“But at the same time, we don’t think of them as creations we breathe life into them.” “Of course our characters are manmade, they’re not really alive,” said Fujita. Part of what made Pokémon such a hit, the experts posited, was that its array of cute monsters taps into Japan’s larger “character culture,” in which mascot characters are seen virtually everywhere. “Anime takes difficult themes and makes them easy for children to grasp,” Fujita said. “The influence of Tetsuwan Atomu on the film is really strong,” said the professor, referring to the seminal 1960s manga and anime sometimes called Astro Boy in the West.įujita agreed, adding that he also saw links to Godzilla and Akira, two more iconic Japanese franchises about scientists who play God and the havoc their inventions ultimately wreak.

Speaking about Pokémon: The First Movie, which is playing at the festival, Iwashita mentioned that the film contains references to decades of Japanese pop culture.

The discussion took place between three experts on anime, manga and everything in between: Tomoyo Iwashita, Professor of Manga Studies and Media Theory Naoya Fujita, science fiction critic and lecturer at the Japan Academy of Moving Images and Ryota Fujitsu, Programming Advisor of TIFF’s Japanese Animation section.įor their jumping-off point, the three experts started with Pokémon, the mega-franchise made up of video games, films, merchandise and more. The deep connection between Japan and its unique characters was the subject of a master class in the Japanese Animation section of the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival on November 3.

Meanwhile, in the past few decades, Japanese have created some of the world’s most iconic characters, from Godzilla to Pikachu to Hello Kitty to Mario. Visitors to Japan often comment on the fact that almost everything-from convenience stores to construction sites to police cars-are adorned with cute mascots.

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