Welcome to a new feature called Trending Now, a look back at the history of anime trends throughout the years, we start with one of the earliest trends, Masterpieces.
What is a Masterpiece?
A masterpiece in anime terms is an adaptation of a popular world renowned story, anything from Fairytales, Folklore, Fables, Myths and Legends. The Japanese have Momotaro, Princess Kaguya and Taro Urashima as popular examples, Journey to the West being another popular Masterpiece around that territory, but the most popular adaptations throughout the 60s and 70s were often fairy tales.
Some Highlights
The picture above is Puss in Boots, if this version seems familiar, then you'd be right, Puss here has been Toei's Mascot since day one.
Popular Finnish story, the Moomins didn't have the best transition into anime but over time managed to become what the original author wanted.
Jack and the Beanstalk gained a bit of a cult following as one of the most bizarre adaptions going.
Cinderella managed a full 26 episode anime expanding a ten minute story into a full series.
If you remember the Tom Sawyer cartoon, it's actually an anime as well.
A common feature with these series is that you couldn't tell they were anime as the style hadn't really been popularised yet.
Heidi Created a Sub Genre
Swiss story Heidi lays claim to being one of the best selling anime of it's era, the result formed the basis of a new sub genre that saw young girls go on coming of age stories to discover their destiny or birthright creating the likes of Candy Candy, Lady Georgie as well as attempts on other masterpiece stories including Anne of Green Gables and My Daddy Long Legs.
The Miyazaki Touch
While the Masterpieces weren't as prevalent in the 80s and 90s, Hayao Miyazaki was quietly keeping them going, adapting stories such as the Borrowers and Howl's Moving Castle as well as creating new masterpieces with legendary status such as Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro; Miyazaki's breathtaking style giving each movie an epic feel that could easily rival Disney and Pixar.
The Final Years
Masterpieces struggled to stay relevant as the 2000s rolled into the 2010s, odd hits like Gankotsuou Count of Monte Cristo and the last real coming of age shojo Ashita no Nadja were good but the competition made them irrelevant, even Studio Ghibli's attempt at the Princess Kaguya story didn't bare much fruit.
Replaced by Historical Set Anime
The best thing to come out of this was that the historical settings of these masterpieces gave life to anime that weren't really based on any story but still used elements associated with them.
Earl & Fairy, Victorian Romance Emma and Black Butler fall into this category as well as Gosick and the Kyoto anime masterpiece Violet Evergarden.
Remembered Through Sketch Comedy
Masterpieces started as one of the founding anime genres and has matured into a genre where there isn't a need to adapt these old stories anymore as there is enough to create new masterpieces.
Today, the names of Cinderella, Momotaro, Pinocchio and Puss in Boots are remembered through the sketch series Aware Meisaku-kun about a Masterpiece loving boy going to school with kids each based on a Masterpiece. It's unclear if Masterpieces still have a place in the future but it remains one of the big three founding trends that formed the basis of anime as we know it alongside Mecha and Ecchi.
