Interesting Vids

Below is the original trailer for "Astro Boy" when it came out in 1963.



Now that you have seen that, here is the trailer for the newest "Astro Boy."



Notice Any Differences. Also, first quiz up.

There are always reasons, but they may not be what you think.

With the knowledge of what the first anime's where that came to the United States, it becomes possible to find out why. Surprisingly enough, the answer to why anime came across to the U.S. is actually as simple as capitalism. After WW2, Japan's Economy was struggling to rebuild. For entertainment during this time period, the United States sent over many cartoons (pristine for the time, today, not so much) to help out. Japan, who had started making anime before the war, were having a hard time capturing the quality of the American Cartoons that were making the journey overseas. In 1957, Toei Animation Co. finally reached a quality level equal to American Cartoons with its first notable short, "Doodling Kitty". However, it wasn't till "Panda and the White Serpent", or "Hakujaden" in Japan (see post First in America, 10/21/2009) that Japanese Animation was popular. With it's popularity in Japan finally soaring, they released in to America to see how it will do. Seeing that it failed, they would stop releasing movies. However, this allowed manga writer, Tezuka, to become interested in American style workings. He would end up creating Japan's first TV animation studio and releasing with it, "Astro Boy." The reason for release in America with "Astro Boy" was the same as it was with the first movies. Basically to see how it would do. In the end, anime would rocket in popularity in both Japan and America, though in America would end up just having a craze for the science fiction genre.

First in America

To understand why anime came to the United States, we must know what the first anime show to cross the ocean was. Depending on whether one counts movies or not, the answer differs. If one includes movies (or basically, something shown in theaters,) then the first would be "Hakujaden", which translates to "Tale of the White Serpent". It would end up being released in America in 1961 under the name "Panda and the White Serpent." This movie would end up being followed by a series of five more movies, released year after year in the U.S. However, unlike their popularity in Japan, they floundered in the theaters in the U.S. It would be more then two decades before Japanese Anime found it's way back to the big screen.

However, one of the movies released, "Saiyuki," or as released in English, Alakazam the Great, created a possibility for Japanese comics (now called manga (pronounced mahn-ga)) to become anime. This would lead to the first anime showed on American Television, "Astro Boy", which was first shown on New Year's Day in 1963. "Astro Boy" was its English release name, its original Japanese title was "Tetsuwan Atomu", or when translated, "Mighty Atom." By the end of 1963, "Astro Boy" was a smash hit, and had led to the production of three more TV anime. By the end of the 60's science-fiction anime had become very popular in the United States. Though Anime would never get as popular in the United States as it would Japan, "Panda and the White Serpent," and "Astro Boy" would lead the way for the anime culture now existing in America.