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Lately I have been getting more and more interested in Korean animations. While there has always been something that has made me want to explore any creative forms that exist on the fringes of what was traditionally defined as ‘art’ (from children’s literature to graphic novels) but that has found increasing acceptance in academic circles in the past decade or two, my curiosity about Korean animations stems from a number of projects from the last couple of years: films like 돼지의 왕 (Daegieui Wang/The King of Pigs, 2011), 파닥파닥 (Padak Padak/Padak, 2012) and 은실이 (Eunsili/The Dearest, 2011), which have one particular thing in common: they all deal with serious and, in some cases, hopelessly dark subject matters. While it is primarily Western filmmakers that seem to have an ingrained habit of treating animations as a purely lightweight medium to tell stories meant only to amuse children and more reflective and/or darker-themed projects exist aplenty elsewhere (examples include 「火垂るの墓」/Hotaru no Haka/Grave of the Fireflies, Japan, 1988, Tatsumi, Singapore, 2011, and 「ももへの手紙」/Momo e no Tegami/A Letter to Momo, Japan, 2011). Korean animations, however, lately seem to have a disproportionate output of such films and although it may be coincidental, it makes me want to know more.
Compared to Japanese animation, the world of animated films in Korea is tiny. There is no globally renown animation studio like Studio Ghibli. There are no directors whose trajectories fans from around the world follow closely like they do with the likes of Hosoda Mamoru, Shinkai Makoto or Katabuchi Sunao despite their careers still being recent (they have each nor more than a handful of feature-length films to their name and started directing around the millennium only), or like late Kon Satoshi, who managed to carve out his place in J-animation history with the four projects he completed in his much too short life. Even though the K-animation industry may be significantly smaller, it is not non-existent, but rather unexplored, unknown and often unacknowledged for the the contributions it has made, e.g. the TV series The Simpsons is one several American productions that is largely animated by Korean studios.
Clockwise: 오세암 (Oseam); 천년여우 여우비 (Yobi, the Five-Tailed Fox); 마리 이야기 (Mari, My Beautiful Girl); 소중한 날의 꿈 (Green Days).
Some questions on my mind:
- What is the history of Korean animated films? What kind of connection is there to production (and consumption) of manhwa and/or animated television series?
- Which are the leading animation studios in Korea, either for TV anime series or feature-length animations or both? Or are animations primarily indie-produced, one-off projects?
- What kind of drawing style and animation methods are used?
- Who are the leading directors, animators, voice actors (etc.) in Korea animation?
- What role do animated films play in Korea? Are they mostly imported, and, if so, from where?
- Who are the primary consumers of a) animations in Korea and b) Korean-made animations, in Korea and elsewhere?
- How do Korean animations differ from animations elsewhere?
I hope to find out more about the history and current state of Korean animation, though I can’t promise if I will be able to answer all the questions I have at the moment. As part of my exploration, I will watch and review whatever animated films from Korea I can get my hand on, including the following (those marked with *, I have a source for, if you know how to get hold of others – including any not listed – get in touch):
Some feature-length animations to be reviewed:
- 마리 이야기 (Mari Iyagi/My Beautiful Girl, Mari, 2002)*
- 오세암 (Oseam/Oseam, 2003)*
- 원더풀 데이즈 (Wondeopul Deijeu/Wonderful Days aka Sky Blue, 2003)
- 왕후 심청 (Wanghu-simcheong/Empress Chung, North Korea/South Korea, 2005)
- 천년여우 여우비 (Cheonnyeonyeou Youbi/Yobi, the Five-Tailed Fox, 2007)
- 돼지의 왕 (Daegieui wang/The King of Pigs, 2011)* - REVIEW added 2/3/2013
- 소중한 날의 꿈 (Sojoonghan Nalui Ggoom/Green Days, 2011)*
- 마당을 나온 암탉 (Madangeul Naon Amtak/Leafie, a Hen in the Wild, 2011)
- 은실이 (Eunsili/The Dearest, 2011)
- 파닥파닥 (Padak Padak/Padak, 2012)*
Short animations:
- Adam and Dog (USA, 2012)
Currently nominated for an Oscar in the category Animated Shorts: Adam and Dog.
My aim is to serve you with a mix of reviews and background information on the industry, the various people who work in it (and the how and why behind their creations, maybe even interviews) as well as its domestic and international impact. I want to (somewhat) systematically assemble all this in one place as for the moment whatever has been written seems to be in bits and pieces strewn across the web. If you have any leads do share (e.g. suggestions for books on the subject, individuals that may be knowledgeable about Korean animations, sources for the films), I would appreciate hearing from you!
Note: Although I am starting this project in the year that has just begun, it will not be limited to 2013 but rather will be a long-term series on this blog with no specific end-date in mind.
Bonus Bit:
- Coincidentally, there’s an article on the Korean animation in the Guardian today: “South Korean animation: is the underdog finally having its day?” Seems it was inspired by the release of 돼지의 왕 (Daegieui Wang/The King of Pigs, 2011) in British cinemas this week. (Note: Daegieui Wang will also be the first film I’ll review as part of this series.)
Related Posts: Links to related posts to be added as I write them.
This should prove a very interesting study. I have a feeling that you’ll find K-Anime as diverse as Japanese, but fascinating nonetheless.
Sky Blue/Wonderful Days I seem to remember getting pretty wide release in the UK and US, possibly because (from the sounds of it – I’ve not seen it either!) it conforms to Anime stereotypes, at least in terms of action and sci fi.
Very astute to pick up on the Simpsons and various other Fox TV (and other US) productions made in Korea, as many Korean animators start their careers there. I was lucky enough to go to the première of Green Days at LKFF 2010 (which I believe was the world première!) and co-creator An Jae-hoon admitted he worked there. Didn’t sound like he enjoyed it very much!
Green Days’ An and Han Hye-Jin also seem to have worked on a TV anime of a popular K-drama, Winter Sonata, which might be worth investigating. It seems to be as popular in Japan as the original series, but I’m way out of my depth talking about K-drama already!
I’m looking forward to finding some gems, which I’m sure will be there, whether fully polished or still rough around the edges – which I never mind: I love when films give you a hint of someone’s potential, even if they haven’t realised it fully yet. Indeed creations that are rough around the edges and made by newbie filmmakers can often be so much more refreshing than the overly perfect but increasingly stale productions of long-established directors.
Reviews for Sky Blue seem to indicate rather mixed opinions (the agreement seems to be visuals good, story meh), I don’t expect to be wowed over by it but I intend to see as many K-animations as possible just to get a sense of the industry there.
I don’t think the comment about outsourced productions is not so astute – this aspect of Korean animation talent being used by other countries seems to be quite well known (indeed, it seems a Banksy episode of The Simpsons caused some controversy because it brought some unfortunate situations to light).
I’ll be able to deal with connections to K-dramas – I do watch them. I often prefer doramas because slice-of-life, realistic stories are more common there, while K-dramas have a tendency to be escape-life and feature too many damsels-in-distress for my liking.
“Which are the leading animation studios in Korea, either for TV anime series or feature-length animations or both? Or are animations primarily indie-produced, one-off projects?”
Hmm, at any time there are more than 90 animation studios around South Korea however there have been as many as 120 studios (depending on how you define a studio) working out of cramped conditions in very small offices or even apartments. More often than not it’s an inbetweener who has started his/her own studio and is doing the overflow of manual work for other studios. Often these little start ups close down after a year or two.
The biggest studios are Nelson Shin’s ‘Akom’ and then there’s Dong Woo, Saerim and Sunwoo.
There’s also Rough Draft Korea (RDK) who bring to life soooo much that is on Western TV nowadays.
Studio Meditation With a Pencil (MWP) are very hip in that they are they animation side of a company that makes real life TV dramas. MWP then turns the real life drama into an animation.
The place where everything comes together however is Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (SICAF) where all the old animators meet to recall the old days.
It’s at SICAF where you see the famous animators in South Korea and can even get an autograph.
Nelson Shin and Kim Chong Gee are always seen there and a few years back I even saw the very elderly father of Korean animation, Mr Shin Dong Hong (sometimes translated as Mong, not Hong) walking around in his beret.
He may have passed away now for all I know because he was very elderly- put it this way, he grew up in the annexed Korea under the Japanese and was later imprisoned by the North and then the Americans during the Korean war in 1952.
He’s the father of Korean animation because his early short films were some of the very first and he also made the first feature length film ‘Hong Gil Dong’ in 67.
All copies of Hong Gil Dong are long lost now and sadly, much of Sth Korea’s early 50′s+60′s animation is missing- searching it out and finding lost film stock is a bit like treasure hunting.
You can find old videos but not too much from the 70′s has been released to DVD because it’s blatantly knock-off product.
Sth Korea has since agreed to WTO protocals and even though the WTO has collapsed in some ways, it’s still likely Hollywood wouldn’t accept knock off Wonderwoman or knockoff Batman being sold in the West.
I collect the posters from those knockoffs but the South Koreans won’t sell the old posters anymore as originals are very very rare indeed.
Good luck with your quest to discover more.
Alex