The Story of Animerama: Belladonna of Sadness
By 1971, things looked grim for both the Animerama project and Mushi Productions. Cleopatra had flopped, Tezuka had resigned from the studio in shame, and the studio's finances were more desperate than ever. It was during this time that Eiichi Yamamoto would create the final Animerama film: Belladonna of Sadness . After years of trying to realize Tezuka’s visions, it was finally time for him to demonstrate what he was capable of as a director. Belladonna would unite its unconventional source material, a handful of outside talent, and the limited resources of a dying studio to create a film unlike anything else in anime, before or since. __________________________ Strictly speaking, Belladonna of Sadness is not an Animerama film. While there were vague plans for a third film when the project was first conceived, these were never fully developed. The true inspiration behind this film was the famous animated adaptation of The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine . Tokyo arthous