Ask John: Should Korean Comics & Animation be Compared to Anime?

Question:
I’m curious what is your opinion of Korean man-hwahs and animation? I’ve met a few people who say they don’t like them because Japanese anime and mangas are true to the genre and all that other mindless bla bla bla. Why do some people dislike them on the sole fact that they aren’t Japanese?

Answer:
I’m sorry to say that my experience with Korean comics and animation has been very limited. I’ve never read any manwha, so I can’t critique or comment on them. I’ve watched one episode each of the Korean produced Geisters and Bastof Lemon TV series, and I’ve seen the Korean animated movie Wonderful Days. In the case of both Geisters and Bastof Lemon, I was appalled by their hideous animation quality, totally unappealing characters, and weak, clichéd writing. After watching one episode of each series, I couldn’t bear to punish myself further by watching more of either title.

The film Wonderful Days was quite a mixed bag for me. The influence of Japanese animation in the film is very obvious, but the film also takes cues from American animation, particularly evident in its character design. Ultimately, while Wonderful Days may superficially look like anime, it doesn’t feel like anime. The film is very shallow and sterile. I’m not attempting to argue that all anime is “deep” but rather say that typically every anime I’ve ever watched in my 18 years of experience watching imported Japanese animation has had its own character and atmosphere. On the other hand, Wonderful Days felt empty and hollow to me, “soul-less” if you will. The film reassured for me the fact that because an animated film looks like anime doesn’t mean that it is anime.

I happen to prefer Japanese animation because I perceive a unique Japanese personality and character in anime that I don’t feel emanating from animation produced elsewhere. There’s no judgment of quality inherent to that statement. I’m not arguing that Japanese animation is better or worse than Korean or American or European animation, only that it’s Japanese, and I happen to prefer Japanese animation. To me, the term “anime” represents a unique style of animation, but doesn’t presuppose that such animation is inherently better than other types of animation. However, I suspect that a large number of American anime fans do imbue the term “anime” with an assumption of quality. Many American fans may classify Korean comics and animation as an inferior copy of Japanese animation, or may unjustly criticize Korean animation just because it’s perceived to be encroaching upon the sanctity of Japanese animation.

Such criticisms really aren’t fair or reasonable because they’re based in personal sentiment rather than objective critique of the quality of the animation or comics themselves. Truthfully, much of Korean animation is, in fact, still technically inferior to Japanese animation, but that may be only because Japanese animation has had 50 years to develop and perfect while Korean animation is still a relatively young school. No one knows yet whether Korea’s animation industry will mature and improve with time and experience. So blindly lambasting Korean comics and animation only because they’re not Japanese or not on par with Japanese efforts is simply a sign of shallow thinking and irrational anxiety. The fact that Korean comics and animation may someday be even better than Japanese animation should have no impact on one’s appreciation of Japanese animation. One ought to enjoy Japanese or Korean or American animation in relation to other types of animation because they’re different and unique, not because one type of animation is better than any other. By appreciating the isolated individual characteristics of Japanese or Korean or American animation, a fan can always remain a fan of Japanese or Korean or American animation without feeling superior or inferior relative to any other type of animation or film.