Rediscovered Classics of Japanese Animation

<p><b><i>Rediscovered Classics of Japanese Animation </i>is the first academic work to examine <i>World Masterpiece Theater </i>(<i>Sekai Meisaku Gekijô</i> 1969-2009) which popularized the practice of adapting foreign children's books into long-running animated series and laid the groundwork for powerhouses like Studio Ghibli.</b><br><i><br>World Masterpiece Theater</i> (<i>Sekai Meisaku Gekijô </i> 1969-2009) is a TV staple created by the Japanese studio Nippon Animation which popularized the practice of adapting foreign children's books into long-running animated series. Once generally dismissed by critics the series is now frequently investigated as a key early work of legendary animators Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. In the first book-length examination of the series Maria Chiara Oltolini analyzes cultural significance of <i>World Masterpiece Theater</i> and the ways in which the series pioneered the importance of children's fiction for Japanese animation studios and laid the groundwork for powerhouses like Studio Ghibli. <p/>Adapting a novel for animation also means decoding (and re-coding) socio-cultural patterns embedded in a narrative. <i>World Masterpiece Theater</i> stands as a unique example of this linguistic medial and cultural hybridisation. Popular children's classics such as <i>Little Women</i> <i>Peter Pan</i> and <i>Anne of Green Gables</i> became the starting point of a full-fledged negotiation process in which Japanese animators retold a whole range of narratives that have one basic formula in common: archetypal stories with an educational purpose. In particular the series played a role in shaping the pop culture image of a young girl (<i>shôjo</i>). <p/>Examining the series through the lens of animation studies as well as adaptation studies Oltolini sheds new light on this long-neglected staple of Japanese animation history.</p>