Disney & Animanga

 Welcome to this special blog about the origins of animanga, one of them directly and indirectly coming from Disney themselves, way back when, when they used to be actually creative 30-80 years ago. This blog came to me when I would debate stuff with my friend and they would bring up how Disney created everything, so I decided to finally take inspiration and make a whole bonanza of a blog.

Disney Influence on Animation

The direct influence that’s the biggest on anime is Hayao Miyazaki, he made his start in the anime industry because of Disney works such as Snow White; he loved the movies how they were in nature that brought whimsical joy to people for all ages that watched it. After struggling with the woes of corporate studios, he went out with some ex employees of Toei such as Takahata and gave up the union they tried to fight for the rights of animators and made their own studio known as Ghibli in the 70s. Disney was a huge reason why Ghibli was made and Miyazaki being a huge activist for labour rights, unions are foreign to Japan but in recent years because of Miyazaki little by little Unions are popping up so one day animators will get their rights they deserve.

Although Miyazaki was influenced by old Disney, what Disney became as a soulless entity he faced which gave a bad history with Disney with getting his movies played in the west because of Disney cutting the movie but Miyazaki fought long and hard to win and got the international releases for his movies. This was a massive victory to challenge Disney just as Pixar did as well to prove what was lost in the love for animation, Miyazaki held the original intention and love for the art throughout his time as a creative overlord at Ghibli. Making a rebirth of the golden age of animation, that ignited the love for good old 2d movies, while companies can lose their way influence will prevail and be reincarnated in another form which is the beauty of the universe.

Anyway, back on topic. Even Disney, though being based on traditional stories, could turn something so simple into a masterpiece, Ghibli took their approach instead making something super unique with Totoro may being loosely related to folk tales or in the essence of it. Which is like Disney that took loosely literature like material while making original works that appealed to them and modernised it for anyone to digest and Miyazaki influenced by folktales that have been a superpower in Japanese for centuries, into modernised anime movies is amazing which shows how ingrained in culture they try to be. Miyazaki even influenced by the strong female princesses of Disney for its time in the 70s-90s was very progressive for Japan, because of also works like Utena and Sazae-san which showed woman independence when times said otherwise and Miyazaki also not being afraid to break societal norms to bring a great message to the audience.

Prior to this we talked about the direct influence that was evident, but not just Ghibli is a successor to Disney but also anime in general is a spiritual successor to Disney and all animation prior has accumulated to this gracious art form known as anime. Without Disney a lot of anime might have been seen as for kids, this stereotype was originally shattered into a million pieces because of Disney, telling people that anyone can enjoy these amazing stories through 2d animation. This being so early on in animation as well was a great sentiment that started the industry and why anime is able to have massive success for a global audience of any demographic because great entertainment has no age. Anime takes notes from Disney, like a spiritual successor to how this studio wanted to bring timeless stories to be immortal, anime is doing that as well which is why anime isn’t so different from what we already know. Therefore, we don’t need stereotypes about anime just because it’s foreign to some people as its heart is in the right place and can change so many people’s days while making millions happy.

Of course the origins of animation dates back to Walt Disney’s studio a long time ago, longer than the perception of younger users' perception of my age on amino (that’s a long time) 90 years ago to be roughly exact. The strides in animations and technological advances were accomplished by Disney in the 1930s by making animation be able to have technicolor, basically meaning that animation can be shown in full bright colours. This was huge for the time since color tv wouldn’t be a household device until ten years later. Without Disney we wouldn’t have animation as good as it is now, rival studios like Pixar wouldn’t have pushed what the medium has to offer and because of these classic innovative animations it wouldn’t have inspired Japan to create anime. The props for how smart the team working on those cartoons, made some classic stories that many pop culture and anime have been inspired by and in turn create generations of amazing stories that will keep happening for decades. All because of the love that animators had to make the best animations for kids to grown adults to enjoy, it’s the miracle of animation.

Disney Influence on Manga

Tezuka was inspired by Disney made panels (or as it’s called in Japanese koma) to look like animation because he watched a lot of Disney movies. He even made a manga for the Scottish novel Treasure Island which would later be adapted by Disney, and also be referenced in the legendary anime One Piece with the Baratie arc. Tezuka’s vision of getting the jump on creative stories was so crazy that he had an eye for storytelling. This man was inspired by Disney and then he was the catalyst for some of the biggest animated movies of all time.

Tezuka being so legendary that after a while he developed what we know as sci-fi genre with his metropolis being a heavy influence on the genre, after that he made Kimba the White Lion which Disney used as influence and when making The Lion King had similar plot points but wasn't actually ripped off, the inspiration of Kimba can be shown with DreamWorks movie Madagascar. Thanks to Disney, Tezuka was influenced to make his own creative stories with just drawing on paper to miraculously make it big and create hundreds of works by his influence through others. Just as he once did with Disney. These stories being very dark and about death and survival, which was targeted towards kids may be seen as weird but if you understand history and the origin you realise that was what Japan was like as the creation of manga came from war torn Edo Period scrolls. Animanga’s enormous boom came from Hiroshima (no pun intended oops) so it took reality and what it was like and had that for inspiration as to what life was like.

All of this being a boiling point up to the creation of the greatest manga of all time, Astro Boy, without this manga, the style of manga would be completely different as it inspires the look of characters with huge eyes. Seeing the huge success of this manga made everyone copy, Tezuka was the guy who watched a lot of Disney just to intensively study everything about which some said he watched Bambi 80 times in a row to prove how insane he was for the craft. In result of this he made his panels feel like a movie with each one being basically every frame of an animation which showed how good he was at the craft. To this day, mangaka have a hard time doing this and fail to make it as well as he did. To think if Disney wasn’t around when it was from the 1930s then anime may have never been as it is today and wouldn’t have looked the same either.

Now if Osamu Tezuka is the god of anime, then Carl Barks is beyond god as he heavily inspired Tezuka’s manga works. His techniques he used were taken from Barks and did in an innovative way while being influenced by other stuff created an amalgamation of greatness into the modern manga we know towards. So in a way Donald Duck is the goat of manga and it is a spiritual successor to manga, thanks to the legendary Carl Barks.

Disney Like Animes

We talked about direct and indirect influences, so this section is about original works that are not based on Disney but have the same elements as Disney movies and can be seen as similar to Disney classics. To recommend some anime for you if you want some anime that is like Disney movies you grew up on and loved

Revolutionary Girl Utena takes a twist for the tale of Sleeping Beauty, now I know I said it’s different from being direct but this is literally based on Sleeping Beauty and other works. The anime literally referencing princesses and a prince to save her, she breaks the story in two as the twist is she becomes a prince instead by wearing boy's clothes. This anime is like Ouran Hs Club in a way as she dresses boyish but still keeps her feminine looks, both the prince and princess being female, was one of the breakthrough yuri anime of the oldies period of anime. For being in 1997 this was ahead of its time and while being similar to that of an 80s anime. Utena really is one of the greatest anime in history and it’s super underrated. The anime has a similar style to Sailor Moon and is like Kill la Kill with a school dynamic with some elites and takes a dark turn later into the episodes because of one character. It's an amazing anime, nonetheless.

If you like Cinderella and Snow White, an anime that you might like would be Fruits Basket. A classic tale of a Cinderella of a prince and a fair maiden but in this one there are multiple princes and a princess who comes from nothing as Tohru basically has nowhere to go and her princes take her in to give her something and in turn she gives Joy to them. Not to mention the boys are also animals that can shape shift so Tohru is just like Snow White as she attracts animal shape shifting humans.. Yeah, a very Japan-like way of turning it into anime.

An amazing anime known as Magi takes Aladdin and other middle eastern based stories like Sinbad the sailor and others that turn them into an epic fantasy adventure anime. This anime has a hilarious comedy, our main character being Aladdin meets Alibaba. Instead of an oil lamp, the genie is stored in a recorder or a flute and can be used to fight, which is an amazing twist on the story. Together they want to clear a dungeon for fortune and gold. It’s similar to anime such as Hunter x Hunter and other shounen like Fairy Tail and is a great watch so definitely check it out!

Now for the last one, I have two anime that are based on the Disney movies called Beauty and the Beast, first another twist on the movie with Ancient Magus Bride. A girl with a tragic past meets this skeleton monster man and he takes her in, while also being about magic and tales of this fantasy world. Becoming his apprentice it’s a great switch up on the troupe and has amazing story telling that deserves a watch. As this anime is a true masterpiece that has sad moments and happy ones, it is a full package when it comes to a story and deserves more love. It will make you be on the edge of your seat half the time and next will make you laugh as well, the anime is a jampacked journey of masterfully done writing and characters.

The second is Sacrificial Princess and The King of Beasts, is more directly related as it’s basically just like Beauty and the Beast you have the maiden and the beast which form a bond. However, it is not based on the human world rather a beast world and the princess has to learn about this world. The beast, thought to be heartless, finds a soft spot for this human who. It’s an incredibly cute and wholesome romance based in a fantasy world, also Kana Hanazawa voices the girl so it’s already amazing because she is one of the best voice actresses in the industry. If you’re looking for an unconventional romance, then this anime is perfect for you, enjoy the wholesomeness :3

Thanks for Reading!