Ask John: How Much of Anime is Actually Japanese?

Question:
How much of “Japanese Anime” is actually made in Japan? I mean I have heard that Naruto hails from Korea.

Answer:
Typically every animated series that fans classify as anime, by that I mean to exclude titles such as Bastof Lemon, which may be marketed as “anime” in America but technically aren’t, originated in Japan and is primarily created in Japan. To varying degrees it’s common for some percentage of an anime series to be outsourced to Korean studios. As far back as the infamous “desert island” saga of the Secret of Blue Water anime TV series, it was evidently clear that Gainax Studios was commissioning the bulk of the work on the Nadia anime to Korean animators. (Thankfully Gainax took charge of the Nadia anime again to supervise and animate the finale of the TV series themselves.) For decades now, Japanese studios have employed Korean animators to do “fills” and supplemental animation. In other words, Japanese artists write the story and dialogue, create the initial character designs, compose the music, hand draw the “key” important frames in each animated sequence, then hire Korean animators to draw and paint the “in-between” frames of animation.

In recent years, in response to steadily increasing Japanese and worldwide demand for anime that’s inversely proportional to the growth of Japan’s technical anime production industry, a greater percentage of the responsibility for anime production has been outsourced to Korea lately. While Korea has virtually always been involved in the production of anime, now that American anime fans are becoming more cognizant of the details surrounding anime production, and the fact that the Korean contribution to anime production is becoming more apparent in contemporary anime, primarily through noticeable drops in production quality due to anime employing cheap Korean labor (No offense intended toward the skill or devotion of Korean animators), Western anime fans are beginning to take more notice of the Korean involvement in anime production.

There are critics that would like to now claim that Japanese animation is no longer Japanese because it utilizes so much assistance from Korean animators. Likewise there are now proponents that wish to encourage an expansion and refinement of the definition of the term “anime” to include non-Japanese art because, they point out, even Japanese art isn’t totally Japanese anymore. But I think these arguments are misguided. Japan has been outsourcing percentages of the “grunt work” of anime for years. Korean animators working on anime is not something new. But the participation of Korean animators doesn’t make anime not Japanese animation. Anime is still created and molded by Japanese artists. As an analogy, Kevin Smith’s Clerks cartoon is still considered an American cartoon even though it’s animated by Korean animators, because it’s American creators that define its structure, form and content. An animated production like Wonderful Days or Bastof Lemon that originates in Korea and is supervised by Korean artists, even if it’s influenced by Japanese animation or is partially animated by Japanese artists, is still considered Korean animation. I think that what distinguishes the classification of an animated film isn’t the location or nationality of the artists that provide supplemental or incidental animation. The factor that determines the cultural origin of an animated production is where the fundamental characteristics of the film were created. I think that an animated film with a story written in Japan, primary art designs drafted by Japanese artists, primary animation created in Japan by Japanese artists, and a Japanese director helming the production according to his native Japanese cultural background, influences and education, constitutes a Japanese film, regardless of the fact that Korean animators may have been hired to produce some of the animation to Japanese specifications.

Just to be specific, this is the case with the Naruto animation. The Naruto anime was created and is produced by Japanese artists, however some of the labor is outsourced to Korean studios.