese pop music industry, which is an independent genre as well as a significant industry. The television series and even original animation video (OAV) series are usually accompanied by soundtrack albums. The series include a number of song varieties such as opening songs, ending songs, insert songs, incidental music, original songs or image songs, drama tracks, and so on. In order to understand the history of Japanese animè music, it is important to go through the history of Japanese animation. The earliest period of Japanese animè is known as the silent era. During this time, animation was produced by amateur animators that were inspired by their American and European counterparts. In the 1920s and 30s, the western style of humorous films was quite popular among Japanese animators. Walt Disney had a strong influence on the Japanese animators at that time. In fact, most of the animè features were unable to meet high production standards, and were rather poor imitations of Disney productions. Then in 1937, Osamu Tezuka invented the manga style of illustration resulting in the beginning of television animation. Schodt talks about the supremacy of manga animè, “Japanese manga offer far more visual diversity than mainstream American comics, which are still shackled by the Greek tradition of depicting the human form and still reveal an obsession with muscled males and full-figured females” (Schodt, 2002). He started a production company called Mushi Productions that produced Mighty Atom, the studio’s first hit and also the first popular animè television series in 1963. By 1963, four television animation studios were opened for animators. Animè music in Japan started from the earliest days of Japanese TV animation, since the time of Tezuka’s Mighty Atom. Most of the TV animè used to have separate opening and ending title-credits theme songs earlier, there was just one verse in each theme song, which later extended up to three verses. Almost all the animè features used to have an opening-title theme song and at least one more soundtrack in the film. As most of the television animè series were fantasy-based or sci-fi stories meant for children, the music was composed on very light notes keeping the taste of young audiences in focus. Some of the animè series used traditional Asian music while other compositions were inspired by the Japanese military marches of the World War II. Nonetheless, most of the animè music compositions featured modern and especially westernized tunes. For the first 15 years of television animè, the Japanese animè music was produced on children’s records only. During late 1970s, animè music started getting considerable attention from animators. It is during this time that original animè video originated. With the widespread popularity of home video recorders, demand for animè became massive and consumers were more interested to visit video stores directly to buy new animation features. This further provided more significance to create innovative soundtracks for animè features. Animè songs are important, for instance, an image song provides sufficient insights to an animè character which may otherwise go unexplored. The opening and ending songs can also provide information on the various characters, or on the theme of the entire animè. Nowadays, the soundtrack albums of animè features are getting equal limelight as that of other non-animated feature films. Animè music is usually sung by the animè seiyuus (or voice actors) in the style of their characters. In fact, Japanese animè music has become so popular today that many people have imbibed their interest in Japanese music and culture. During the 1980s, Japanese animè has witnessed another important change apart from music. There has been a paradigm shift in Japanese animè when it started focusing on mainstream market, that is, the adult market. The notion of adult animation refers to animation targeted at adults. As animè became a significant part of the mainstream Japan, its maturity level also increased along with its widespread popularity within and outside Japan. Animè gained increased acceptance in the overseas markets in the 1990s, and by the beginning of the 21st century, it became more widespread. In this context, adult animation or Hentai animè is a known concept. The term ‘Hentai’ is associated with sexual connotations that are rather negative in Japanese terminology. However, the Internet has made Hentai more popular among the adult audiences. Coming back to the historical background of Japanese animè in brief, the first generation of Japanese animators was an American-inspired group of artists whose animation was mostly of commercial nature. The most technically advanced Japanese animator in the 1910s is Kochi Junichi. The second generation of animators in the 1920s saw a new direction of animè in terms of its scholastic, political and industrial use when the government supported and encouraged animation films of educational value. This further required the demand of new ideas and content in animè. The World War II era witnessed the beginning of television animation. The first color animation was released in 1958 by Toei Animation studio. This film is considered to be of modern taste in the sense that it made a wide use of animè music and other contemporary animè elements. During the 1970s, there was a wide variety of experimentation in Japanese animè. This period witnessed the steady progression of a sci-fi genre in animè. New wave: The second most important development, also known as the new wave in the Japanese animation industry is perceived to be inspired by the popularity of George Lucas’s Star Wars, the superhit American television animè series in 1979. During the 80s, animation went through a revolutionary change that was demonstrated in terms of two main aspects in American broadcasting (Drazen, 2003) - growth of a) cable channels and b) consumer videotape recorders. This is when Japanese animè series also strengthened its base. The emergence of the home video market provoked Japanese animators to produce animation especially for this market. This is what gave birth to the notion of OAV animation or original animè video, which is usually higher in quality than TV animation. This period saw the animè boom to be considerably marked as the second Golden Age of Japanese animè. The period also saw the practice of individual animè style. It was in 1985 when the Studio Ghibli, an animation studio and production company, was founded. The studio is well-known and highly acclaimed for its prominent contribution made to the Japanese animation film industry. The company has managed to achieve several accolades for some of the greatest animè features created till date. In 2002, one of its productions, Spirited Away by acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki won the prestigious Oscar award for the Best Animated Feature. The company follows strict regulations in terms of ‘no edits’ and ‘no cuts’ policies, especially with regard to the licensing of their films abroad. The studio produced most of Miyazaki’s animation films. Indeed, Miyazaki is a co-founder of Studio Ghibli. He is called the ‘Walt Disney of Japan’ for his tremendous contribution to the animè industry of Japan. Miyazaki introduced a variety of themes in animè including the myriad human relationships, good and evil, environmental elements, the power of love, anti-war themes, and even technology themes. Strong presence and characteristic impact of female protagonists is a particular observation in most of Miyazaki’s animè features. It is notable that composer Joe Hisaishi provided music for all the Miyazaki animè films produced by Studio Ghibli. Hisaishi is a well-known music composer and director who has over 100 film scores and solo albums, mostly in the 80s, to his credit. His stylistically distinct sound is characterized by exploring and incorporating various genres. Hisaishi is best known for his association with Miyazaki, and for the wonderful soundtracks he has composed for animè features. Modern animè dates back to the 1990s, when animation techniques were incorporated with new technologies. The Internet has also played a significant role in the exposure of animè beyond Japan. Patten (2004) points out, “The Internet has made it [animè fandom] easy for everyone to contact the animè subculture, especially since the massive growth of individual fan and animè club home pages during the 1990s coordinated through the Animè Web Turnpike since August 1995.” As an art form with a visual medium, animè places a considerably large emphasis on visual styles. Various studios articulated their own individual style. Thus, animè style in general has incorporated a wide variety of artistic styles and other stylistic elements. While new technology has brought innovation in the Japanese animation industry, a large majority of animè still uses traditional folk stories and popular characters to give a new look to animation. However, in recent times, remake or re-presentation of the original video animation series or TV series is getting more attention since the animators have run out of original ideas. Japanese animè has become commercially profitable outside the country as well, especially in the western countries that were earlier inspirations behind Japanese animè. Since its advanced phase in the 1980s, Japanese animè has been very popular and influential in Asia. Japanese animation series have been widespread across the countries in the continent. Almost every Asian country has its own edition of the Japanese animè series running on their televisions. Different forms of Japanese animè culture have penetrated the consumer culture in major Asian cities. Merchandizing popular Japanese animè characters such as Pokemon, Hello Kitty, Doraemon, Dragonball, and the likes is fast becoming the hot favorites among Asian children and young people alike. The influence of Japanese animè has become quite strong among the animè artists in most Asian countries. The contribution of Japanese animè is everywhere in the Asian animation market, right from story telling, script writing, drawing, coloring, to voice recording and digitalization. Especially, the animation markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan are mostly inspired by Japanese animè. While Japanese style dominates these markets, a rather appropriate term will be incorporation of Japanese animè with the characteristic elements of other Asian countries. In the age of cultural globalization, collaboration between Japan and other Asian countries will definitely be a progressive step towards the advancement of the entire animè industry. Adoption of Japanese manga into more live-action movies in the Asian countries validates the significance of Japanese animè in the Asian market. The most acclaimed achievement of the Oscar by Miyazaki’s Spirited Away for the Best Animated Feature Film in 2002 has inspired the Japanese animators to make animè features while targeting both Japanese as well as international audiences. The film was a great success and a milestone for Japanese animè. When released in Japan in July 2001, Spirited Away broke the box office records with its total gross earnings. Apart from the Academy Award, the film also begged the prestigious Golden Bear Award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival. Conclusion: Japanese animè is now a household name in most countries across the world. The animè characters are loved by a wide variety of audience both within and outside Japan. Back in the 60s, Osamu Tezuka created manga animè that would eventually make Japan a manga superpower. Drazen (2003) points out, “Dr. Tezuka’s sophisticated stories and complex characters had spawned a wave of groundbreaking manga, and this in turn inspired generations of cartoonists and animators who would never have considered these media otherwise.” The script source of Japanese animè is based on a wide range of traditional and cultural stories as well as popular folktales. Apart from manga stories, the animè features are based on popular literary classics, stories from historical Japan and China, epic tales, and stories from modern Japan and other countries including Rig Veda scriptures of India and from the 19th century European society and culture. Moreover, original ideas have also been scripted to make some of the most popular animè features and series. Japanese animè has a long and well-known history right from the silent era, when animation was all about adaptation of western animè style, story and other elements. Japanese animation was just a mere imitation that time, which went through various phases in a gradual manner to eventually come up with its own unique style. It is remarkable that the Japanese animation today has replaced the United States as the world’s largest exporter of comics and animation. The manga animè is definitely one of the greatest contribution of Japan to animation world. Along with animè style and techniques, Japanese music also started getting attention from everyone with its popularity growing to the extent that Japanese animation reminds audiences of Japanese music. The pop music industry in Japan has its own individual genre today. Japanese animè has changed the face of animation market in Asia. With most of the Asian countries collaborating their animè with that of Japanese style, the animation industry in Asia is today a strong market in the world. The new generation of animè artists in Asia has the strongest influence of Japanese animation in their creation. Further on, Japanese animè has a strong impact on Asian popular culture and entertainment industry, in particular, movies and television dramas. As collaboration is getting more and more attention from all major Asian animators, there is more possibility of better business opportunities in the animation market. To conclude, this kind of transnational cultural interaction and cooperation will only lead us to better enhancement and advancement of animation industry. References: 1. Drazen, P. (2003). Animé Explosion: The what? Why? & wow! of Japanese Animation. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 1. Hui, G. S. (2006). Prefiguring the future: Tezuka Osamu’s adult animation and its influence on later animation in Japan. Asia Culture Forum 2006. Retrieved from http://www.cct.go.kr/data/acf2006/cinema/cinema-Session%203%20-%20Gan.pdf. 1. Ito, M. (2007). Mobilizing the imagination in everyday play: The case of Japanese media mixes. In S. Livingstone and K. Drotner (eds.), International Handbook of Children, Media and Culture. Retrieved from http://www.itofisher.com/mito/ito.imagination.pdf. 1. Leonard, S. (2003). Progress against the law: Fan distribution, copyright, and the explosive growth of Japanese animation. MIT Fall 2003. Retrieved from http://www.myoops.org/cocw/mit/NR/rdonlyres/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/6-805Fall-2005/F9D805F8-1233-4A02-BF4F-4BFA5C9FBFA5/0/prog_against_law.pdf. 1. Manion, A. (2005). Discovering Japan: Animé and learning Japanese culture. Master’s thesis. Retrieved from http://www.chanpon.org/archive/manionthesis.pdf. 1. McCarthy, H. (2002). Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 1. Napier, S. J. (2001). Animé from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. New York: Palgrave. 1. Patten, F. (2004). Watching Animé, Reading Manga. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 1. Poitras, G. (2001). Animé Essentials: Everything a Fan Needs to Know. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 1. Schodt, F. L. (2002). Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. Read More