CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Hi all! **glomp**

I was watching a movie that my Aunt watched when she was young and I relized that it had a slight anime artstyle. I am not sure if it truly is anime or not, lol. Anyway, if anyone has ever watched 'The Last Unicorn' could you tell me if it is considered anime or not? It's a really great movie. (:

It's not technically anime, but the artists behind it did eventually become the core group of Studio Ghibli.

The movie was produced by Rankin/Bass, but it was animated by Topcraft that is a Japanese studio.

Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. was better know for the stop-motion animated adaptation of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town.

Rankin/Bass Production also did animated movies and cartoon shows. They did an animated version of the The Hobbit and The Return of the King as well as did the animation for ThunderCats and Silverhawks.

Animagic was Rankin/Bass stop-motion production company and was done in Japan. Tadahito Mochinaga was head of Animagic productions, who was a stop-motion animator

Since Rankin/Bassas cel-animated works were done by Top Craft that was started in 1972. Toru Hara was the founder of Top Craft, which his name is listed in a few of the Rankin/Bass shows. He would later move on and join Studio Ghibli and work on movies like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and My Neighbor Totoro.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

"Is 'The Last Unicorn' Anime or not?"

In very ancient Otaku times, asking that question was the quickest way to start an argument at a con.

The weird thing is, every animation freak I knew went to that movie when it was in the theaters and raved about it. The question wasn't whether it was any good or not. Everyone was pretty much in agreement on that. It was just whether it qualified as Anime or not. If I remember correctly, the main sticking point was that it had been English language first. 'Real Anime', in many minds, had to be in Japanese originally, not just done by a Japanese animator.

I remember I was just thrilled to see something animated in the theatres that was neither too kid-ish nor too adult. We'd had things like 'Heavy Metal' and 'Wizards' before, but this was something you could drag your kid brother or sister to and still be entertained by, yourself.

It was somewhere around this time that they did the theatrical release of Galaxy Express 999, too. Badly mangled as it was (imagine Tetsuro renamed 'Johnny Annakannbobbacommanda Smith' and I am not making that up), it was cool to see a genuine Japanese feature anime in a US theatre.

My personal take on 'The Last Unicorn' anime or not question? It's a half-breed. The original book is English language, the original cast is English language, but the animation is clearly Japanese. Sorry to sit on the fence, but that's my opinion.

That's intresting to know. I'll have to watch My Neighbor Totoro again, now that I know this. (; I thought that the animation was very anime-like and I noticed quite a few Japanese names in the credits, so I was curious about the whole thing. Thanks for the answers! I'm satisfied now. lol =D