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Pioneers of Japaneses Animation: From Tekobo to Momotaro

Momotaro, Eagle of the Sea

Mitsuyo SEO

Japan1942 38min 16mm B&W

Synopsis

Japan’s first feature-length animation was produced by the Japanese Admiralty to promote the success of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The main characters are Momotaro, captain of an aircraft carrier, a dog, a monkey, members of his crew, a pheasant pilot, and a rabbit groundsman. Through their active participation, they bomb the Onigashima naval port and Japan is victorious. We can detect the thread of counter-US propaganda in the American soldier’s looking just like Brutus, the villain of Popeye.

Diretor

Mitsuyo SEO

Mitsuyo Seo produced the animation Sankichi’s Heavenly Voyage at a leftist film production company in 1932. Later he was working as a member of the staff under Kenzou Masaoka to produce The World of Power and Woman. During World War II, he made the propaganda animations Momotaro, Eagle of the Sea (1942) and God Soldier of Sea, Momotaro (1945) for the Japanese navy. Love Story from the Age of Genroku (1934) is one of his main works.