The Earliest Origins of Anime

If you ever try to think back to a time of when we did not have anime, this may be quite the challenge for you. While it is true that anime has now become a major part of entertainment globally, its earliest origins date back to more than one hundred years ago.

Early 1900s to 1920s

Individuals in the United States, Europe, and Japan began to first experiment with the ideas of anime and animation throughout the early 1900s. According to Evolution of Anime by Screen Rant, the first known anime that was verified and displayed publicly appeared in Japan during the year of 1917. It was called Namakura Gatana (English translation: “The Dull Sword”) by Jun’ichi Kōuchi.

Known to be only the short length of four minutes long, this film was a silent film that revolved around a simple samurai purchasing a sword that had a dull blade. The two other ‘founding fathers’ of anime during this timeframe were named Ōten Shimokawa and Seitarō Kitayama, two early animators who had also experimented with the development of early anime via frame reels.

Tragically, during the year of 1923 the Great Kantō Earthquake occurred, destroying many of the earliest anime film reels in the process. Due to the results of this natural disaster, there was a lot of pushback with the already struggling medium of animation production.

1930s and 1940s

The 1930s is when Japanese animation and anime began to become slightly more advanced. This included short films, usually under ten minutes or so. Then, during the year of 1933 Japan released its first animation with sound, which was called Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka, by Kenzō Masaoka.

To continue, I personally found it to be quite fascinating that the first forms of anime were initially created through film reels. Paper and pen were also used to develop anime, too. However, other animators during this specific timeframe, such as Masaoka himself, even used other physical media forms, like chalk and wax, to piece their ideas together in order to bring them to life.

Throughout the 1940s and World War II the Japanese government used animation and anime for propaganda purposes (which is something that I actually did not know before the completion of my initial writing here). 

1950s and 1960s

The 1950s were a time of rebuilding and strength as a whole for the animation industry.

This is when a man named Toei Doga founded Toei Animation in 1956. The Tale of the White Serpent was soon developed in 1958 and is known as Japan’s first full-length animated film that was produced in color. Toei often let his staff experiment with their creativity, allowing animation and anime to shine bright during this time period. Anime soon was seen as the ‘Disney’ of Japanese animation.

Into the 1960s is when modern anime began.

Osamu Tezuka, an animator known to have also had a hand in creating manga, formulated the TV series Astro Boy in the year of 1963. Astro Boy was known to place an emphasis on storytelling, character development, and memorable themes.

A fun fact about Tezuka is that he formally used to work for Toei Animation. However, he parted ways with the company in 1961 to create his own company called Mushi Production. 

1970s and 1980s

Modern anime continued to strongly develop throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, including the beginning of what is considered to be mecha anime, a genre of anime that is still broadly established in the present day. (I plan to further discuss genres of anime in more detail within my next blog post.)

1990s and Early 2000s

Anime truly began to expand, boom, and take off within western cultures in the 1990s and early 2000s, which included popular television shows such as Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon, Naruto, and One Piece, just to name a few from my own childhood memory in particular.

The rapid advancement of technology truly helped anime grow in leaps and bounds. Instead of being hand-drawn like before, anime now began to turn digital, which increased overall production quality in a variety of positive ways. The early stages of the internet also helped anime continue to begin spreading worldwide.

2010s and beyond…

Present day, many popular streaming services, such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Crunchyroll, are now huge hotspots for the viewing of anime, allowing it to now have become more global than it ever has been before.

Entering Into the World of Anime

Hello everyone,

My name is Payton Kearney. I am a senior at Heidelberg University, set to graduate next year in spring 2026. I am majoring in English and minoring in both Psychology and Inclusive Early Childhood Education.

For this assignment I chose to write my blog on the subject of anime. Anime is something that I love because, to me, it contains the perfect blend of emotion and storytelling that can create something truly memorable. Anime has not only been a way for me to slip away for a while when life feels heavy but is also something that has helped me to understand myself better as an individual.

This may sound a little silly to some, but anime has allowed me to see that it is alright to struggle sometimes in life, as long as in the end you continue to grow, develop, learn, and move forward, too.

Throughout the course of my blog I am going to delve further into the world of anime. Anime is considered to be a medium of animation that has become beloved by many all across the world since the early 20th century.

Originating in Japan, anime combines unique characters, detailed storytelling, and expressive visual elements that allow its viewers to experience different imaginative worlds while still exploring a large range of themes that contain varying life lessons.

Anime as a whole encompasses far more than what we typically think of as just simple cartoons. While it has strong elements of emotional depth, it also includes various cultural ideas, too. 

Anime is even intertwined and connected alongside other forms of media, such as manga and video games, for example, providing multi-platform storytelling experiences that are known to place an emphasis on both artistic style and pop culture. 

There is also a variety of different types of merchandise out there that is available for consumers to be able to purchase regarding anime, including figures, apparel, stationery, and other small collectibles. These smaller collectibles can include, but are not limited to, keychains, posters, and buttons, just to name a few.

Anime conventions are something that is also popular amongst many fans of both anime and manga alike. According to YumeTwins Kawaii Culture Blog, anime conventions are "multi-day events focused on anime, manga, and Japanese culture." Anime conventions are typically hosted at large convention centers and are known to bring in numerous fans from all across the globe.

To continue, anime conventions are a place where fans can easily bond together by enjoying their shared interest in anime. Oftentimes people who attend even dress up in cosplay, which is where they do their best to replicate a character from an anime show or manga through their clothing, accessories, hair, and makeup. Lastly, anime voice actors and manga artists are often seen attending these anime conventions as well, providing fans with an opportunity to meet them and maybe even get an autograph while they are chatting, too.

In future blog posts I hope to dive into more detail about how anime has played a powerful role in having a major influence in the media globally, especially throughout Western animation. I will initially do so by establishing more about its Japanese origins to a fuller extent.

Then, I will explain many of the various genres of anime that are present today, highlighting some of the key points that each genre offers to different audiences. In addition, I also will have the opportunity to expand my writing to speak more about both manga and video games, noting how while they are known to tie in alongside anime, they can also stand alone in terms of media as well. 

Overall, I have many ideas for this assignment that I am genuinely excited to be able to share with everyone, and I cannot wait to do so. My goal as my blog progresses is to shine a light onto anime as a whole and to have the chance to inform others about what it actually entails. As a longtime viewer of this particular medium, I sincerely feel that there is much more to anime than what is initially shown to us on the surface upon first glance, and I hope to present it broken down in more detail to everyone as time continues onward.