America and Japan have been two of the most active and esteemed filmmaking nations throughout cinematic history, with Hollywood defining the U.S.’s celluloid brilliance for almost a century, while Japanese cinema has long been well-served by some of the greatest directors of all time. The excellence of both nations’ film industries has also expanded to the realm of animation.
While names like Pixar and Disney have become prestigious, powerful storytelling brands in America and around the world, so too has Studio Ghibli and the wider phenomenon of Japanese anime. The two countries have joined forces in animation plenty of times before, but it may be a surprise that these famously American series and films outsourced much of their production workflow to Japanese production companies.
10 ‘Gargoyles’ (1994-1996)
A criminally underrated Disney export, Gargoyles was a television series that ran for two official seasons (and a third non-canonical season on ABC). While made for children and airing as part of the studio’s afternoon broadcasts, the series thrived as an immaculate blending of trademark Disney animation and dark fantasy intrigue.
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The series followed the remnants of a nocturnal species known as gargoyles, who were the sworn protectors of humanity before being betrayed and frozen in stone form for a thousand years to re-awaken in modern-day New York. While an American series, production of the show was largely handled by Walt Disney TV Animation Japan which had been asking for more creative responsibility.
9 ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ (1964)
At 52 minutes long, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stands as a compact and charming animated depiction of the famous Christmas jingle. The film focuses on Rudolph’s woes surrounding his glowing red nose but also features stories of an elf who leaves Santa’s workshop to pursue dentistry and an Isle of Misfit toys, creating powerful thematic arcs about self-acceptance and embracing what makes one an individual.
The animation process was handled by Rankin/Bass using their trademark stop-motion animation style known as “animagic,” with filming being done at MOM Productions in Tokyo with Tadahito Mochinaga supervising the project. The film would become a Christmas classic and the collaboration between Mochinaga and Rankin/Bass would become a pillar of animated entertainment through the 1960s.
8 ‘Todd McFarlane’s Spawn’ (1997-1999)
Animated collaborations between American production companies and Japan’s Mook Animation have offered some of the genre’s best series and films, particularly of the late ’90s and early 2000s. One of the best of which was Todd McFarlane’s Spawn (which also went by Spawn: The Animated Series and just Spawn), an adult animated superhero series that ran in the late ’90s.
The series aired on HBO and gained a cult following with its dark tone, mature themes, and graphic violence. However, the corresponding release of the 1997 live-action film Spawn which proved to be a critical and commercial disaster, only marred the show’s pulling power and ultimately saw it end prematurely after three seasons.
7 ‘The Hobbit’ (1977)
Long before Peter Jackson made Middle Earth the dazzling world audiences fell in love with, there was an animated depiction of the fantasy world in 1977’s television movie The Hobbit. As a musical comedy with a runtime of just 78 minutes, it was tailored more towards children than Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy and found a magical charm within that tonal conviction.
While the American animated production company Rankin/Bass created the project, the Japanese animation studio Topcraft handled the animation itself. Eight years later, in 1985, Topcraft would be dissolved, and the re-allocation of its assets would form another animated production company called Studio Ghibli.
6 ‘X-Men: Evolution’ (2000-2003)
Superhero shows have long been a mainstay of children’s afternoon television, and while X-Men: Evolution didn’t exactly hit the ground running, it started to find its feet throughout its second season. Based on some of the early issues of the comic book series, the show followed the members of the X-Men as teenagers struggling to learn the limits of their powers while fighting against forces of evil.
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While the Disney series was produced in America, all the animation was outsourced to Japan and South Korea, with Madhouse Inc. and Mook Animation, the Japanese companies involved. The show ran for four seasons in the early 2000s and spawned a successor in 2009’s animated series Wolverine and the X-Men.
5 ‘Kill Bill Vol. 1’ (2003)
As one of many Quentin Tarantino films to have become iconic hits, Kill Bill Vol. 1 excels as an action revenge film that takes inspiration from a wide range of cinematic sources. One of Tarantino’s major influences in the film was Japanese cinema, and he found the opportunity to involve Japan’s film industry in the production by giving Production I.G. the responsibility of delivering one of the film’s major sequences.
Cutting to Japanese animation, the backstory of O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Lui) is revealed in the style of ’80s anime. Ultra-violent, heavily stylized, and visually compelling, it was perfectly used within the film.
4 ‘Frosty the Snowman’ (1969)
Another Rankin/Bass Christmas tale, Frosty the Snowman, was released in 1969 and has been an essential seasonal mainstay ever since. It follows the adventure of a magician’s rabbit, a living snowman, and the little girl who inadvertently brought Frosty to life as they try to get him to the North Pole before he melts while being pursued by the magician wanting to retrieve his magical hat.
Wanting to give the animated short a genuine Christmas aesthetic, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass employed a greeting card and magazine artist to design the characters, but Mushi Production in Tokyo, Japan handled the production of the show. The 25-minute-long film spawned multiple sequels, including a cross-over film with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
3 ‘Animaniacs’ (1993-1998)
A variety-animated sketch comedy that could appeal to adults and children alike, Animaniacs boasted an untamed irreverence and penchant for social commentary as its most captivating assets. Backed by Steven Spielberg and his production company Amblin Entertainment, American cartoons clearly influenced it from decades past, but it also boasted a distinctly multicultural flavor.
While studios from China, Taiwan, and New Zealand were all involved across the series’ five-tear run, Japan’s TMS Entertainment was one of its biggest international contributors. It was identified that the episodes produced by TMS had the best animation quality when the recent reboot was conceived, with showrunners taking inspiration from the studio for the show’s re-creation.
2 ‘Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island’ (1998)
Imbued with a new wave of popularity off the back of the original Scooby-Doo series airing in reruns through the ’90s, executives at Warner Bros. Animation wanted to test the waters of their famous property by releasing a brand new direct-to-video film. The result was Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, a modernized iteration of Mystery Inc. which highlighted the brand’s penchant for cartoon comedy and accessible mystery intrigue.
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Animation on the film was handled by Japanese studio Mook Animation, marking the first of four Scooby-Doo films the production house worked on through the late 90s and early 2000s. The film undeniably played a major role in the resurgence of Scooby-Doo as a thriving children’s franchise throughout the early part of the 21st century.
1 ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ (1992-1995)
Heralded as one of the greatest animated series ever made, Batman: The Animated Series remains the unsurpassed benchmark of superhero television animation. The American series drew strength from its mature approach, adherence to the source material, visual style, and stellar voice cast, notably including Mark Hamill as Joker.
However, to get the 65-episode first season produced on time, Warner Bros. Animation outsourced the series to multiple production houses, many of them based in Japan. Spectrum Animation, Sunrise Inc., TMS, and Studio Junio were all involved with the series, with TMS animating the first seasons’ opening credits sequence.
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