A long-time producer from Studio JCSTAFF recently spoke out about the importance of classic cartoons to today’s animation industry, highlighting “Tom & Jerry” in particular. We summarize below.
“Tom & Jerry” as a role model
As part of an online seminar for the Kochi Anime Creator Award 2026, producer Yuji Matsukura spoke about how he has been fascinated by the legendary American animated series “Tom & Jerry” since his childhood.
He was particularly fascinated by the fact that the cartoon almost completely foregoes spoken dialogue and instead tells its stories effectively and entertainingly through animation, precise timing and musical accompaniment.
According to Matsukura, it is precisely this form of visual staging that is one of the greatest strengths of “Tom & Jerry”. The series impressively shows how exciting animation can work even without a complex plot or long dialogue passages.
Challenge for modern productions
The producer explained that, in his opinion, a comparable project would be difficult to implement in today’s Japan. At the same time, he sees the creative expressiveness of “Tom & Jerry” as a role model that can still inspire numerous animation artists today.
Only the successful coordination of image and music can make an animation really stand out. Although individual strengths in one of these areas are important, they are not sufficient on their own to make a work particularly convincing.
Yuji Matsukura is one of the best-known producers in the anime industry and was involved in series such as “Toradora!”, “A Certain Magical Index,” “Food Wars!” and “Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?”
More on the topic:
Via YouTube
© 1940 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Tom and Jerry created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.