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NY Times on Anime
An anonymous reader submitted a NY Times story (you know what that means: annoying free registration required) about anime as Japanese Film's 2nd Golden Age. It covers a lot of ground, as
well as a lot of really amazing films including (obviously) Miyazaki's
work, but also stuff like Ranma 1/2, Perfect Blue, Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion to pick a handful of my favorites. In short, it's a good piece with its share of criticisms and commentary, but it's cool to see a mainstream source talk up something that was so much subculture just a few years
ago.
Where Western animators struggle to create a convincing illusion of life, Japanese animators are more interested in capturing single expressive gestures, or in evoking a particular mood through the careful use of color.
I think this is the real difference between anime and western animation. While disney spends millions of dollars on computer animation, going for the "almost lifelike" feeling, anime such as "Graveyard of the Fireflies" spends far more time conveying the overall feeling of sadness (and no annoying musical numbers either).
I think that anime in general can be far more emotional than western animation will ever be.
I must agree with CmdrTaco that it's great to see Japanese Anime get some major press. However, it's going to take more than that to get people to understand what's so great about Anime. It's going to take all of us to continue sharing the art with our friends, and for studios to put up more money/risk to promote it.
Roger Ebert can talk all day about how Miyazaki has awesome films and give 2 thumbs up to "Princess Mononoke," but if Disney/Miramax think that a "blockbuster opening weekend" can be realized from opening "Mononoke" in 8 theatres US-wide, they are highly mistaken. (as you can imagine, it only made $144k in its opening week) At its height, "Mononoke" was showing in 129 screens -- a far cry from the 3000+ screens that a major movie like "Harry Potter." While "Mononoke" made over 100 million in Japan, its final US gross was under 3 million (both US dollars)
What went wrong? Well, first off, the art of Anime is definitely not as well accepted or understood in the U.S. due to historical differences in culture. In Japan, mature themes of politics, war, and tales of the human experience are spoken and told of through comics and anime. In the U.S., "animated feature" = "Bambi" Hrm...
If the studios who push Japanese Anime want to make it worth their time/money, they're going to have an uphill battle, as they're going to have to convince everyone in the US to go see the film on opening night, and promote the hell out of the film... (eg, money) Ultimately, they have to try to change the culture of a nation, and it's probably not going to happen overnight.
Solution? Keep making money off of $30 DVD's with 4 episodes of "Cowboy Bebop" and "Evangelion" -- one day, the sales will reach a high enough point that statistically -- it'll be worth bringing to the theatres... Until then... the safest thing is to keep selling those pricey DVD's... And... keep sharing them with your friends who have no idea what anime is...
It seems like everytime a "mainstream" source picks up on something that was a "sub-culture", all that anyone who enjoyed the subject of the "sub-culture" has to look forward to is the dumbing down and commercialization of what they previously enjoyed.
if i could speak out on the constant repetition and yimmer-yammering on the need for free registration at the ny times site:
/. didn't warn me about this!" i vote to drop the warning.
first, it is stated here so often that all but the most infrequent users must be, as i am, sick to death of hearing that the nyt requires free registration. we are grown-ups and can handle it if our browser directs us to something that we might have to give a fake email address to. "dammit, those bastards at
second, if the free registration bothers everyone so much that it must be stated, why is it that so many stories here are referenced from there? i mean, the stories come from us. does this not imply that the nyt is a valuable tool? so why do we complain about the free reg if so many of us use it?
third, why can't we get around the idea that the new york times isn't going to just give away its hard work for nothing? the feeling that i get when i read that free registration is required is that it shouldn't be, that it should all be free free free. i, for one, can handle a meaningless free registration for the excellent content they provide. it is not as if they come knocking on my door when i hit the submit button.
drop the free registration warning!
my peace.
I think anime has finally become mainstream because we are getting a deluge of releases here in the USA that are either officially licensed (CPM, ADV Films, AnimEigo) or brought over by the production company themselves (Bandai).
Because of these official releases, we're getting most importantly uncut anime, which reveals some truly astonishing storytelling, to say the least. Who would have thought that Saber Marionette J would be way better than anyone anticipated? Or the groundbreaking Neon Genesis Evangelion? Or be beautifully-animated The Vision of Escaflowne? Or the much-liked Gundam Wing? Or the serio-comic adventures of the three Slayers series?
Even Sailor Moon can be surprisingly good storytelling if you can get the uncut versions. We're very fortunate that Pioneer is bringing over the third season (Sailor Moon S(uper)), perhaps the best season of the series with very top-notch storytelling.
In short, Americans are discovering why anime can be quite good--they use superior storytelling to compensate for somewhat subpar animation.
I was reading along the article whne I come upon the words "...released "The Spirits Within," an elaborate computer- animated episode of the long-running "Final Fantasy" series..."
Now while the much older animated final fantasy "movie," final fantasy legends, might have actually been considered an anime for it's plot and graphics, I, as an anime fanatic, have troubles picturing this great technologically advanced picture as true anime. It seems that anything that comes out of japan that's animated immediatly gets but down as anime. However I believe that the concentration on plot and characters as opposed to the true "animation" part of anime is where anime gets it's tremendous backing and I think it's a shame that FF: The Spirits Within, has been catagoriezed in that genre...
The greatest honor for any subculture is that it is propagated. It's true that when this happens that it loses something. Eventually it is replaced by a pale imitation of itself as more people ape it without understanding it. But that's memes for you. What the hell are you going to do? You could try to fake everybody out by being passionate about stuff you don't care about, thereby propagating everything but your beloved subculture. But would that really suck less?
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
Maybe just so they can get the email addresses of people who are too stupid to give them a fake one, and sell their email to spammers? What the heck else can free registration accomplish?
Just remember: Whenever any registration asks for personal info, just lie for the sake of screwing up the bastards' database. Like the mp3 by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie. here Oh, dammit, there's free registration required. Just tell them your name is Homer Simpson and your email is nospam@FuckSpammers.com
Repeal the DMCA!
It seems to me that there's much less risk of anime becoming boring than other things that go mainstream. After all, anime already is fairly mainstream- in Japan. That means that even if anime becomes modestly popular in the U.S., the Japanese market is still going to be the thing that drives the industry, which should help to keep it from getting sucked down.
If anything, I'm very happy that anime is becoming more popular. I find that the movies show up much better on the big screen than on video, so increasing popularity means that I get more chances to see the stuff as it was meant to be seen. Next Friday, for instance, I'll get the chance to pick between two anime that are being released that day: Metropolis (the movie that triggered the article) and Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaia. Last year I was able to see a bunch of anime on the big screen, and its increased popularity obviously had a lot to do with that. That sounds like something to celebrate, not to complain about.
There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.