New company Zakka Films brings "The Roots of Japanese Anime" to DVD

by Chris MaGee

Here's some amazing news for fans of early Japanese cinema and anime alike. Zakka Films, a new distributor started by Seiko Ono of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival dedicated to putting out "great works of Japanese cinema on information-rich, high-quality DVDs" have come roaring out of the gate with their first release "The Roots of Japanese Anime". The disc brings together 8 classics of Japanese animation including "Danemon Ban: The Monster Exterminator" (1935), "Chameko's Day" (1931), and "Momotaro's Sea Eagle's", the famed 1942 37-minute propaganda cartoon about the Peach Boy of Japanese folklore and his attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbour. All of the films come with full English subtitles and the disc is accompanied by a 12-page booklet with essays by "Behind the Pink Curtain" author Jasper Sharp and Aaron Gerow, Professor of Film Studies and East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University.

Check out the trailer for "The Roots of Japanese Anime" at Zakka Films' official website here. Thanks to Jasper Sharp for this exciting news.