ANIME HISTORY - BETWEEN THE WARS

In the 1930s the Japanese government began enforcing cultural nationalism. This also lead to a strict censorship and control of published media. Many animators were urged to produce animations which enforced the Japanese spirit and national affiliation. The movies were shown in NEWS-Cinemas as an opinion-forming limbering filler and were very famous, in fact (after Japan had its own support of movie material through the newly-founded Fujifilm) News-Cinemas boomed and together with it the animation industry reached a peak in officially shown movies. At that time many small studios were closed or fused to bigger studios until only three big studios remained on the broad market.

Disney had a strong influence on the animators at that time, but due to commercial issues Japanese animations at that time didn't have a high production standard, but were rather pale imitations of Disney productions (repeating scenes and gags, after recording of sound and so on). Disney also used sound film very early but that was too expensive for most Japanese studios until the mid 30s.

Until the 30s the Japanese movie industry was dominated by the cinemas, who commissioned animations from small studios or single animators. Due to the fusing and enlarging of animation studios bigger projects were possible, but the necessary money didn't come from the Monbusho or a big cinema combine. Many animations were instead commissioned by the military, showing the sly, quick Japanese people (often depicted as monkeys) winning against enemy forces.

In 1942 Momotaro no Umiwashi (桃太郎の海鷲, Momotaro's Sea Eagles) by Geijotsu Eigasha, all together 37 minutes in length, became the longest and technically most advanced eastern animation to date. It showed the story of a navy unit, which consisted of the human Momotaro and several animal species representing the far eastern races fighting together for a common goal. At the time this movie was the third longest animated movie with only Disney's Snow White and Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels being longer. Two years later (1944) Shouchiku Douga Kenkyuusho produced the 74-minute-long animation Momotaro - Umi no Shinpei (桃太郎海の神兵, Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors). This film is considered the first feature length Japanese animation.

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