Scholarly Articles?

[Philip Yff]

Dark Childe wrote:
>
> Does anyone know of any "scholarly" articles on anime? I'd be interested in
> thesis-type things examining the differences between U.S. culture (with its
> relatively non-violent, santiized cartoons) and anime (with its sometimes
> extreme violence and nudity), and how that reflects the differences in
> society; for example, why are Japanese anime so violent (sometimes), yet their
> society is far less violent than ours. Any leads would be appreciated. Peace.
> There are a number of books on Japanese popular culture.

And of course, there are my tedious rambling posts on this newsgroup
and the venerable rec.arts.anime. Here is my Clyff Notes version of
the differences between Japanese anime and US animation.

The use of manga or "comics" in Japan goes back a long time--hundreds
of years. It was only natural that when technology provided the means
to animate the manga that this opportunity would be exploited. The
manga itself covered a wide range of genres aimed at all ages and
walks of life. Again, it was only natural that the animated manga
would cover the same wide range of interests.

World War II also had a profound effect on the Japanese film industry.
The depressed economy of Japan in the aftermath of the war found it
more cost effective to produce animated rather than live action
features. The US occupation introduced a stronger western influence
than would otherwise have been the case. Japanese animators were
influenced by Disney, but--insofar as the Japanese always adapt the
material that influences them--the transition from west to east
endowed unique characteristics to Japanese animation.

In the US, the comic tradition (unlike Japanese manga tradition) was
targeted more at the youth sector of the population rather than society
as a whole. (I don't include political cartoons that are not
sequential art to use Eisner's distintion between cartoons and comics.)
Consequently, when US comics were animated, the target audience, for
the most part, remained the youth. When I say the youth, I am
referring to two main categories--young children of both genders who
are entertained by comics and cartoons of personalized animals like
Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, and teenagers and young adults (more
male than female) who are entertained by material much of which has a
science fiction element. In Japan, although certain sectors of the
populace are more apt to read manga and watch anime, the demographics
to which anime and manga appeal are much broader than in the US.

The economics of the film industry in the US is also much different
than Japan. For feature length productions, Disney set the standards
to which other producers felt they must aspire. Disney films were
very meticulously done and took years and huge budgets to produce.
It was actually less expensive, in most cases, to produce live action
features. Thus, animated full-length features remained a very
specialized genre. That's not to say there were no exceptions, but
we are talking about the broad appeal of animation in Japan compared to
the more narrow focus in the US.

An interesting result of the fact that Japanese animated features were
frequently produces as a less expensive alternative to live action
features is that many live-action techniques were incorporated into
Japanese animation. For example, how often do you see panning in
American animation--yet, it is a staple in Japanese animation.

Things have now come full circle. Japan is now influencing the United
States. The Lion King shows the undeniable influence of Kimba the
White Lion (in spite of what Disney says). That is as it should be.
Japanese and American film industries are both very sophisticated and
it is only fitting they share the best of their artistic
contributionns.

I did say this would be short--and, for me it is. I think the bottom
line of what I am saying is that although Japan is more liberal than
the US when it comes to on-screen nudity is that the difference
between Japanese and American animation is not that the former is
filled with violence and nudity and the latter is not. Instead,
Japanese animation has children's features which are relatively
benign and features like our live-action features that are targeted
at broader and more sophisticated audiences. We should not be
comparing Ghost in the Shell to Cinderella but to Pulp Fiction.

Mata ato de,

Phil Yff

Netto wa koudai da ne ......
The net is vast, right ......
Major Kusanagi, Ghost in the Shell

[Christopher Jefferson]

Phil,

Thanks for this post. I'm not the one who asked for it, but it illuminates
some of the cultural foundations of modern Anime. I'm doing a review of
Anime for my cousin's magazine. Can you send me approximately ten titles
(besides "Ghost In the Shell" and "Sanctuary") which I should review to
get a good overall survey of modern Anime (late eighties, early to mid
nineties stuff, like "Akira").
Once again, thank you.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Derek Janssen]

Christopher Jefferson wrote:
>
> Thanks for this post. I'm not the one who asked for it, but it illuminates
> some of the cultural foundations of modern Anime. I'm doing a review of
> Anime for my cousin's magazine. Can you send me approximately ten titles
> (besides "Ghost In the Shell" and "Sanctuary") which I should review to
> get a good overall survey of modern Anime (late eighties, early to mid
> nineties stuff, like "Akira").

"Urusei Yatsura" (pref. the later TV series, after Kazuo Yamazaki replaced
Mamoru Oshii as director) should be looked at, as the founder not only of
"Ranma 1/2" and "Maison Ikkoku", but also of an entire complete genre that
singlehandedly led to "Oh My Goddess", "Video Girl Ai", "Tenchi Muyo!",
etc.--
Two-thirds of all modern romantic-comedy anime owes its existence to a girl
in a tigerstriped bikini...

Derek Janssen
djan...@ultranet.com

[Mark L. Neidengard]

In article <32D2E1...@ultranet.com>,

I think it would be stretching it a bit to say that all the titles you cite
owe their existence solely to UY. While Takahashi has been an immense force
in shaping the market, she is not the only one. If I had to credit any one
institution with "shaping" anime, it would be Bandai, releasers of Gundam,
Patlabor, Sailor Moon, Fushigi Yuugi, and innumerable other titles.
--
/!\/!ark /!\!eidengard, CS Major, VLSI. http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~mneideng
"Fairy of sleep, controller of illusions" Operator/Jack-of-all-Trades, CACR
"Control the person for my own purpose." "Don't mess with the Dark Elves!"
-Pirotess, _Record_of_Lodoss_War_ Shadowrunner and Anime Addict

[Philip Yff]

Christopher Jefferson wrote:
>
> Phil,

>
> Thanks for this post. I'm not the one who asked for it, but it illuminates
> some of the cultural foundations of modern Anime. I'm doing a review of
> Anime for my cousin's magazine. Can you send me approximately ten titles
> (besides "Ghost In the Shell" and "Sanctuary") which I should review to
> get a good overall survey of modern Anime (late eighties, early to mid
> nineties stuff, like "Akira").

> Once again, thank you.
>
> Be Seeing You,
>
> Chris

"Otaku no Video" would have to be near the top of the list. As a
satirical pseudo-documentary, it provides a lot of insight into
Japanese anime. There are actually two volumes which AnimEigo has
combined on one tape.

"Otaku no Video" was produced by Gainax who have a reputation for
being at the forefront of experimenting with the genre. "Wings of
Honneamase" would be a great OAV for your purposes.

Of course, you would have to do something by director Miyazaki.
Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind,
Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, and Whisper of the
Heart are some good examples. Disney Studios has an agreement
to distribute Studio Ghibli's Miyazaki films and the five I've
listed above are supposed to be among the first eight films to
be released.

I would include some TV anime in the reviews. The 48 episode of
Kimagure Orange Road would be my recommendation. Although TV
productions are not as elaborate as OAVs, they receive greater
exposure. It should be noted that Blue Seed, Neon Genesis Evangelion,
and Escaflowne are all recent TV series--al three were very well
received in Japan and demonstrate that TV producers are willing to
present more sophisticated anime.

As a counterbalance to babes in battlesuits, you may want to review
"Grave of the Fireflies". It is a very profound work and disturbing
in its seriousness.

Finally, the anime I watch most is Vampire Princess Miyu. Other
personal favorites are Bubblegum Crisis, Armitage III, Macross Plus,
Kimagure Orange Road, Oh My Goddess, etc.

Mata ato de,

Phil Yff

Nan da Nene? Biiru o kaeri ka?
Anta nomisuginai da yo matta sutorippu yatta mo shirinai kara ne?
Hey, what is it Nene? Want another beer?
Don't you drink too much, because I won't be responsible if you strip
again?

Indignantly and loudly so the whole restaurant can hear, Nene replies:
DARE GA SUTORIPPU???!!!
WHO'S GOING TO STRIP?

Bubblegum Crash

[Christopher Jefferson]

Thanks once again for your support.

Be Seeing You,

Chris