Mitsuyo Seo (瀬尾 光世, Seo Mitsuyo, 26 September 1911 â€" 24
August 2010) was a Japanese animator, screenwriter, and director of
animated films who played a central role in the development of
Japanese anime. He was born in Himeji, HyÅ go Prefecture.Initially
working as a sign painter, Seo began dabbling in drawing animation by
working at a toy film company that made short movies for home use.
Although his most famous films were propaganda for Japan during World
War II, Seo's political sympathies were leftist, and early on, he was
actually a member of the Proletarian Film League of Japan, where he
helped out on such animated films as Sankichi no Kūchū RyokŠ. In
1931, he was arrested for his activities, tortured, and spent 21 days
in jail. Seo met KenzÅ Masaoka and joined his company, working on
Japan's first sound animation film, Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka,
before starting his own production company in 1935, where he made
cartoons featuring the character Norakuro. He joined the Geijutsu
Eigasha studio in 1937 and made Ari-chan in 1941, the first Japanese
work to fully use the multiplane camera. His most famous works are two
propaganda animated films produced during World War II: MomotarÅ no
Umiwashi, which featured MomotarÅ and his animals bombing Pearl
Harbor; and its sequel, MomotarÅ : Umi no Shinpei, which was made for
ShÅ chiku and was Japan's first real feature length animated film.
(MomotarÅ no Umiwashi was advertised at the time as the first
feature-length anime, but since it is only 37 minutes long, today most
recognize the 74-minute Umi no Shinpei as the first.) Osamu Tezuka,
the father of Japanese manga and a later anime artist himself, said he
was so impressed with Umi no Shinpei as a teenager that he wanted to
become an animator for a time. After the war, Seo joined Nihon Manga
Eigasha and made the film ÅŒsama no Shippo as a pro-democracy anime in
1949, but when TÅ hÅ , which was supposed to distribute it, found it
politically too leftist, the film was left without a distributor.
Nihon Manga Eigasha went bankrupt, and Seo, finding the conditions for
animation in the immediate postwar too difficult, left the industry
and became an illustrator for children's books.
August 2010) was a Japanese animator, screenwriter, and director of
animated films who played a central role in the development of
Japanese anime. He was born in Himeji, HyÅ go Prefecture.Initially
working as a sign painter, Seo began dabbling in drawing animation by
working at a toy film company that made short movies for home use.
Although his most famous films were propaganda for Japan during World
War II, Seo's political sympathies were leftist, and early on, he was
actually a member of the Proletarian Film League of Japan, where he
helped out on such animated films as Sankichi no Kūchū RyokŠ. In
1931, he was arrested for his activities, tortured, and spent 21 days
in jail. Seo met KenzÅ Masaoka and joined his company, working on
Japan's first sound animation film, Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka,
before starting his own production company in 1935, where he made
cartoons featuring the character Norakuro. He joined the Geijutsu
Eigasha studio in 1937 and made Ari-chan in 1941, the first Japanese
work to fully use the multiplane camera. His most famous works are two
propaganda animated films produced during World War II: MomotarÅ no
Umiwashi, which featured MomotarÅ and his animals bombing Pearl
Harbor; and its sequel, MomotarÅ : Umi no Shinpei, which was made for
ShÅ chiku and was Japan's first real feature length animated film.
(MomotarÅ no Umiwashi was advertised at the time as the first
feature-length anime, but since it is only 37 minutes long, today most
recognize the 74-minute Umi no Shinpei as the first.) Osamu Tezuka,
the father of Japanese manga and a later anime artist himself, said he
was so impressed with Umi no Shinpei as a teenager that he wanted to
become an animator for a time. After the war, Seo joined Nihon Manga
Eigasha and made the film ÅŒsama no Shippo as a pro-democracy anime in
1949, but when TÅ hÅ , which was supposed to distribute it, found it
politically too leftist, the film was left without a distributor.
Nihon Manga Eigasha went bankrupt, and Seo, finding the conditions for
animation in the immediate postwar too difficult, left the industry
and became an illustrator for children's books.
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