List of Japanese Inventions - Film and Animation

Film and Animation

Man with No Name

A stock character that originated with Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), where the archetype was first portrayed by Toshirō Mifune. The archetype was adapted by Sergio Leone for his Spaghetti Western Dollars Trilogy (1964-1966), with Clint Eastwood playing the role of the "Man with No Name". It is now a common archetype in Samurai films and Western films as well as other genres.

Mecha

The mecha genre of science fiction was founded in Japan. The first depiction of mecha Super Robots being piloted by a user from within a cockpit was introduced in the manga and anime series Mazinger Z by Go Nagai in 1972.

Postcyberpunk animation/film

The first postcyberpunk media work in an animated/film format was Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex in 2002. It has been called "the most interesting, sustained postcyberpunk media work in existence."

Steampunk animation

The earliest examples of steampunk animation are Hayao Miyazaki's anime works Future Boy Conan (1978), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Castle in the Sky (1986).

Superflat

A postmodern art form, founded by the artist Takashi Murakami, which is influenced by manga and anime.