Cartoons have touched almost every soul that has duly called Earth their home during their lifetime, I’m sure! Almost every childhood memory tied to human beings on this unique planet will have recollection of certain characters that bring a smile to their face. I grew up watching Mickey Mouse, Pink Panther, Donald Duck, He-Man and Masters of the Universe, Spiderman and The Ewoks (yes! those Teddy Bear looking characters that showed up in Star Wars saga also). Reminiscing about these animations surely giving me nostalgic goosebumps and smiles. In essence, cartoons and animations have captured almost everyone’s heart from very young age no matter where they hail from.

Cartoon animations as we remember them from our childhood memories or current television shows are generally animated illustrations of non-realistic (abstract) characters; such as, Pink Panther mentioned earlier. Common saying is ‘impossible is nothing’ but am sure experiencing a lanky exotic cat walking around town looking for trouble through eerily yellow eyes planted on pink body would be impossible in real life (unless of course one prefers don that get up – which technically doesn’t fall under the cartoon category! I digress)

In historical terms, cartoons go way back to the Middle Ages, found as drawing art on tapestries or stained glass windows. During 1840s, however, cartoons found their way into weekly magazine Punch (London based humor and satire print) that gave ‘cartoons’ the identity that we know it as today. Although cartoons are interchangeably referred to as animations, as in cartoon shows, but in essence; cartoon is an illustration whereas animations are a set of illustrations giving a sense of movement to illustrations depicting stories.

One such form of entertainment is Anime. A form of computer animation originating from Japan. While I was reading and researching this topic (thanks to my daughter who is an avid fan of Anime and loves drawing anime characters at any opportunity available to her), I was amazed to realize that the first commercial Japanese animations date back to as early as 1917. That’s well over a 100 years ago!

The clip above, known as Katsudo Shashin, (I believe meaning ‘motion picture’ in Japanese) is known to be the oldest work of animation from Japan.

My daughter, who is now fourteen and crazy about anime, aspires to be an animator one day. I’ll be sharing some of her ‘doodles’ (with her permission of course!). Its a moment of pride and joy in this day and age to be learning from your progeny as well as teaching them or passing on your knowledge to them. I wouldn’t have gotten into Anime if it wasn’t for her really. I was quite content with watching Pink Panther (even at this age yes! – a child at heart always!!)

A bit more background search led me to the originator of anime as we know it today. A fine Japanese gentleman known as Osamu Tezuka born in Osaka Prefecture. He is often referred to as Japanese version of Walt Disney. He revolutionized Anime in the 1960s. It was quite interesting to note on his Wikipedia page that he received PhD in 1961 from a medical university in Japan but he was also the most active in galvanizing anime art around the same time frame.

Anyways, a few captures from my progeny and her favourite past time while keeping her sanity in check during pandemic. I do not even know what these characters are called but with her help will caption them to the best of my ability 🙂

I have full permission from my princess for sharing these cute anime characters that captivates her imagination. She would certainly welcome feedback and appreciation (and little bit of constructive criticism – if any – ha!