Editing Anime (section)

=== Pioneers ===
[[File:Kouichi Jun'ichi - Namakura Gatana (1917) - 4-minute restored version.webm|thumb|right|''[[Namakura Gatana]]'' (1917), the oldest surviving Japanese animated short film made for cinemas]]

Animation in Japan began in the early 20th century, when [[Film director|filmmakers]] started to experiment with techniques pioneered in France, Germany, the United States, and Russia.{{sfn|Schodt|1997}} A claim for the earliest Japanese animation is ''[[Katsudō Shashin]]'' ({{circa|1907}}),<ref>{{cite web|last=Litten |first=Frederick S. |title=Japanese color animation from ca.&nbsp;1907 to 1945 |url=http://litten.de/fulltext/color.pdf |date=29 June 2014 |access-date=23 September 2020 |page=14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918032148/http://litten.de/fulltext/color.pdf |archive-date=18 September 2020}}</ref> a private work by an unknown creator.{{sfn|Clements|McCarthy|2006|p=169}} In 1917, the first professional and publicly displayed works began to appear; animators such as [[Ōten Shimokawa]], [[Seitarō Kitayama]], and [[Jun'ichi Kōuchi]] (considered the "fathers of anime") produced numerous films, the oldest surviving of which is Kōuchi's ''[[Namakura Gatana]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://litten.de/fulltext/ani1917.pdf |title=Some remarks on the first Japanese animation films in 1917 |last=Litten |first=Frederick S. |access-date=11 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810001217/http://litten.de/fulltext/ani1917.pdf |archive-date=10 August 2014 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Many early works were lost with the destruction of Shimokawa's warehouse in the [[1923 Great Kantō earthquake]].{{sfn|Clements|McCarthy|2006|p=170}}

By the mid-1930s, animation was well-established in Japan as an alternative format to the [[Live action|live-action]] industry. It suffered competition from foreign producers, such as [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]], and many animators, including [[Noburō Ōfuji]] and [[Yasuji Murata]], continued to work with cheaper [[cutout animation]] rather than [[cel animation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.midnighteye.com/features/pioneers-of-anime.shtml |title=Pioneers of Japanese Animation (Part 1) |last=Sharp |first=Jasper |date=23 September 2004 |publisher=[[Midnight Eye]] |access-date=11 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117151328/http://www.midnighteye.com/features/pioneers-of-anime.shtml |archive-date=17 January 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> Other creators, including [[Kenzō Masaoka]] and [[Mitsuyo Seo]], nevertheless made great strides in technique, benefiting from the patronage of the government, which employed animators to produce educational shorts and [[Japanese propaganda during World War II|propaganda]].<ref>{{cite book|author-last1=Yamaguchi |author-first1=Katsunori |author-first2=Yasushi |author-last2=Watanabe |title=Nihon animēshon eigashi |publisher=Yūbunsha |year=1977 |pages=26–37}}</ref> In 1940, the government dissolved several artists' organizations to form the {{nihongo foot|''Shin Nippon [[Mangaka]] Kyōkai''.|新日本漫画家協会||{{lit}} "New Japan Manga Artist Association"|group=lower-alpha|lead=yes}}{{sfn|Kinsella|2000|p=22}} The first [[talkie]] anime was ''[[Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka]]'' (1933), a short film produced by Masaoka.{{sfn|Baricordi|2000|page=12}}<ref name="kodanasha1993">{{cite book |title=Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/japanillustrated01koda |url-access=registration |year=1993 |publisher=[[Kodansha]] |location=Tokyo, Japan |isbn=978-4-06-206489-7}}</ref> The first feature-length anime film was ''[[Momotaro: Sacred Sailors]]'' (1945), produced by Seo with a sponsorship from the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]].<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Official booklet, ''The Roots of Japanese Anime'' |type=DVD |publisher=Zakka Films |date=2009}}</ref> The 1950s saw a proliferation of short, animated advertisements created for television.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=Jason Cody |title=Beyond Anime? Rethinking Japanese Animation Through Early Animated Television Commercials |date=2019 |publisher=[[Palgrave MacMillan]] |isbn=9783030279394 |page=213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_rEDwAAQBAJ&q=animation+and+advertising}}</ref>