Akira + Totoro: three decades of the summit of Japanese animation

1988 was a year of inflection for Japanese animation. On the one hand, Katsuhiro Otomo and his film Akira gave the world the futuristic and apocalyptic concept of the cyberpunk culture in a work that continues to date worship , while, at the other end, Hayao Miyazaki – considered the Walt Disney Nippon – created the same year Mi Vecino Totoro one of the sweetest and most memorable bands in recent decades. The two animated characters have three decades this year

The case of Akira is emblematic. Designed by Otomo, a manga artist and filmmaker who has been honored as a gentleman of arts and letters by the French government and creditor of important awards throughout his career, the history of Akira is nurtured from the previous manga, best seller created by the same Otomo, which fuses various elements of science fiction to tell the hypnotic futuristic story of a group of fanatical motorcycle boys who face social conflict and in particular a government experiment that seeks to manipulate beings with powerful telekinetic abilities. All this, as part of a modern post-apocalyptic neo-Tokyo, fascinating and dystopian, after a third world war that swept the city and which today faces mbadive social protests against a government corrupt.

The film in Japan – the most expensive animated feature film of the time – July 16, 1988 was profound. Automatically, it has been considered by critics as one of the most transcendent works of science fiction, with the same level of influence as major works like 2001: Odyssey in Space ] or Blade Runner in addition to being turned into a cult film that had international significance in the West, including Chile .

The film, incidentally, was not originally released in cinemas in Chile, but the early '90s circulated hand-to-hand among fans via VHS, up to the end of the 1990s. years later, premiered at various animated festivals. From then on, the new Japanese pop culture beyond the generation that grew up with animated television series from that country, had a rediscovery, which ultimately had a global reach and ultimately influenced in other areas such as cinema, video games, comics and literature. This is clear from the success of Japanese animation in the country and in Latin America in the following years, in addition to the urban groups badociated with the broadcast of anime, manga and culture otaku . ]

In the antipodes of Akira but also released in Japanese theaters the same year, we have My neighbor Totoro may be the work the most recognizable of the prolific Hayao Miyazaki . The animated film, produced by Studio Ghibli of Miyazaki, tells the fantasy of two girls, sisters, daughters of a teacher, who settle in a rural town to get closer to their mother, admitted in the hospital. There, in various children's games in the new house, they discover and interact with different beings and then, with characters in a forest, but mainly with Totoro a kind of adorable cat / bear / giant bunny that ends up being the best friend of girls. The key of the film is its deep charm, which goes hand in hand for its attentive, warm and friendly animation, as well as for the nostalgic, rural and fantastic adventure, which takes place in the 50s, in a Japan that is still trying to recover after World War II

The film did not have the initial impact that it generated Akira after its premiere, although it had was filled with rewards in the following months and was among the top spots on several lists of movie buffs. Roger Ebert, the famous critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote at the time that the film "is based on experiences, situations and exploration rather than conflicts or threats. Unlike, precisely, from Akira .

It is only after the film was shown on transatlantic air travel and twisted copies that gradually the US market began to penetrate, as the film began to gain the public. Only in 1993 Mi Vecino Totoro was released in cinemas in the United States and the name of Miyazaki began to ring more strongly in film buffs. In fact, it is the same Disney who at the end of the decade began distributing the following Miyazaki animation films in American cinemas.

But beyond the film and the rewards he's received since Premiere, is the unique character of Totoro, with his eyes that look emptiness, the one that transcended as an icon of pop culture. To such an extent that he even had multiple appearances in other films of Studio Ghibli and became a real mascot of the production house and, in general, of Japanese animation. And in Japan, it has a huge weight among children, just like Mickey Mouse himself.

Two films, both Japanese and diametrically opposed in terms of style and content, are perhaps the most transcendent works of art. Contemporary Japanese lively pop culture. And both are 30 years old. Congratulations.