Animation - Hakuja Den (The White Snake Enchantress) Blu-ray Box - Japan Blu-ray Disc

TV Standard: NTSC
Color: Color
Aspect Ratio(s): 4:3
Layers: single-sided/single-layered

Credits:

YABUSHITA TAIJI,HASHIMOTO KIYOSHI,OKABE KAZUHIKO,DAIKUHARA AKIRA,Yasuji Mori,Hisaya Morishige,Mariko Miyagi

Description:

The origin of Japan's animation powerhouse! As "Japan's first full-length color animation," "Hakubenden" has left its mark on the history of animation. This Blu-ray box release features as much restored footage as possible from the film's original release, a new 4K master that was officially screened in the Cannes Classics section of the 2019 Cannes International Film Festival, and many reissued materials! Hakubenden" was Japan's first all-color animated feature film, released in October 1958. Until then, animated cartoon films, known as manga-eiga, had been produced as short films for theatrical screenings and commercials, but no feature-length color films like Disney's feature-length animated films had yet been produced in Japan. Toei, then a fledgling film company, saw the future potential of animated films and established Toei Doga (now Toei Animation) in 1956. Hakubenden" was completed about two and a half years later in 1958.Kazuhiko Okabe, a painter and mountaineer, was hired for the basic setting of the story and design, Kiyoshi Hashimoto, a stage designer, and other art professionals active at the time were used for background creation, and Taiji Yabushita, who had previously directed short animation and other works, began storyboarding and actual production in December 1957. Two veteran staff members, Akira Daikuhara and Koji Mori, were in charge of original drawings, and led 42 new animators in charge of animation. At a time when no one had experience in animation production, "Hakubenden" was produced while educating the sequentially recruited staff in animation know-how, and was successfully completed after approximately 7 months of drawing, a production cost of 40,471,000 yen, 16,474 original drawings, and 65,213 animated images. The film was created through a process of trial and error, including the creation of dolls from character designs for use as reference for drawing, and the incorporation for the first time in Japan of live action, which was also used in Disney's feature film productions. The live action film, which depicts the movements of the characters by copying actual actors' movements onto paper, was used in the filming of performances by new faces at Toei at the time, such as Jo Mizuki and Ryoko Sakuma, who played the roles of the main characters.The film was released on October 22, 1958, and was a box-office success, winning the Art Festival Group Encouragement Award, the Blue Ribbon Special Award, and the Mainichi Film Concours Special Award. The film was also highly acclaimed. It was also highly acclaimed overseas, winning a special award in the children's section of the Venice International Children's Film Festival, and was released in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the U.S., Brazil, and other countries. In 2017, "Anime NEXT_100," a project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Japanese animation, officially registered October 22, the day "Hakubenden" was released, as "Anime Day. and also screened in the Cannes Classics section of the 72nd Cannes International Film Festival in 2019, which screens masterpieces from the past. *35mm NegaScan telecine 4K master. This digital remastering was done in 2018 using the original 35mm original negative as the source material for the restoration.In restoring the film, the colors of the film at the time of its release were reproduced as much as possible by referring to existing celluloid pictures and other related materials.