"Well my first anime was Ninja Robots"
The history of anime begins at the start of the 20th century, when Japanese filmmakers experimented with the animation techniques that were being explored in the West. During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing unique genres such as the mecha genre and its Super Robot subgenre. Notable shows in this period include Lupin III and Mazinger Z. During this period several filmmakers became famous, especially Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii.
Unlike America, where live-action shows and movies have generous budgets, the live-action industry in Japan is a small market and suffered from budgeting and location restrictions. The varied use of animation allowed artists to create settings that did not look like anything at all.
In the 1980s, anime was accepted in the mainstream in Japan, and experienced a boom in production. The rise of the Gundam and Macross Real Robot space opera franchises and the beginnings of Rumiko Takahashi's career began in this decade. The cyberpunk film Akira set records in 1988 for the production costs of an anime film and went on to become a cult success worldwide (later in 2004, the same creators produced Steamboy, the most expensive anime film). The Super Dimension Fortress Macross also became a worldwide success after being adapted as part of Robotech, and Megazone 23 also gained recognition in the West after it was adapted as Robotech: The Movie.
In the 1990s and 2000s, anime series such as Dragon Ball, Pokémon, Sailor Moon and the postcyberpunk film Ghost in the Shell became worldwide successes, while other anime series such as Gundam, Macross, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop were popular in Japan and attracted attention from the West.[citation needed] A number of anime-influenced animations have been produced in the West, and the growth of the internet also led to the rise of fansubbed anime. Spirited Away shared the first prize at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, while Innocence: Ghost in the Shell was featured at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
The 90's saw an anime explosion, with the release of Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon to name a few. DBZ remains one of the top anime series ever in the U.S. and is one of the most widely recognized shows across the country. What will the 21st century bring? We continue to see an anime explosion with greats such as Tenchi Muyo, .hack//SIGN, Lupin III and Trigun. The Anime Network, the first all anime 24 hour cable channel is making strides across the country even as I type. Anime is everywhere, thank the good entertainment gods and it just keeps getting bigger.
In 1997, Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke became the most expensive animated film up until that time, costing $20 million to produce. Miyazaki personally checked each of the 144,000 cels in the film,and is estimated to have redrawn parts of 80,000 of them.
