was a Japanese

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

animated films Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

who played a central role in the development of Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

. He was born in

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km². The total area of the city is ...

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

Career

Initially working as a sign painter, Seo began dabbling in drawing animation by working at a

toy film A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include Toy block, toy blocks, Board game, board games, and Doll, dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed sp ...

company that made short movies for home entertainment. Although his most famous films were

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

for

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Seo's political sympathies were

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

, and early on, he was actually a member of the

Proletarian Film League of Japan The , shortened to Prokino, was a left-wing film organization active in the late 1920s and early 1930s in Japan. Associated with the proletarian arts movement in Japan, it primarily used small gauge films such as 16mm film and 9.5mm film to record ...

, where he helped out on such animated films as ''Sankichi no Kūchū Ryokō''. In 1931, he was arrested for his activities, tortured, and spent 21 days in jail.Official booklet, ''The Roots of Japanese Anime'', DVD, Zakka Films, 2009. Seo met

Kenzō Masaoka was an early anime creator. Masaoka was the first to use cel animation and recorded sound in anime.Kōdansha (1993). ''Japan: an illustrated encyclopedia.'' Kōdansha, He worked at a number of companies as an animator and actor, and was one of ...

and joined his company, working on Japan's first sound animation film, ''

Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka is a 1933 anime short film by Kenzō Masaoka and the first Japanese anime of any type to feature voiceovers. The film was released in black and white. There are no known prints of this film available, and it is considered a lost film. ''Chikar ...

'', before starting his own production company in 1935, where he made cartoons featuring the character

Norakuro is a Japanese manga series created by Suihō Tagawa, originally published by Kodansha in '' Shōnen Kurabu'', and one of the first series' to be reprinted in tankōbon format. The titular protagonist, Norakuro, or Norakuro-'' kun'', i ...

. He joined the Geijutsu Eigasha studio in 1937Okada (1988), "Seo Mitsuyo," ''Nihon eiga terebi kantoku zenshū''.

Kinema Junpō , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

, p. 218. and made '' Ari-chan'' in 1941, the first Japanese work to fully use the

multiplane camera The multiplane camera is a motion-picture camera that was used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a sense of para ...

. His most famous works are two propaganda animated films produced during World War II: ''

Momotarō no Umiwashi is an animated Japanese propaganda film produced in 1942 by Geijutsu Eigasha and released March 25, 1943. Running at 37 minutes, it was close to being feature film, feature-length, but it was not the first animated feature film in Asia; that hono ...

'', which featured

Momotarō is a Folk hero, popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as ''Peach Boy'', but is directly translated as ''Peach + Tarō (given name), Tarō'', a common Japanese given name. ''Momotarō'' is also the title of various books, ...

and his animals bombing

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

; and its sequel, '' Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei'', which was made for

Shōchiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

and was Japan's first real

feature length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

animated film. (''Momotarō 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 Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

, the father of Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

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 Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and made the film ''

Ōsama no Shippo is a Japanese musician and guitarist born on 7 July 1960. He is from Nishinomiya in Hyōgo Prefecture. Discography Singles *Funhouse Inc. (BMG Japan) :* (1995) :*''Happy Xmas'' (1996, John Lennon) (Duet with Izumiya Shigeru) *Victor Entertainme ...

'' as a pro-democracy anime in 1949, but when Tōhō, which was supposed to distribute it, found it politically too leftist, the film was left without a distributor.Yamaguchi, p. 239. 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 An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

for

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

Selected filmography

* ''Sankichi no Kūchū Ryokō'' (三吉の空中旅行, 1931), Animation * ''

'' (力と女の世の中, 1933), Animation * '' Ari-chan'' (アリチャン, 1941), Director * ''

'' (Momotaro's Sea Eagles, 桃太郎の海鷲, 1942), Director, Animation, Photography * '' Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei'' (Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors, 桃太郎海の神兵, 1945), Director, Script, Photography * ''Ōsama no Shippo'' (王様のしっぽ, 1949), Director, Script

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seo, Mitsuyo 1911 births 2010 deaths Anime directors Japanese animators Japanese film directors Japanese illustrators People from Himeji, Hyōgo

Career

Selected filmography

See also

References

External links