Isao Takahata: Realism (1988/1991)

A career that spanned over 55 years, with 18 TV series and a staggering 21 feature length films associated with his name from 1961 to 2016 either as a Storyboard Artist, Producer, Writer or Director - there is no doubt that Isao Takahata was one of the most influential people in the history of Animation.

Sadly passing away on April 5 at the age of 82, this ordinary man left behind some very unordinary works which still to this day resonate and touch the hearts of millions around the world, proving that “cartoons” can be every bit as compelling as live-action cinema. A person’s art is always a reflection of their views and beliefs, and it was no different here. The film-maker’s success stemmed from one place: realism.

Takahata’s breakout story came funnily enough almost 20 years after he first began working in the industry, with the release of Grave of the Fireflies in 1988 - his debut within the retreat of Ghibli, the Studio he co-founded with a man he called both his “rival” and “friend” alongside producer Toshio Suzuki. These were the years where competition with Miyazaki brought out the best in his work, all the while making sure to never stray away from his methods of expressing his stories to the viewers.

This is the movie that has been described by most as: “the best movie you’ll never want to watch again” and can you argue with that? Grave of the Fireflies is the perfect example of Takahata’s realism that he showed in his movies. It was far from the fantastical world of Miyazaki, with nothing but truth hitting us viewers every single second. And with every second, frame and scene it grew harder to watch yet at the same time impossible to look away. I do this movie no justice.

“They think people back then were much more noble and that they wouldn’t be able to do such things themselves. But I think that’s not right. We make such stories to give people courage, but then the audience feels the story has nothing to do with them. So I wanted a common ground for the audience to relate to”

Takahata stated numerous times when promoting the film that history will always show the fighters and citizens of war to be noble and honest, but that is not the case. He showed what it was and still is like for young people battling through devastation, whether that be war or a natural disaster. Portraying this in animation and not live-action meant he and his staff had to get the facial features and expressions of the main characters (Seita and Setsuko) spot on. As he was in the production process, he felt that both characters would be challenging to animate in an expressive way showing their despair and sorrow:

“Just like today’s junior high students, a 14 year old looks unemotional or grumpy or unemotionally unbalanced. It’s reflected in their bodies and in their facial expressions. But animation is basically line-drawings and expressions are always exaggerated, so it’s hard to animate such expressions”

Takahata and the author of the original short story(based on true events) Akiyuki Nosaka told interviewers that as hard it may have been, this story is actually better suited for animation, and in my opinion they were definitely right. Could this have worked with two young people? I think no as the sight of a 4 year old girl suffering might have looked too over-sentimental, and it’s not easy to find a four year old actress who can nail every scene. It was clear that Takahata was not one to follow the norm, and he proved that here with the introduction of a new technique that up-to that point had not been seen in Japanese animation: the illustration outlines were done in brown and not the usual black. The then 52 year old did this I think to give a softer feeling to the screen, and by that I mean to not portray the illustrations in an even bolder way, as the drawings themselves gave that sense of dark reality already. This little attention to detail may not seem like much, but I feel it proves that the Director constantly wanted to challenge himself, and as time went on that never changed.

“I’m not saying fantasy is bad. I myself enjoy the genre from time to time. However, I don’t agree with getting an audience excited by seeing a character do something incredible that defies logic”

That sense of realism continued with the ‘slice of life’ story which follows the woman Taeko trying to figure out her life in 1980′s Tokyo. 1991′s Only Yesterday is where we saw Isao Takahata in a more earnest mood, but still with that same observance. Here, the plot may differ greatly, but that reflective style is still used, as Takahata was so good at taking us into the minds of his characters and observing their imaginations set off.

“For many years I have wanted to improve on the simplistic flat-pane image of cel animation. But I didn’t want to solve this by going into the 3D-CG method of three-dimensionality and substantiality”

The realism may be the same to his previous work, but the animation style greatly differs as the frames are drawn in a style that I have never seen before, with colours and details at the edges of the screen fading away to suggest that incompleteness of memory. It almost seems like sketches that were taken right from a children’s book, with the watercolours beautifully adding that light-tone to the scenes.

“I wanted to solve this by a method of reduction of not drawing everything on the screen, in order to stimulate people’s imagination and raise the level of artistry”

The thing is, I was deeply moved when watching Grave of the Fireflies. With Only Yesterday, I felt exactly the same, and that’s what is so staggering about this filmmaker. The man never once failed to achieve that feat in all of his works, the ability to make me feel more connected to these uniquely drawn characters than I have with most others in Animation. Fireflies has its poetic tragedy, this film rather takes me aback with is beauty and grace, all the while keeping its realism.  Only Yesterday is a movie that every scene ebbs and flows with Taeko, and we see Takahata produce these moments that are so fleeting in life. A perfectly good-feel feature that proved to Japan in 1991 that Isao Takahata can not only create another blockbuster, he can do it his way.

“I see infinite potential for animation. I don’t know if that is a wonderful thing or not. All of the arts, whether they be music, drama, or painting, have infinite potential. But no one knows whether this unlimited potential can be a force for creating many works that can offer delight to people”

Beautiful, personal animated films that are some of the genre’s greatest, the soft-spoken man was always alert observing the world around him, the people around him and their “ordinary human qualities”. Touching the hearts of millions around the world like a cool welcoming breeze (apart from Fireflies which hit me like a brick), his influence is never in question as hundreds of animators live action filmmakers cite him as one of their teachers, without ever meeting in person. One of these people is Screenwriter Michael Arndt who, after seeing ‘My Neighbours the Yamadas’, was inspired to finally sit down and write ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ after years of procrastination.

He rarely ever put a pencil or pen to paper during any animation process, a huge contrast to the design-based approach of his colleague. The stories he wrote and released are what made his sophisticated, character-driven films a huge success, exploring a diverse range of themes and aesthetic styles while keeping within the realm of reality.

Mr. Isao Takahata, we say goodbye to a true poetic master, but through your absolutely stunning films that you kindly left us, your name will forever live in our hearts.

RIP Isao Takahata

29 October 1935 - 5 April 2018

The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013) dir. Isao Takahata

Oh my gosh this was my favorite part of the movie they are so cute

Grave of the Fireflies scenery

Only Yesterday sunrise

Only Yesterday

R.I.P. Isao Takahata ( October 29, 1935 – April 5, 2018)