Vietnamese animation: a short history

Vietnamese animation began as a state-run industry: the Vietnam Animation Studio in Hanoi released its first film, Đáng đời thằng cáo (often translated as "The Fox Gets What He Deserves"), in 1960. Since then the scene has moved from hand-drawn shorts and puppet films to digital studios, international outsourcing and small independent channels on YouTube.

Before animation: a storytelling tradition

Long before cartoons, Vietnam had a strong tradition of visual storytelling. The best known is múa rối nước, water puppetry, where wooden puppets perform on the surface of a pond or pool while puppeteers stay hidden behind a screen. It is not animation, but it shares the same spirit: making characters move in ways that feel alive, often for comedy and folk tales.

Folk tales themselves became a major source for animated films later on. Stories of clever villagers, tricky animals and moral lessons translate naturally into short cartoons.

The first studio era

The Vietnam Animation Studio (Xưởng phim hoạt hình, later known as Hãng phim hoạt hình Việt Nam) was set up in Hanoi in 1959. Its first release, Đáng đời thằng cáo, came out in 1960 and is usually treated as the starting point of Vietnamese animation.

Early films were made with limited resources. Artists worked by hand on cels and paper, and the studio also made puppet and cut-out animation. Many films were short, aimed at children and built around fables, folk stories and lessons about honesty, hard work or courage.

What the classic films feel like

If you watch older Vietnamese animated shorts, a few things stand out:

• Short running times, often well under half an hour.
• Animal characters carrying the moral of the story.
• Folk art influences in color and design.
• Gentle humor rather than fast gags.
• Music that draws on Vietnamese melodies.

Some of these films are available on official YouTube channels and archives, which makes it easier than ever to explore them. Our guide to Vietnamese cartoons and where to start has tips for finding them.

The move to digital

As computers became standard in animation worldwide, Vietnamese studios adopted digital tools for both 2D and 3D work. This lowered costs and opened the door to new studios outside the state system, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam also became a place where foreign studios outsource parts of animation production, such as in-between frames, coloring and 3D asset work. That work built up a pool of trained artists, some of whom went on to create original projects.

Original content and television

Alongside outsourcing, Vietnamese studios have produced original series for television and streaming, often for kids. Many adapt folk tales or create cute mascot-style characters. Feature-length Vietnamese animated films have been rarer than live-action features, partly because animation is expensive and slow to make.

For an overview of characters audiences know well, see Vietnamese cartoon characters you should know.

The YouTube and short-video era

The biggest recent change is distribution. Independent artists and small teams can now publish directly to YouTube, TikTok and other platforms. That has led to a wave of short comedy, music animation and kids' content made in Vietnamese, often by very small crews.

Vertical short-form video in particular rewards quick, character-driven comedy. A strong character and a punchline in under a minute can travel far without a TV network behind it.

Where Duma Meow fits

I make Duma Meow, an original Vietnamese 2D cartoon comedy, on the channel Voiceover with jimwest405. It follows four original cats, Maelis, Corin, Seraph and Luna, in short skits. The episodes are vertical 1080×1920 Shorts with Vietnamese voice lines, and every clip passes a flashing-safety check before it goes up. It is a tiny project next to the studios above, but it belongs to this newest chapter, where one person can publish animation straight to an audience. You can meet the four cats here.

Why this history matters

Vietnamese animation has always worked with small budgets and big imagination. The early studio relied on hand craft and folk stories; today's creators rely on cheap tools and direct publishing. The thread in between is a love of short, funny, character-led stories.

How to explore it yourself

Start with a classic short from an official studio channel, then compare it with a modern Vietnamese kids' series and an independent Short. Watching all three side by side shows how much the tools have changed, and how much the storytelling instincts have stayed the same.

Pick one old studio short and one new Vietnamese Short this week, and watch them back to back.