Ask John: Are Anime Really Just Toy Commercials?

Question:
Please allow me to ask you a question from Japan, John-sama. As you know, many anime shows are aimed at kids for the promotion of toy merchandise (for example, The Racing Brothers, Lets & Go, Beyblade, Bedaman and so forth). But they like to feature a boy and his toy affecting the fate of the world. The stories are frequently too wild or unrealistic merely to promote the toys for kids. What do you think of the gap?

Answer:
While I’m familiar with anime series such as Bakusou Kyoudai Lets & Go!!, Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, and Bakukyuu Renpatsu! Super B-Daman, and I immediately recognize them on sight, I’ve never had an opportunity to watch any of them. I’ll attempt to offer a supposition, but please forgive me for not using specific examples from these shows.

The criticism that cartoons are merely extended toy commercials is a complaint often levied against both anime and American cartoons. In most cases, with both Japanese and American animation, the accusation is undeniably true, but I think that reducing such shows to the status of mere commercials is narrow minded and unfair. Especially in the case of anime, I believe that there’s more to these shows than mere subversive advertising. The type of story development that makes toys such dramatic and influential narrative devices proves that there’s more to anime than mere advertising.

Animation studios may be commissioned to create series around toy or merchandise franchises. There are countless examples of anime like this, including Transformers, Zoids, Yu-Gi-Oh, Microman, Zillion, Battle Skippers, and Mushiking. Animators may know that they’re creating an anime intended to generate market interest in a particular line of merchandise, but animators are artists. I’m sure that they have aspirations to do more than merely create lifeless, superficial advertisements disguised as anime. Furthermore, animators know that their work may reach viewers who don’t buy the affiliated merchandise. So animators may have a personal desire to make anime interesting; and they have an obligation to their viewers to create an enjoyable program.

No one expects Yu-Gi-Oh cards to literally control human lives or expects the results of a Yu-Gi-Oh card game duel to determine the destruction or survival of the earth. The fact that Yu-Gi-Oh cards do exactly that in the anime is creative license employed to make the anime entertaining and enjoyable as a self-contained program. Giving toys like trading cards or remote controlled cars a larger than life status in anime may inspire young consumers to take pride in their toys, which is a useful marketing tactic. But giving toys a literally unrealistic influence also contributes to enjoyable anime.

Anime such as Transformers, Zoids, and Mushiking provide particularly striking example that anime based on toy lines are more than just thinly veiled commercials. These shows create entire worlds loosely based on their originating toy franchises. The real life toys aren’t just toys in these anime; they’re characters, mecha, and settings. These shows are fully developed, self-contained narratives that happen to have a connection to real life toys. These shows, in fact, most shows based on toy lines, stand on their own as animated series that may be watched and enjoyed without any awareness of the commercial product lines that spawned them.

To a limited degree I do think it’s fair to think of anime based on toy lines or anime that employ real life toy lines as just thinly veiled advertising. However, the way these anime series often expand beyond their materialistic origins and develop entertaining stories that may be enjoyed independently of the material toys reveals that these shows are more than just toy commercials. Calling these anime “toy commercials” disregards the effort writers and animators have put forth to create original and enjoyable context and narratives. Strictly calling these shows “toy commercials” also limits a viewer’s ability to appreciate and enjoy the originality and immersive fiction of these anime. Ultimately, I think that animators prioritize making these anime enjoyable stories and don’t place remotely as much effort on using anime to influence viewer spending. And furthermore, considering that virtually all anime is a commercial product itself, I don’t think that anime which obviously exist to focus attention on a product are intrinsically inferior to other types of anime. If an anime series is entertaining, the fact that it’s based on a toy line becomes insignificant trivia.