Selling the spectacle of destruction - The films of Rintaro, and Japanese animation’s transnational transformation from ‘cult’ to ‘commercial’

As one of the most acclaimed figures working in Japanese animation, Rintaro (aka. Shigeyuki Hayashi) has come to be known- particularly amongst Western anime fandom- as one of the most stylistically distinct directors working in the medium; fronting a body of cinematic work that stretches from the late 70s through to the 00s.1 From his early days as a disciple of ‘the God of Manga’ Osamu Tezuka at studio Mushi Productions to his co-founding of Studio Madhouse- now one of the most popular and prolific anime studios in the industry- his work is often characterised as being cinematically epic, profiling life and death struggles against darkly fantastical backdrops.