Texas America Murphy said:
Dear Nerds, explain to me what the heck the deal with Anime is.
A little bit of background before we collectively explore this artistic train wreck you call ?Japanimation.?
I?m a film student at the University of Texas. I have never seen an Anime before yesterday. I like to think that I give everything I watch a fair shake. Hell, I even watched an Irani film once. Now, my girlfriend Leanne is a member of our school's anime club, which meets every Friday night. Normally I don?t go with her because my JROTC usually meets on Fridays, but last night I was free because it was Christmas Eve (and its Winter Break), and my girlfriend invited me to have an ?Anime Christmas? with her and her friends who live in the area.
So I walk into the living room and there are these girls dressed up in these weird costumes and stuff. One of them runs up to me and shouts something like ?Cowiie Desi.? So I?m put off, but still determined to see what the big fuss is about. DVDs go in the player and I?m treated to what my girlfriend tells me is the most popular Animes.
First off we watched Naruto. I?ve seen German Art House cinema that made more sense than this. I guess it was about Ninjas, but they were all wearing orange jumpsuits? At no point did any of the plot make sense or any of the characters develop.
After that we watched two episodes of Code Geuess. It was like walking into a Mexican soap opera midway through the plot. Everyone was pulling gambits and double gambits and Russian reversals. I didn?t know who was betraying whom, and I don?t think those cardboard cutouts did either. Also, why is Britain invading Japan? We already did that!
Finally, we watched an episode of this thing Guren Lagan. It felt like I was six years old and watching Power Rangers again. You?d think this would be a compliment. A sort of return to youth. But even at 6 I was doubtful of the artistic validity of Power Rangers. Also, the fact that every character on that show was sexually attracted to a 12 year old girl is incredibly disturbing. Is this okay in Japan?
Some basic research reveals that these shows are some of the most popular Anime both here and in Japan. Why is it so popular? What is so great about these shows? I?m so confused. Nothing anyone does makes any sense, the characters are all cliches, and nothing ever actually happens.
I couldn?t help but notice that virtually half the people on this board of some sort of Anime character as their avatar, so obviously people here love it and its popular. But for all my education I cannot possibly comprehend why people call this ?art.? I was hoping that maybe y?all could enlighten me. There must be something I am missing
Edited for spelling.
There is nothing inherantly great about Anime, it's a medium like anything else, and the quality varies greatly from title to title. It helps if your a major science fiction and fantasy fan, as one of the appeals is that it tends to cover material the US/UK cinema doesn't touch. You were seeing plotlines about things like Nanotechnology for example long before it became a mainstay of American cinema. Early works like "Bubblegum Crisis" (the original one) were also instutmental in defining the "Cyberpunk" movement along with writers like William Gibson, institutions like "Genom" helped defined the "Evil Corperation", before it became a stock villain for example.
One thing about Anime is also that the shows tend to involve metaplots that run through an entire season, as opposed to being self contained. This means that like US shows like "Lost" picking up on what is going on and all of the subtexts mid-way through can be difficult.
Shows like "Naruto" which are ground out for tons of seasons (like "Dragonball Z") also tend to vary in quality greatly, with character development taking place at a speed that makes a glaciar seem quick as they do develop the characters, but do it at a slow pace to draw the status quo out to a ridiculous degree at the same time.
That said, I'm not as much of a fan as I was at one time, and I'm one of the first people to point out that not everything is for everyone. Not getting Anime, is just like someone not getting something your interested in and think is great.
I'll also say that your dead on about the age level. Generally speaking Anime is aimed at a mental age level of like 13 to 14 years old. With rare exception (and porn) it's not adult entertainment despite what fanboys will tell you. Of course according to some analysts American TV has an average mental age level of 8, and that includes things like Sitcoms. The point here being that intellectual depth is greatly exagerrated, and saying that the stuff is plotwise better than American or British sitcoms isn't exactly the compliment you'd expect when you look at the drivel that gets approved by networks. I see Anime as being similar to comics on a lot of levels, I don't consider adults with an interest in it as being any worse than comic collectors, however at the same time anyone who claims that comics or anime by their nature trump all other media have some problems IMO.
As far as the sexual attraction to 12 year olds go, take a look at the recent issue in Japan with their assault on pedophillia in the media. One thing to understand about Japan is that they are what some would call "Neo Barbarians". That is to say culturally backwards but living in a modern age with modern technology. Only like 60 years ago a lot of Japan was culturally similar to how they were during The Middle Ages. A big part of their problem with pedophillia is that throughout most of history humans (in general) only lived like 30 or 40 years. In context child-brides were not all that uncommon, since everyone got married that young. While most cultures "grew up" along with expanding lifespans, Japan never did and youth is heavily tied to their conception of beauty and sexuality. There are a lot of effort to progres Japan domestically, but with long-standing issues and cultural standards it's not an easy thing to do. I mean people don't consider when looking at some of this that 12 to 14 years old would have been considered prime marrying age just a few decades ago.... or at least this is what I've read on the subject.
In many cases the pedophille aspects of Anime don't bother me that much, largely because the situations are by their nature fantasitc, and the "children" involved neither look or act like children. If that was reality as opposed to fantasy, then I think the general laws and sexual standards would be far differant.
While she wasn't 12, my personal "poster child" for "fantasy pedophillia" and getting people to chill out when there is no basis for reality is "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". You might remember that as a key plot element she was having sex with a guy who was physically like 30 and actually a lot older (Angel The Vampire) when she was like 15 or 16. Not sure what her age was in the series, but since she had time to go Emo over this act turning him evil, return to Sunnydale for a while, have him return from hell with his soul back, keep him as a animal prisoner, have him leave and then have him return later on down the pipe to help out during the whole Graduation snake-demon-stomping, I'm guessing she was like 15 or 16. That makes Buffy "Jailbait" at least in the US. Yet, nobody bats an eye at this, and few people ever considered it. I think what makes it somewhat acceptable is that she's a super hero, and very much unlike a reaon person in terms of capability, maturity, and responsibility. I wouldn't approve of a 15-16 year old and a 30 year old IRL, but in a situation like this in fantasy it's something else. Piers Anthony has gotten even "worse" with the divide, but again managed to get away with it without being too messed up, due to the fantastic nature of the situations through his various series.
I don't know the anime your talking about, but sometime take a look at some of the artwork and while you might be disturbed at someone being attracted to a 12 year old, ask yourself if you didn't know the age if you think the character looks 12. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. A recurring joke for US Anime fans is to show some overdowed babe and then a reminder "she's suspposed to be 13" or something for the "WTF" factor when she's sporting like 40DDs and the kind of figure you wouldn't expect until the early 20s in most cases at least. "Creepy" by US standards, and something Japan itself is trying to deal with (even if I oppose them on the grounds of Censorship) but it makes more sense if you know the details.
