Urashima Tarou is based on a well-known Japanese folk tale about an honest fisherman who is invited to an underwater castle after saving a sea turtle on a beach from bullies.
(Source: forum.bcdb.com)
Note: The latest research has revealed that the film identified on this website as Urashima Tarou (supposed title), which was so named on the basis that it was believed to be a work by Seitaro Kitayama that was originally released in 1918, is actually a different film. Read more...
(Source: Japanese Animated Film Classics)
Note: Urashima Tarou (supposed title) is tinted in pink film. Not to be mistaken with Urashima Tarou (1931) which is a black and white film.
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Comentários
aniMayor
First of all, please note that there are multiple versions of Urashima Taro. This MAL entry is for the 1918 silent short film, and it is only about 60 seconds long. If you are watching a version with narration, with any sort of sound, or that is longer than a minute (as I suspect the other review here was) this is the wrong MAL page. With that out of the way, Urashima Tarou is (as of this writing) the 3rd-oldest Japanese animated film known to exist and obviously a very early prototype of what anime would one day become, and I will attempt to judgeit within the context that it was made, not compare it to later anime.
The plot itself is an engaging one - a simple story of a fisherman briefly visiting an enchanting undersea world. Modern viewers may find the pace is too rapid to fully understand what is going on, but bear in mind that since this was silent film it was almost certainly preceded by an explanation of the story before the film actually began when it originally aired.
Visually, I did not find this film to be very impressive. The backgrounds are overly simple, the characters' design are not very expressive, and some instances of motion don't have enough middle frames to fully convey the motion. Yes, this is only 1918, but I think every one of these aspects was done better by The Dull Blade, an even earlier Japanese animation film from the year prior, or in Urashima Tarou's western contemporaries such as The Sinking of the Lusitania.
All that being said, Urashima Tarou is decently animated, better than many other short animation films from the same period. I feel that it ranks just below average for its era in terms of quality and novelty.
AnchientProphet2
Having accidentally seen the 1931 version, I finally came upon the real, 1918 version, and as a fan of very antiquated things, I loved it! Though from the silent era, when animation was less about even using cell, which had not really come around yet even in america, and simply about what seemingly amounted to motion capturing different pictures- frame, after frame, after frame. BUt growing up with claymation shows as a child, I dont hate this. ON my quest to see much anime, I of course could not pass up any of the oldest still available to watch, and I encourage others to not pass up theopportunity to watch this near ancient piece.
Though lacking in aesthetics, it was funny to see the way the animators created the illusions of aquatic life underneath our fisherman protagonist, as well as the scenes underneath the sea itself.
Oddly enough, the whole backdrop was red colored, either due to the fragility and damage over time done to the original stills or thats just how twas back than. NANDA TO?! O>o
Supposedly filmed and/ or hand drawn by people at a japanese company listed at the films end, called Y.N .& Co., there is a picute of a young gal point to japanese words that, maybe, say "thanks for watching" but I could not tell. Also there is a backwards 87, likely the number of frames of single pictures that made up this historic gem. I though it was funny to see the protagonist end up old, like he had spent too much time or all his life nearly underwater be the films end, which made me chuckle at how much old things remind us that people have always been people, now and forevermore. Give it a watch at :
http://animation.filmarchives.jp/works/play/72126
Aboocalypse
Ready to be confused? Okay! A common issue with early film (not just Japanese animation) is that you'll find more than one version of the same concept, named the same thing. This is especially true with famous fairy tales or stories, or with really successful films that other studios will rip off. Urashima Taro is considered a classic Japanese fable, and there are a lot of versions. This particular version is tinted pink and lasts a minute and 40 seconds (You can find it legally and for free here: https://animation.filmarchives.jp/en/works/view/72126 If that wasn't bad enough for discourse, it gets worse! For years, THIS film was thought tobe a film made in 1918 by Seitaro Kitayama, but recently, it was discovered in a magazine from that time, that this isn't the same Urashima Taro as that Urashima Taro! So this film now lacks a director, a year (the entry is wrong, the year this film came out is unconfirmed) a studio or even a confirmed name!
All that said, this mystery movie is not very good, even if the timeframe is relatively correct. The oldest surviving narrative anime (Namakura Gatana) has far better gags and visual expression. As an adaptation of the story of Urashima Taro, it does a pretty poor job of conveying what that tale was all about, completely cutting out the man's kindness towards the turtle, his interactions with the Sea Princess or the nature of his final fate. The story is so famous in Japan that it didn't need to show everything to be comprehended, but this is just about the laziest way to tell this story. The strongest point I can give it is the cute depiction of sea life, which is mildly interesting.
This film isn't really worth your time, doubly so because it lacks cultural context almost completely (so watching it "for the history" is practically irrelevant). Do yourself a favor and look up an english translation of the original fairy tale (it should take less than 5 minutes to read) and you'll have a much better experience, and frame of reference for an aspect of Japanese culture. Skippable.
Sidewinder51
Important Information to know in regard to this anime. There are three versions. 1918 (this one) directed by KITAYAMA, Seitaro (depending on source varies on time from 1 minute to 2) I found it to be a little over a minute. 1931 directed by Miyashita, Manzo (a little over a minute long) 1952 directed by KATAOKA, Yoshitaro ( about 5 minutes long/ HAVE NOT SEE THIS YET WILL CHANGE IF NEEDED WHEN I DO SEE IT) rate a 3 Japanese raw(mind you there is just a title page. Otherwise there is no words nor voices) art filmStory/art
-Fast Paced. Too fast to follow along with what is going on.
-Art is what i think to be Kinemacolor. Which to me is a more refined looked to the black and white outlook.
- Art looked nice and crisp
Sound - silent film
Character
no use of text or voices plus fast moving art made the character bio a coin toss if you will. Or in other words you the viewer determine what was said but good luck it is pretty hard to figure out.
Enjoyment
So many things went wrong with this production. From speed to it being silent, no words. It was like rather than you watching an everyday anime you were viewing this while sleeping. Perfect example when i think about it. Given the speed of how things play out and your recollection to how things went at the end. A complete mess not worth your time unless you are an art student.
juvilty
English Version: Unfortunately there are people who still confuse this 1918 animation with other versions, but it is easy to find the original version that has only 1 minute It's kind of confusing because it's 1 minute, but you can easily understand the story The art is black and white (which is common in old films) and sometimes blinks and there are flashes of light that leave everything white, except that it is good for the time And it plays a nice little song to listen to and very beautiful The characters are seen in a rush for having 1 minute, the short shows very well the kindness ofthe boy
And this is what I think about Urashima Tarou
Goodbye!
Versão em Português: Infelizmente tem pessoas que confundem ainda essa animação de 1918 com outras versões, mas é fácil achar a versão original que possui apenas 1 minuto
É meio confusa por ser de 1 minuto, mesmo assim deu pra entender a história facilmente
A arte é preto e branco ( oque é comum em filmes antigos) e as vezes pisca e tem uns flashes de luz que deixa tudo branco, tirando isso é boa para época
E toca uma musiquinha boa de se ouvir e muito bonita
Os personagens são vistos de forma corrida por ter 1 minuto, o curta mostra muito bem a bondade do menino
E foi isso que eu acho sobre Urashima Tarou
Tchau!
assholisms
The other reviews mentioned the existence of three tellings of the same story so I won't harp on it too much, just mind that this review is for the 1918 animation (the one in the thumbnail) by Seitaro Kitayama. The story is very short so there's not much to say about it, really. In this version, a boy capsizes at sea and meets a kind talking sea turtle who invites him to live under the sea and is then returned to firm land many years later as an old man. The art and animation are simple but get the job done, this version doesn't make excessive useof transitions like at least one of the later tellings of the story which is great, and it doesn't meander like most other retellings of Japanese folk tales.
It keeps it short and sweet and is, at worst, inoffensive. Just okay. 6.
