In the photo above, the guy on the left is yours truly, Jerry Beck, blathering on about the fine points of American animation to the guy on the right: the father of anime, the Disney of Japan, Osamu Tezuka.

This fateful meeting took place in 1978, at a screening of Bander’s Book at the Japan Society in New York City. And obviously, it was one of the greatest days of my life.

Tezuka San had somehow obtained a copy of Mindrot, the fanzine, in which I wrote about my love of his comics and Astro Boy, and was as delighted to meet me as I was to meet him. He even invited me out to have sushi after the screening. I’ll never forget it. He was a great artist and a great human being.

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco will be presenting an exhibit, Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga, June 2nd through September 9th, which is shaping up to be an absolute must-see event. The official website is loaded with essays, information, podcasts and even a blog worth reading.

And in case you don’t know who Tezuka is, here’s a 30 second refresher course:

The L.A. Times wrote about this film last month. We told you about it exactly one year ago.

From the studio that brought you Mind Game, here comes Tekkon Kinkreet, based on the manga known in the U.S. as Black & White.

Finally making its way to the States, The Museum of Modern Art will be screening a 35mm print of Studio 4C’s new anime feature for a one-week run from April 25–30, 2007. Director Michael Arias will appear at the April 25th screening.

While we are still struggling to revive 2-D, the Japanese are already re-inventing it. Check out the trailer and see why we’re so excited. If you are in New York in April, you have six chances to support the cause.

MoMA’s SCREENING SCHEDULE

Wednesday, April 25, 8:30. North American premiere. (Introduced by Michael Arias)
Thursday, April 26, 8:30
Friday, April 27, 8:30
Saturday, April 28, 2:00
Sunday, April 29, 2:00
Monday, April 30, 8:30

We don’t usually report on anime releases (we leave that to others more qualified like Anime News Network and the like), but this one is worth noting—not for the film itself, but the manner of its U.S. presentation.

Naruto, the Viz manga series-turned-anime hit series (on Cartoon Network in the U.S.), about the trials of a young ninja, is one of the most popular Japanese series now playing. Three theatrical films have been spun off and released in Japan. The first of these Daikatsugeki! Yukihime Ninpocho Dattebayo!! (English Translated Title: Snow Princess’ Book of Ninja Arts) is being theatrically released in the U.S. this year, on Wednesday June 6th at 7:00pm.

It is being shown on that day and time only, in selected theaters in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. NCM’s Fathom Events is handling this distribution plan. Fathom’s approach is somewhat unique. Taking advantage of digital distribution technology, they are creating a nationwide locked date event for this film. This forces all those interested in seeing the film to attend the one-time theatrical showing, practically assuring sold-out shows at each location.

This kind of “four-wall” event showing has been done before, but I don’t recall it being done on a national basis. As a former film distributor myself, and a student of trends in animated theatrical distribution, this strikes me as a great idea, a great way to get specialized film (particularly foreign animation) showcased.

The plain truth is that these films can’t make big money theatrically in the US. DVD, cable and Internet distribution have wiped out commercial theaters as a financially viable place to screen foreign animated films. The shame is that some of these films deserve the big screen experience.

National CineMedia (NCM), a partnership of AMC Theatres and Regal Theatres, was set up to explore alternative movie programming. They are experimenting with events centered around targeted audiences: Nascar films, faith-based movies, a Metropolitan Opera series… even a repertory screening of Dirty Dancing. Naruto the Movie (now subtitled Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow) is clearly test of the anime/animation fanbase.

I think this distribution scheme may work for them. It’ll certainly excite Naruto fans and build anticipation for the US DVD release (in September). I’ll certainly be keeping my eye on it and, if successful, NCM has the potential to become a new outlet for many international films unable to attain a US release. And that would be a good thing.

Click here to see the exciting trailer for the new film by Satoshi Kon (Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers), Paprika.

Watching this trailer only reminded me about the sorry state of hand drawn feature length animation in the United States. The word moribund comes to mind.

The dictionary definition of moribund is

1. in a dying state; near death.
2. on the verge of extinction or termination.
3. not progressing or advancing; stagnant

Yep, that word sums it up.

The Japanese continue to advance the possibilities of animation in the feature film arena. They seem undisturbed by the CG/Mo-Cap blockbuster-mentality that Hollywood has embraced. The highest grossing film in Japan last year was Studio Ghibli’s traditionally animated Gedo Senki (Tales From Earthsea) by Goro Miyazaki.

I’m optimistic enough to believe it will turnaround here, in time.

Till then, we’ve got The Simpsons.

Roughly a month from now, on Saturday March 31st, the American Cinematheque and The Japan Foundation are presenting a double bill of two new animated features at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Blvd.

Aachi & Ssipak from Korea will screen at 11am. According to a synopsis found on koreanfilm.org the film is “about a futuristic world powered entirely by human feces. With the government anxious to control this sole, important source of energy, they install special sensors on its citizens’ anuses to monitor production, while controlling the populace by distributing addictive popsicles.” Sounds good to me. Watch the very cool first five minutes here. I can’t wait to see this on the big screen.

A reception with food and drink follows at 12:30pm and a second film, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the new feature from the Japan’s Madhouse studio, will screen at 1:30pm.

After the second film will be a panel discussion with the filmmakers (the directors of both films are scheduled to attend) moderated by producer Ken Duer (The Animatrix). This entire event is FREE! You must RSVP at www.jflalc.org and pick up your tickets at the door on the day of the show.

My favorite anime critic, Ben Ettinger, recently wrote a piece about the long-running Japanese animated series CRAYON SHIN-CHAN and how since its debut in 1992, the animators’ styles have evolved and become more distinct and personal. Initially, the show remained faithful to the comic that it was based on, which from what I’ve seen is rather poorly drawn, but within a couple seasons the animators were pushing the look of the show into a more experimental (and even abstract) direction. Check out the revealing stills above – left is from a 1992 episode, right is from 1996. (Ben’s article also includes links to video clips.)

What strikes me as fascinating about this stylistic evolution is that it’s the complete opposite of the tendencies of US series. Here, the drawing in shows – most shows, at least – tightens up with every passing season, exemplified most clearly (and sadly) in America’s longest running animated series THE SIMPSONS, which hasn’t had an original character expression or bit of movement in well over a decade.

SIMPSONS producers, quite unbelievably, pride themselves on putting out a show that doesn’t exhibit stylistic evolution – and they certainly wouldn’t stand for anything that showed personal creativity or the sign of an individual’s hand in the production. Imagine a record label that asks a musician to compose one song and then replay that song for the rest of his career. No self-respecting musician would ever agee. But on the SIMPSONS, machine-like repetition of style is the order of the day. If a layout artist on the SIMPSONS draws ‘off-model,’ that’s viewed without question as an error, never as a creative choice on the part of the artist. It wasn’t always like that. THE SIMPSONS allowed artists some extent of creative feedom for quite a few seasons, especially during its earliest Klasky Csupo years, and also in some of the subsequent Film Roman seasons. By season six or seven, however, the producers had clamped down and decided that the show was going to exclusively be a platform for smug writing and dialogue, not for anything resembling art or animation. It’s refreshing to find that in Japan, certain animated shows still allow for artists to be a creative partner in the production of the series. Animation producers in the US could stand to learn from this and recognize that letting artists grow with a show can only be something positive.

The upcoming feature TEKKON KINKURITO, scheduled for Japanese release in December 2006, is produced by Studio 4°C, the Japanese animation outfit behind MIND GAME. It is based on the comic BLACK AND WHITE by Taiyo Matsumoto, and is being directed by Michael Arias, a first-time director who was previously a segment producer on THE ANIMATRIX. Pixar story artist Enrico Casarosa saw a portion of the film in Japan last month while visiting the studio, and he speaks highly of it on his blog. A lo-res version of the trailer can be seen HERE. Here’s to hoping that the film isn’t neglected like MIND GAME and actually receives some distribution in the US.

Check out these two examples of super-rare (and perhaps, unintentionally funny) Japanese cartoons from the first half of the 20th century:

Ikuo Oishi’s UGOKIE-KO-RI-NO-TATEHIKI (FOX AND ASIAN RACCOON CHEAT EACH OTHER) – 1933

Kenzo Masaoka’s KUMO-TO-CHURIPPU (SPIDER AND TULIP) – 1943

(Thanks, Chuck Thompson)