Animation: A World History

4

Asia

Japan, Asiatic Giant¹

From the 1990s on, Japanese animation gave a greater role to the computer. In 1993, the software RETAS (Revolutionary Total Animation System) was introduced by the Japanese company Celsys. It would become one of the most used programmes in TV series. The programme led to cost reductions, for instance by sending cels digitally from a central house to associated studios. From the second half of the 1990s, RETAS was used increasingly to add new effects, integrated with traditional animation.

On 20 March 1995, members of the religious sect Aum Shinrikyo (‘Supreme Truth’) sprayed sarin nerve gas in various points in the Tokyo underground, killing thirteen people and injuring hundreds. A part of Aum had produced animation ...