Ask John: Has Anime Reached its Pinnacle of Violent Content?

Question:
Do series like Elfen Lied and Gantz represent the height of blood, gore and violence in anime, or are there even worse examples on the horizon?

Answer:
Last year I published an “Ask John” article highlighting some of the most violent anime ever.

While both Elfen Lied and Gantz are gruesome shows, they’re not the ultimate examples of grotesque anime in part because they’re both television series. While Japanese television is much more liberal about the degree of violence allowable on television than American TV is, especially in animation. But even Japanese television has its standards, and graphic gore of the intensity of Kakugo no Susume simply can’t be broadcast on Japanese television.

Although it’s obvious, I don’t think we consciously realize that anime is literally limited only by the creative imagination of its artists. I think that the goriest anime productions ever hold their titles only because so few anime productions have actually tried to reach the outer limits of graphic intensity. The majority of Japanese fans prefer bright, happy and playful anime. That’s why there are so many shows of that description and so few shows like Elfen Lied, Berserk, and Gantz. When it comes to revoltingly disgusting shock horror, Japanese fans seem to gravitate toward manga and live action movies instead of animation.

Underground Japanese film makers such as Daisuke Yamanouchi, Tamakichi Anaru, Toshiharu Ikeda, Kei Fujiwara, and Hideshi Hino excel in creating unsettling, transgressive, grotesque horror, often with special effects that are so lifelike that they’re difficult to distinguish from reality. There are also horror manga artists like Waita Uziga who draw splatter more intense than anything that’s ever been animated in Japan.

Based on my familiarity with the anime productions scheduled to premier in Japan in the foreseeable future, I’m not aware of any upcoming titles that are likely to challenge for the title of most gruesome anime ever. The upcoming Hellsing OVA series is likely to be violent. The upcoming Black Lagoon anime television series may also be violent. But I don’t expect either to push the envelope of anime cinematic gore. I think that there’s plenty of possibility for the future release of a revoltingly grotesque horror anime that surpasses everything that’s come before it. I think that there’s just not a lot of interest in seeing an anime like that in Japan. I suspect that Japan’s most devoted afficianados of visual gore lean toward manga and live action, and most of Japan’s hardcore anime fans aren’t interested in tremendously violent anime. In effect, I don’t think that anime has reached the upper limit for graphic violence, I just don’t think there’s a lot of interest among Japanese animators or anime fans to reach that upper limit. Anime could be much more violent than it is, but no one particularly wants to bother making an ultra-gory anime just for the sake of making an ultra-gory anime.