If you count anime as any animation from Japan then no. From my research it looks like the first animated Japanese film was a propaganda film released in 1945.
If you consider the aesthetic commonly known as “anime” today then yes because the first Superman cartoon came out in 1966 while “modern anime” had it’s begins in the 70s.
The first superhero cartoons were the Fleischer Superman shorts from 1941-42. Fantastic pieces of animation and available in the public domain, by the way, and a lot more important to Superman’s mythos than many may think (they invented and cemented his power of flight). Anyway, it’s a no either way.
If you count anime as any animation from Japan then no. From my research it looks like the first animated Japanese film was a propaganda film released in 1945.
If you consider the aesthetic commonly known as “anime” today then yes because the first Superman cartoon came out in 1966 while “modern anime” had it’s begins in the 70s.
The first superhero cartoons were the Fleischer Superman shorts from 1941-42. Fantastic pieces of animation and available in the public domain, by the way, and a lot more important to Superman’s mythos than many may think (they invented and cemented his power of flight). Anyway, it’s a no either way.