Asian history Youtuber Wookong recently posted a detailed video essay titled “Post-War Anime: The History of Japanese Animation & Japan.”
Starting in Japan after the end of the second World War, Wookong parallels the rise and evolution of the Japanese animation industry with the development and rebuilding of the country between 1945 and 1963. Parallels can be seen, as is almost always the case with any art form, between the struggles of the people and what its artists were creating at the time.
The video is chock-full of history and spends as much time detailing the outside factors that influenced Japanese animation during the period – technology, economy, politics, live-action cinema, foreign influences, and most importantly manga – as it does on the output of the animation industry.
