Korean animation

The art of Korean animation, or Han-guk Manhwa Aenimeisyeon (한국 만화 애니메이션), has gone from hand-held flip books in early times to studios that produce most of the work for major American and Japanese animation companies. The South Korean animation industry can be considered dynamic in that there are around 120 animation studios, mostly competing to 'pick up the crumbs' the larger studios throw smaller studios by way of Overseas Export Market (OEM) work. Notable examples of Korean animation include all episodes of The Simpsons, Family Guy and Justice League Unlimited[1] which were made and drawn in Seoul, South Korea. While it is mostly firms in South Korea that contract with Western studios, some of the work is reported to be subcontracted to North Korea as well.

The Korean animation industry was in a period of crisis throughout the noughties as depression born of the realities of being merely an industry the West gave factory type drawing work to, began to sink in. This followed the 1990s, a period of explosive growth for the industry when Korean studios made most of their profits from OEM, mostly from the United States.

The year 2011 was in many ways a bright transitional year for Korean animation with 'home produced' animated feature films finally finding box office success in South Korea instead of the usual financial failure. As far as OEM is concerned, the likes of Rough Draft Korea (RDK) keep on landing new contracts which has seen Rough Draft perform the manual work on over 45 popular 'Western' Cartoon titles over the last 16 years.

Korean animation has boomed in popularity in Eastern Asia with the success of the series' 'Porroro' and 'Origami Warriors' in 2011, leading fans to want to discover more Korean animated product. This success is due to the perfecting of technique and financial returns being reinvested into new animated product.

Some Korean animators still blame the booming Korean game industry for draining the animation industry's talent pool but the box office success of the Korean animated film 'Leafie' [4] in 2011 in South Korea, is inspring a new generation. Animation might just be a rewarding career for Koreans after all.

2012 is expected to be a very promising year with 'The King of Pigs' set for release and the much anticipated CGI 'Taekwon V' live action film which will have a Transformers look to it.

Slavery Controversy

2010 saw the acclaimed British grafitti artist 'Banksy' direct the opening credits of an episode of the Simpsons. While The Simpsons has moved from various South Korean animation studios over the years, it has been inked and drawn by Nelson Shin's AKOM studio for over a decade. Nelson Shin revealed some discomfort at having his studio workers drawn as slaves, even though AKOM animators brought this parody of themselves to life. In an earlier CNN interview from 2005, Shin brushed this slave perspective off as being merely Western humor.

It is only over the last decade that knowledge of animation outsourcing to the Koreas has become widespread knowledge, with many Hollywood movie producers for example, still incorrectly believing that the bulk of animation is being outsourced to Spain. Such perceptions are rarely challenged as the OEM work or outsourced aspect of animation is usually given a very small credit in a cartoon's closing credits.

In 2007 the appropriation artist Shepard Fairey published the first long form article on the subject in his art and culture magazine 'Swindle'. With the increase in knowledge of outsourcing, more questions about the working conditions of animators or inbetweeners have been asked. Nelson Shin's AKOM hid the fact that he had further outsourced inking and drawing to North Korea[5], lest this upset human rights activists in the U.S., especially since it was Disney films being completed in poor conditions in the North.

Since the change from Leftist government over South Korea which leaned favorably upon working with North Korea to a more conservative government in 2007, outsourcing any work to the hostile North is now frowned upon. Nelson Shin could confidently take offense at Banksy's intro in 2010 because The Simpsons is not now, nor has it ever been made in North Korean conditions.

Selected List of Korean animation

• Aachi & Ssipak (아치와 씨팍) (2006)
• Apple Candy Girl
• Ark (2004)
• Armageddon (1986)
• BASTof Lemon / BASToF Syndrome
• Black Rubber Shoes (검정고무신)
• Blue Seagull (1994)
• Diatron-5 (다이아트론 5)
• Doggy Poo (2003)
• Dooly the Little Dinosaur (아기공룡 둘리)
• Elysium (2003)
• Empress Chung (왕후 심청) (2005)
• The Fourth King (work-in-progress) [6]
• Golden Iron Man (1968)
• The Great Pig Pirate Mateo (2004)
• Guardian Fairy Michel
• Hammerboy (2004)
• Hamos: The Green Chariot
• Hey Yo Yorang
• Hong Gildong (홍길동) (1967)
• If You Were Me: Anima Vision (2005)
• Jang Geum's Dream (장금이의 꿈) (26-episode series) (2006)
• Ki-Fighter Taerang (기파이터 태랑) (26-episode series) (1998)
• Kimchi Pong
• The King (2001)
• Leafie, A Hen into the Wild (마당을 나온 암탉) (2011)
• Life is Cool (그녀는 예뻤다) (2008)
• Mad Monkey (Director Jo Beom-jin of Aachi & Ssipak)
• Maskman
• Mazinger 3 (1982)
• Mazinger 7 (1983)
• Mix Master
• Mug Travel (빼꼼의 머그잔 여행) (2007)
• My Beautiful Girl, Mari (마리이야기) (2002)
• Olympus Guardian (2005)
• Oseam (오세암) (2003)
• Petit Petit Muse
• Phantom Master: Dark Hero from Ruined Empire (2004)
• Phoenix-bot Phoenix King (피닉스킹) (1985)
• Pororo the Little Penguin (뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로)
• Ragnarök (라그나로크, Japanese and Korean co-producer) (2004)
• Restol, The Special Rescue Squad (레스톨 특수 구조대) (26-episode series) (1999)
• Robot Taekwon V (로보트 태권브이) (1976)
• Run=Dim (2001)
• Solar I II III (초합금 로보트 쏠라 원, 투, 쓰리) (1983)
• Solar Adventure
• Sorry, I Love You (2006)
• Space Gundam V (스페이스 간담 브이) (1983)
• Spheres (2003)
• There she is!!
• Turtle Hero (2001)
• UniminiPet
• Wonderful Days / Sky Blue (원더풀 데이즈) (2003)
• Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox (천년여우 여우비) (2007)
• Youngsim (영심이) (1990)

See also

• Korean art
• Korean culture
• List of Korea-related topics
• Manhwa

References

• ^ - Animators gather as industry faces transition - JoongAng Daily newspaper
• ^ - Sunny Lee, "US cartoons 'made in North Korea'", Asia Times, Mar 14, 2007

External links

• Animation Museum in Chuncheon, South Korea
• History of Korean animation (long English article)
• History of robot anime of South Korea　(in Japanese, with images & video clip)
• Korea & Animation blog
• information on South Korean knock-off films of the 70's- mid 90's
• Fanzine article listing RDK outsourced cartoons
• [7] Extensive interview with Korean producer/director Kim Chong Gee