NFAJ Announces Toei Animation on Film for July 21

On July 9, 2026, the National Film Archive of Japan (NFAJ) announced Toei Animation on Film, a special screening program that will run from July 21 through September 6, 2026 at Nagase Memorial Hall OZU on the second floor of the archive in Tokyo. The program will screen 67 works across 45 programs, and every screening will be shown on film rather than digitally.

The announcement places the series inside the archive's regular programming, not as a commercial revival tour. That matters because the NFAJ is framing the event as a historical viewing experience: some titles will use newly prepared screening prints, and the lineup also includes a rare set of TV anime shown on film. In other words, the archive is not only revisiting famous Toei Animation titles, but also presenting them in the format that shaped how audiences originally encountered them.

What Was Announced

The official notice says the program will look back across Toei Animation's history, beginning with early works from the studio's founding era and continuing through later television animation and OVA projects. The archive notes that Toei Animation was founded in 1956 as Toei Doga and helped establish the direction of Japanese commercial animation, starting with Hakujaden (Legend of the White Snake), the first domestic feature-length color animated film.

According to the announcement, the program is built around 67 works organized into 45 screenings. The venue is Nagase Memorial Hall OZU, which seats 310 people and uses assigned seating with no late admission after the show begins. The archive also says that details for the full lineup, ticket purchase method, and pricing will be announced later.

That combination of scale and curation gives the event a different feel from a standard anime retrospective. It is not just a list of famous titles; it is a structured look at a studio that helped define how Japanese animation moved from its early theatrical roots into television and home video.

Why It Matters

For anime fans, especially those outside Japan, this announcement is a reminder that anime history is preserved not only through streaming catalogs and discs, but also through archival exhibition. Film projection changes the viewing experience. Grain, contrast, color timing, and even the physical rhythm of a screening help show how these works originally lived in theaters and museums, not only on phones and laptops.

The NFAJ's decision to create new screening prints for some titles is also notable. That suggests active preservation work rather than simple reuse of whatever materials happen to survive. For a studio like Toei Animation, whose catalogue spans feature films, television series, and OVA titles across decades, the archive format makes the studio's range easier to see as a whole.

There is also a broader cultural point here. Toei Animation is one of the companies that helped turn Japanese animation into a lasting national export, but the archive is presenting that history as cinema history first. That framing is useful for readers who know the studio mainly through contemporary franchises and may not have seen how much of its identity was built in the film era.

Context for International Fans

The National Film Archive of Japan is Japan's national institution for preserving and presenting film culture. Its screenings often sit at the intersection of scholarship, restoration, and public access, which makes them valuable for fans who want more than a trailer or a social-media announcement.

If you follow anime from abroad, the key takeaway is simple: this is a chance to see Toei Animation positioned as part of a larger cultural archive, not just as a production company with a famous back catalogue. The studio turns 70 in the archive's framing, and the program uses that milestone to connect early feature animation, television work, and later formats in one place.

What Happens Next

The NFAJ says the detailed program list, ticket purchasing method, and prices will be announced later. Until then, the important dates are already fixed: the screening series opens on July 21, 2026 and runs through September 6, 2026.

For anyone planning to attend, the practical thing to watch is the archive's follow-up notice. Once the schedule and ticketing details appear, the event should be easy to track as a single long-running retrospective rather than a one-off screening.

Sources

Information was checked on July 9, 2026 at 22:46 JST.

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