The Significance of Anime

angkor writes "'More Animated than Life' - Fascinating article discussing the significance of animation to the Japanese and why it is not what Westerners expect."

Comments

Animation in Netherlands

[new_breed]

On a related note, here is a link for the Dutch Animation Festival that will be held the upcoming weekend.
www.haff.nl

I'm Japanese.

[CBNobi]

And speaking from a Japanese viewpoint, let me clarify one thing.

Miyazaki's works are not the norm.

Its uniqueness, yet similarities to real life is what makes Studio Ghibli's works such blockbuster hits. However, other animations also do rake in cash for studios.

Every spring, when kids get out of school for spring break, the movie studios release several animated features, much like Disney.

Doraemon, an anime about a futuristic cat-like robot helping out a puny kid, is seen every week on television. In its extended movie version, the group goes on a journey to unique lands.

Each flick (which has been released every spring for the past two decades) brings in about $20 mil (2bil yen). Not too shabby, considering it's a domestic release.

Another is Detective Conan - a high school sleuth is turned into a boy and solves crimes.

Noticing a trend here? Childrens' films - those that are despised by anime freaks in the US - are those that gain the most popularity. Keep in mind that it's not only the kids who like them, as opposed to the popularity of Pokemon in the states.

"Classics" such as Cowboy Bebop and other mature-themed anime exist in large numbers, but they do not gain the widespread acknowledgement that kid-oriented shows do.

On the other hand, comic books (mangas) are split in half between the kids and the adults. The mature-themed manga is a booming industry, mostly focusing on modern themes such as corporations and sports. The unique few get turned into anime, and end up in the hands of American viewers who think that what they're watching reflects the Japanese phyche.

Bottom line: The Japanese animation industry is hardly different from the Disney of America - child-oriented shows sell. Mature anime are not the norm, and do not reflect the culture of Japan. For that, you need to watch television programs, domestic films (not Godzilla), fiction books.. and so on.

I'm not Japanese but I Play One on TV

[Greyfox]

They used to do some pretty severe stuff in the children's anime back in the early 70's, at the tender age of 2 through 5. Despite this, the typical Japanese boy tended to be quiet, meek and not at all inclined to pick up an AK47 and stalk from classroom to classroom pumping round after round into tearchers and classmates. Kind of makes me wonder if more politically correct cartoons is really what this country needs...

Of course, everything else in the culture is pretty severe too, but at the same time very people-oriented. In times gone past, massive rounds of layoffs due to poor stock performance was unheard of. I don't know if this is still the case; Western values might be creeping in and causing the companies to treat their people more like the robotic drones as most western companies do.

I think that of all the cultures and people on the planet, the one least likely to ever be understood by any American (including myself) are the Japanese. Even if you spend your whole life among them, I think that from time to time something will happen that will surprise and befuddle you. But that depth of culture is also what makes them so cool, so it's OK.

Re:Why Anime?

[b1t r0t]

You got it right there. Producers in the US are more interested than following the latest "formula" (and cheezy CGI special effects) than in things like good writing and a good story. Hollywood couldn't write their way out of a wet paper bag, which is why two of the biggest films last year were Harry Potter and LOTR-FOTR.

The US music industry is even worse. Almost everything new these days is crap, and the '70s and '80s stuff (even though I like it) is just plain old. So I listen to anime theme song music with a bit of regular J-pop mixed in. Remember folks, '80s music happened because of Brit groups (and the occasional non-english song like 99 Luftbaloons and Der Komissar) getting so much airtime on MTV (back when MTV actually played music). Unfortunately J-pop has a bit of a language barrier to deal with, plus the same US producers' urge to "sanitize" anything Japanese language from anime because it's not in their "formula".

Discussion On The State of Anime Fandom In Japan

[TomHandy]

This was a very interesting discussion thread that occurred on animeondvd.com recently that I think people would do well to read through, as it contains some very interesting information:

The State of Anime Fandom in Japan

Regarding some of the general comments people are making, they seem a bit extreme on both ends, which I guess is to be expected.....both the people saying "anime sucks, it's all porn" and the people who say that "anime rules, it's the only thing that has real plot and characterization and isn't tainted by commercialization like American stuff is" are both equally ridiculous statements. Anime in fact isn't all porn, and like any other medium it has had its share of good stuff as well as a lot of bad shows. And of course, the notion some extreme anime fans have that anime is good because it isn't commercialized is ridiculous, as anime is heavily commercialized, and many shows are made solely based on how well they will sell, which is why you often see a lot of recycled plots, character designs and story concepts.

Just in general, anime is way too broad for I think many of the comments being made here to be very relevant....it has its share of crap and its share of brilliant work. I could say the same thing about movies, television, books, comic books, etc.......take almost any of the comments being made in this thread and replace "anime" with "movies", "television", "books", "comic books" etc. and perhaps this will give you a better indication of how ridiculous some of the statements are.

Anime is not all stale and recycled plots, and it is not all the same big eye style of animation......a few shows that wouldn't fit this mold would include Boogiepop Phantom, Niea_7, Now And Then Here And There, etc. If I had to guess I would say that a lot of the negative comments are being made by people with a very limited exposure to only certain kinds of anime, which would be about on par with making a value judgement on "movies" after watching some pornography tapes.

Tom