Ask John: Are Americans Too Ignorant of the Sources for Anime Adaptations?

Question:
Do you think there is a disconnect in the American anime community in linking anime shows to their original source of manga or PC games? Even as more and more anime are produce from manga or H-games, I notice that these sources are given only slight mention when the shows come out. Could it be that regular fans do not actively look up those sources themselves, or refuse to because of “moral reasons” due to their adult content? And why do studios such as Gainax get criticized for producing “inferior” shows like the Mahoromatic series, even when they are not the ones who wrote the original story?

Answer:
I know that popular anime are sometimes criticized when they diverge from their manga source, but in those cases, the criticism comes because a great number of American fans are familiar with the original source material. But much of the time American fans don’t compare anime adaptations with their original sources either because they’re unfamiliar with the original source material, or because direct comparison isn’t necessary or relevant. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s necessary, nor do I think it should be necessary in most cases, for an anime adaptation to depend on a relationship with its source material.

In the case of many anime based on video games, particularly fighting game adaptations like Street Fighter, Tekken, Toshinden, Art of Fighting, and Fatal Fury, viewers don’t expect the anime versions to faithfully recreate the video games because the games themselves don’t have detailed, linear narratives. The games may have stories and character biographies, but it’s up to anime adaptations to “connect the dots.”

Anime series such as To Heart, Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, and Comic Party are relatively popular in America despite the fact that they’re based on erotic PC games because the anime adaptations themselves are enjoyable. Although numerous reviews concede that the Popotan anime television series has more depth and substance than usually expected from bishoujo anime, the show is often panned by American anime critics because it contains so much gratuitous nudity- not because it’s based on an erotic PC game. So few of the adult PC games that popular bishoujo anime are based on are available in America that it’s almost impossible for average American anime fans to compare anime to its original source. That principle also applies to other mediums that aren’t readily available in America. American fans can’t compare the Sakura Wars or Gunparade March anime to their video game origins, or compare the Kino’s Journey and Twelve Kingdoms anime to their original novels, or compare the Trouble Chocolate anime to its radio drama source because the source material isn’t available to Americans.

But I don’t think that it’s particularly necessary for an anime adaptation to be compared to its source material. The Risky Safety and Full Metal Alchemist TV anime are both excellent, and both diverge significantly from their source manga. Not that I agree with criticizing a studio for its choice of what to adapt, but I can appreciate why fans may criticize Gainax, for example, for choosing to adapt manga like Mahoromatic or He Is My Master. The criticism levied against shallow story or gratuitous fan service may, in fact, actually be unknowingly meant to apply to the source material. One can’t call an anime’s story shallow if the anime is a faithful adaptation of an earlier work. Or, in fact, the criticism is misdirected at the anime and actually applies to the original source material. Misdirected criticism can easily be explained by a lack of awareness; de facto ignorance caused by physical conditions more than intentional blindness caused by moral objections.

But animators aren’t blameless or transparent, nor can they make perfectly accurate predictions about viewers. Even if an anime is an adaptation of an earlier work, the anime itself is still an independent, original work that has to stand on its own. Even if the anime is an exact frame by frame recreation of the source material, it’s still a new work in a new medium, thereby making it a target for individual criticism. Not everyone that watches an anime will be familiar with its source. An anime doesn’t “play” exactly like a video game. An anime has sound and color and motion that printed works do not. So while it’s fair, and sometimes even necessary to compare an anime adaptation to its source, I don’t think it should be mandatory. An anime can always be critiqued on the basis of its color design, art design, animation quality, sound, and many other characteristics that have nothing to do with the material the anime is based on.

In summation, I do believe that there’s a significant degree of ignorance within the American fan community about anime adaptations relative to their source material. That “disconnect” is caused by lack of accessibility of much of the source material that anime may be based on. But I don’t think that “disconnect” is important or detrimental to anime criticism or the American fan community. I’d certainly like more anime related material to be available in America, and sooner rather than later. But I don’t think that it’s terribly important for American fans to compare or relate the Twelve Kingdoms anime to Fuyumi Ono’s original novels. What’s important is for American fans to watch, enjoy and appreciate the anime.