Process & Production: Kenzō Masaoka - Spider and Tulip

 
Being a fan of Japanese Anime, I decided to look into some of the early animations Japan had to offer. 
Researching it, I was immediately pointed in the direction of an animation called Katsudō Shashin, an undated and private work by an unknown creator. This is claimed to be Japan's earliest animation, apparently created in 1917. 
It is said to have used the cutout technique also used by Lotte Reiniger which I found interesting so I had a look for it on YouTube. I could only find tiny clips which weren't the originals so I decided not to document. But that's when I spotted this in the recommendation panel; Spider and Tulip by Kenzō Masaoka. With it being 15 minutes long, I thought I'd only watch a couple of minutes to get the gist of it, but I found myself watching all of it - its so charming! It's a bit older than Shashin's animation with it being made in 1943 but it shows how much animation had improved technically over a couple of decades. 
Using the cell technique to create this, Masaoka shows how characters can move so much more fluidly by using cells and the details on the spider's webs and flowers in this make the animation feel all that more clean and together. The scene where its raining really stands out for me - I think it's done with a great deal of attention to detail, so much so that it makes me as a viewer feel chilly watching it. Plus when he's flying amongst the flowers, I think it really give a sense of depth.
I'm really glad to stumbled upon this animation, I'm going to look into Masaoka's work more.