TIL that little mermaid ariel was inspired by anime???

animation obsessive is one of the most consistently high quality blogs i read re: 2D animation, and the linked article is especially fun for a ton of anime big names talking about their inspirations (turns out they've always been animation/film club nerds like the kind i used to go to college with LOL:

Sometimes, anime gets treated like a monolith whose only reference point is itself. The reality is more complex. Especially back then, this was a world of dueling creative processes and ideals — where many artists were, like Dezaki, trying to climb the “high wall” of their own outside influences. As Miyazaki once said:

I entered into this industry because I saw works in the 1950s, such as Cross-Eyed Tyrant or Snow Queen. I thought maybe I could manage (to reach the level of) [Panda and the Magic Serpent] but anyway, I thought they were far above, in terms of what they tried to do, and what they accomplished. We were, in short, at the level of “Toei kids’ stuff.” The gap between our level and the works we were inspired by was too big. We thought how could we climb up there, or even if we couldn’t, let’s remove the stones around us. So, there were many things we had to do.

(no subject)

"I suppose it is good for the soul to be hurt and perplexed perpetually. I know at least that I miss you damnably: that is a good fixed star."

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