1. Hakubenden (1958)

Monumental work that marked the dawn of Japanese animation

Released in 1958, “Hakubyakuden” is a brilliant milestone in the history of Japanese animation as Japan's first all-natural color full-length manga film. The production cost at the time was an unprecedented 40,471,000 yen, and it took two years from conception to completion, with a total of over 80,000 original drawings and animated images, a truly unprecedented scale. Taiji Yabushita, who had produced short animated films at Toho's Educational Film Department, was selected as director, while Akira Daikuhara and Koji Mori were in charge of original drawings, and 42 new animators participated in the animation. Hisaya Morishige and Mariko Miyagi were used as voice actors, the dialogue was written by playwright Seiichi Yashiro, and the “live action” method was introduced to trace the movements of the characters in the play and animate them.

Establishment of production system and technological innovation

At the time, Japan did not have the know-how or structure to produce feature-length animated films, so the staff had to overcome many difficulties through trial and error. However, it is precisely because of these hardships that the foundations of Japanese animation were laid, leading to its subsequent development. Shirahakuden” not only showed the way forward for Japanese animation, but it is also one of the starting points of the world-class ‘Cool Japan,’ and its achievements are immeasurable.