Ask John: Do the Japanese Really Have an Appreciation for Anime?

Question:
Do the Japanese really have an appreciation for anime? I was talking to a Japanese exchange student the other day and asked her if she liked anime. She told me she doesn’t watch Japanese animation anymore because she’s too old. But then she said she does watch American animation–looking slightly embarrassed. This made me wonder if the appeal of anime in Japan is really as widespread as I’d thought. Do you know if anime in Japan is regarded as more “for kids” and not as a viable, sophisticated art form?

Answer:
Based on my admittedly limited knowledge of Japanese culture and some insightful guidance provided by Michiko Ito, it seems safe to say that the appreciation for anime in Japan is an odd, bipolar thing. Based purely on the very fact that the anime industry exists, we must assume that Japan does have a market for, and an appreciation of, animated cinema and comic book art. But on the other hand, as you’ve experienced, most anime seems to fall into the realm of “guilty pleasure” or children’s programming, although the response toward anime from a Japanese female may be very different than one from a Japanese male. Although there’s no question that the anime industry does produce a significant amount of anime for female audiences, in a comparison of purely shoujo and shonen titles, the amount of anime intended for male audiences drastically outnumbers the number of anime series specifically created for female viewers. This may account for a greater likelihood that a Japanese female would be more likely to dismiss anime than a Japanese male would.

There should be no question that first and foremost anime is a commercial product created to sell videotapes and movie tickets and toys and commercial air time. But the vast diversity of anime, and the existence of such staunchly non-commercial productions as Angel’s Egg, Serial Experiments Lain, 1001 Nights, and Nekojiru-So prove that at least some part of the anime industry has evolved and expanded past the limitations of mere commercial product into the realm of contemporary art form. In the same way that some Japanese viewers may enjoy American animation and Disney movies possibly because of their “foreign-ness” and distinction from convention, American fans may likewise explain some of their interest in Japanese animation. Not all anime is good, but even bad anime may still be interesting to Americans because it’s different from the American animation that we’re used to. But to return to my point, the fact that many anime series exist without direct publishing or toy marketing campaigns or tie-ins, and the fact that so much anime has so much creative, literary and cinematic style in addition to its merchandising tie-ins and commercial marketability, I would argue, proves that anime simultaneously is a commercial product and a genuine contemporary art form with its own artistic integrity and creative expression.

In the same way that sitcoms and police dramas are a conventional landmark of the American television landscape, animation has become such a routine and commonplace aspect of Japanese television and entertainment that it’s taken for granted as normal and ordinary and therefore easily dismissed. Also because it’s so common for Japanese children to naturally watch anime, that many of these children “graduate” from anime during their teen years and look for some other hobby or something else “cool” to be a fan of that’s not associated with their childhood. Furthermore, because anime is at least partially associated with the Japanese concept of “otaku,” obsessive/compulsive fans whose fanaticism can be anti-social and even border on psychopathic, anime in Japan has a dual face as both popular entertainment medium and refuge of socially repellant, irresponsible and potentially dangerous fanatics. So anime in Japan is thought of often as an irresponsible, childish diversion, but not necessarily “for kids,” per se. Even within the relatively tolerant ethical standards of Japanese society, no one is likely to consider anime series like Berserk, Hellsing or Evangelion, “for kids.” And the existence of anime collectables such as a $2000 40+ disc Ranma DVD boxed set clearly prove that anime is intended for as much an older, affluent market as it is for children. Furthermore, the expansion and adoption of anime and animated icons, such as Totoro and Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy), into common Japanese culture as symbols as recognized as the Coca-Cola “wave” validate anime as not merely a fringe market of the Japanese entertainment industry but rather an important and integral aspect of Japanese culture and identity itself. Finally, the fact that Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi is now the most successful non-American movie ever made, even though it has yet to be released outside of Japan, suggests that it’s not merely Japanese children that are going to see this film, but Japanese citizens of all ages.

However, the adoption of anime into mainstream Japanese culture is still a relatively recent occurrence compared to the 40 year history of the genre. Anime seems not have been taken seriously as a literary and artistic art form in Japan until the mid 1990s and the debut of Evangelion. By the mid 1990s, writers and cultural analysts that grew up with Yamato, Gundam and Macross had positioned themselves in academia in a position to be able to compose and publish critical papers and cultural studies based on these classic anime that they loved. And the revolutionary intertextual depth of Evangelion spawned a degree of professional critical analysis of anime in Japan that had never existed before. It’s been said that “Anime finally obtained ‘citizenship’ with the success of Mononoke Hime.” If this is to be taken as true, then it’s only within the past decade or so that the Japanese generation that grew up during the “golden period” of anime, the early and mid 1980s, has achieved a position that allows for adult appreciation of anime in both critical studies and expensive collecting habits. It also wasn’t until the late 1990s that Mononoke Hime was able to prove that anime had the appeal and power to attract viewers outside the normal target market for anime. So if anime is indeed now becoming recognized and respected as a cultural art form and treasure in Japan, this appreciation is recent and still evolving. And this new Japanese appreciation for anime is still not absolute, as proven by the relatively poor Japanese box-office performance and short theatrical life-span of movies like Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and Metropolis.

So while many Japanese natives may easily dismiss anime, there is enough evidence to support the argument that Japan does recognize and support anime as an important element of Japanese culture. In the same way that Americans may easily dismiss television sitcoms, Monday Night Football, trivia game-shows and Rambo movies as trashy, junk culture, these things are still a significant identifier of American popular culture, and a fundamental ingrained ingredient of American-ness. An individual American may not want to admit to watching General Hospital and Supermarket Sweep, or claim that football and monster truck derby is the domain of the beer swilling lower class, just as a Japanese native may claim that anime is merely extended TV commercials and “kids’ stuff,” but the point remains that neither argument is entirely true or accurate, and the things that we may be embarrassed about are actually the things that help define our culture and our moral, ethical and ideological values.