Senae Yamamoto again proved to be a central figure in anime as he gathered animators together after the devastation of the war to form Nihon Doga Eiga in 1947, which would eventually become the landmark Toei Entertainment. The increasing American influence in Japan was apparent in the Disney-like qualities of many of Toei’s productions throughout the 1950′s.
Though film animation was improving in every way, television quickly became the main medium for anime in terms of quantity and exposure. Throughout the 1960s, more and more animated shows were produced, largely to fill in many blank spaces in the programming schedule.
These new shows had to be produced quickly and with minuscule budgets, so animators such as Osamu “God of Manga” Tezuka created a number of production shortcuts that became immediately-identifiable elements of the anime palette. These practices had a worldwide influence on the process of creating animation (and sometimes on the style as well).
Tezuka’s Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu, or Mighty Atom, first aired in 1963) is widely considered to be the first “true” anime, and was the first anime to be broadcast in other countries. Tezuka readily acknowledges the influence of Walt Disney on his work, but Tezuka also established many of the narrative and stylistic details that would forever represent the Japanese origins of anime to fans all over the world.
The decade that followed generated a number of icons and firsts in anime, from Tatsuo Yoshida’s Mach Go Go Go (more commonly known as Speed Racer) to Isao Takahata’s groundbreaking Taiyō no Ōji: Horusu no Daibōken (Hols: Prince of the Sun).
The latter was especially important, as it deviated significantly from the Disney influence to pursue a more idiosyncratic creative vision within the established anime style — a precedent expanded upon in later years by many of the people who worked on the film, from Takehata himself to Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki.