How well do you know your manga/anime history?

[OtakuMan22]

Indulge me for a moment, if you will.

One of the things that has fascinated me over the years is the social structures and the people that gather in anime forums like this. From small forums to larger ones like at Megatokyo, I've noticed that there is a constant following of the YOUNG on these forums as they get into anime and indulge in the fandom of it all.

BUT, how well do they know anime as a whole? A lot can be learned from anime, and manga too, but does anyone take the time these days to seek out the OLD and the CLASSIC?

I'm putting together a personal website, and I'm planning on writing some essays on my observations of anime fandom, both locally where I live in the USA, and worldwide since there is a large international population here at a-m-v.org.

If you could tell me HOW FAR BACK can you recall anime's existance?

What's the oldest anime you have ever seen?
What's the oldest manga you ever read?
Who's the oldest anime creator you know of?
Who's the oldest manga author you know of?
What do you think is the first anime ever made? Why?
What is the first manga ever made? Do you know? Who wrote it?

I want to pick your brains, so to speak, and find out what knowledge you guys have.

It just might prove to be... educational.

~Otaku-Man

[LantisEscudo]

Oldest anime seen: Original Macross or Urusei Yatsura TV

Oldest manga read: Nausicaa

Oldest anime creator: I'm not sure of ages, but one of Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki, or Leiji Matsumoto is the oldest still living that I can think of.

Oldest manga writer: Again, Miyazaki is about the oldest that's still alive I can think of. Osamu Tezuka is one of the oldest I can think of off the top of my head.

First anime: I remember looking this up for a paper a long time ago, and IIRC, on TV at least, it was Mittsu no Hanashi (Three Tales), a three-episode special in 1960, not Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy) in 1963 as most people assume. I'm not sure about theatrical anime.

First manga: Osamu Tezuka's Shintakarajima (New Treasure Island) is the first modern "manga" to be published like today's manga is (in book form), but the 18th-century artist Hokusai was the creator of the term, which means "whimsical pictures," which he used to describe his personal art style. (Again, this is known because of an old paper)

I think that the following of the Young you've noticed is less a New==Better mentality and more of a What's Current? thought process. Older series have finished and often been analyzed and discussed ad nauseam, making it difficult for new people to enter the discussion. Current series are still going on, with large plot points, little details, and character motivations still open to debate and speculation that can be more welcoming to newer people. The in-depth looks are only good until the next episode broadcasts or the next volume comes out, so new people can constantly be coming in with new ideas and speculations.

For me, at least, the age of a series only tells me what to expect for animation style. I've been rolling on the floor laughing at jokes in both series that broadcast last month and series that are approaching their fifteenth anniversaries. I've been watching anime with my hands flexing, wanting to strangle the main villain in a series that's ten years old, and toying with a dagger, wanting to stab the villain in last week's episode of another series. The only things age grants are better animation techniques and time to let the poorer series slide into obscurity, leaving the better ones to be constantly rediscovered by people as they come into the hobby.

[OtakuMan22]

You have a point there that newer stuff will be talked about more, and you are right that the older stuff has had their fair share of discussion back in the day.

But what I want to know is how often do people who enjoy the new also enjoy the old? Will those that are into Naruto today EVER get a chance to enjoy Astro Boy from yesterday? Will they ever get that exposure, and will they think less of it because of its age, despite the fact that it's a classic? This goes for manga as well as anime too.

And here's another teaser: If newer anime/manga fans are not actively seeking classic anime/manga, then who would be the person to show them the old, but good?

~Otaku-Man

[Kai Stromler]

What's the oldest anime you have ever seen?

The oldest that I have a date to is Private Norakuro, which is early '30s, but Momotaro vs the Sea Eagle and Our Baseball may be even older.

What's the oldest manga you ever read?

Probably the Four Immigrants Manga, which was composed between 1904 and 1924, but not collected for publication until 1931.

Who's the oldest anime creator you know of?

Not sure; I know Takahata and Miyazaki's credits go back to the '60s when they were still with Toho, but I'm not very familiar with staffs before that time.

Who's the oldest manga author you know of?

In the authorial sense, Yoshitaka Kiyama, who put out what was probably the first graphic novel published in Japanese (see above). However, this is murky waters here.

What do you think is the first anime ever made? Why?

By the criterion around here of "animation originating in Japan for Japanese audiences", I don't know, probably some early-Showa short similar to the ones above.

What is the first manga ever made? Do you know? Who wrote it?

This is where it gets troublesome, because as people will note whenever the artistic validity of Japanese comics and animation is cast into question, the juxtaposition of text and image in Japanese culture goes back to image scrolls and the theatrical prints of early Tokugawa-period Osaka. If these are included, no idea. If manga is put into the comics context that we currently see it in, then the problem becomes whether Kiyama is allowed or not: he was writing mostly in Japanese, with some English flavoring (something mangaka still do currently, for different reasons), and for a Japanese audience, but he was writing in California. Some people don't like that; I don't mind, especially because the first generation of Japanese immigrants (as Kiyama's work shows) still considered themselves Japanese abroad rather than citizens of a different country, and did not really begin to assimilate culturally until the end of the period in which he was writing. In the end, this one comes down to whose definition is in play.

--K

[OtakuForLife]

What's the oldest anime you have ever seen? Mazanji Z
What's the oldest manga you ever read? Ranma 1/2
Who's the oldest anime creator you know of? Oda
Who's the oldest manga author you know of? ...... bad with names
What do you think is the first anime ever made? Kimba the white lion
What is the first manga ever made? Love Hina

[OtakuMan22]

Alright, some groundwork for the discussion...

For anime, I consider the start of anime as the first animation made in Japan for Japan. Which is pretty much self-explanatory in itself. The animation does NOT have to be "anime-style" like we know today.

ALSO, I separate oldest anime into three catagories:

Oldest anime film (anything in a movie theater)
Oldest anime TV special (a movie or mini-series)
Oldest anime TV serialized show (Full-blown TV series)

OAV's didn't happen until the 80's, so I'm not intending to discuss that here since that's more modern than what my ultimate goal of the discussion is.

Now for manga, that can date back as far as wood-block prints and really, really old Japanese artwork. Since the term has easily been around for more than a century, the definition of manga I intend to focus on is on the manga as a comic, in the comic form we know today. Newspaper comics? Hmmm... jury's still out on that one.

Although, as OtakuForLife has demonstrated, there IS a thing or two to be learned here.

~Otaku-Man