A silent anime film believed to have been created nearly a century ago in Japan has been discovered, offering a unique glimpse into the early days of the country's animation industry. It was found among the possessions of a deceased film enthusiast.
Experts believe that this film, one of the very few surviving works from its era, will be instrumental in understanding the early development of anime production.
Silent anime film titled'Oral health'said to have been produced in 1923, it shows a child enjoying a meal with a knife and fork, accompanied by another child eating something from a pocket.
Produced by a company that specializes in everyday necessities like toothbrushes, the eight-and-a-half-minute animated film serves as an educational piece advocating the prevention of tooth decay. Through captions and images, the film emphasizes the importance of oral hygiene and dietary habits.
The Lion Company today preserves the film.
The film was made by Kitayama Seitaro, a pioneering animator who founded a company that nurtured some of the industry's leading figures.
Kitayama's signature handwriting style was identified in the film's font, further cementing his involvement.
“This rounded font really resembles the letters Kitayama used to write,” said Yasuda Takeshi, Kitayama's nephew.
An anime expert, Sano Akiko, Associate Professor at Doshisha University, noted that the film intentionally uses visual techniques. “People are attracted to relatively large faces in the foreground, looking directly at the viewer. This obviously takes into account the purpose of the film, which is for a ,” she explains.
Although anime had not yet become a formal industry at the time, this discovery highlights how early creators, like their modern counterparts, were constantly exploring new ways to methods to enhance the expressiveness of their work.
Source: NHK