Ask John: Should There Be An American Anime Exam?

Question:
Do you think it is possible that there will be a U.S. version of Japan’s National General Anime Culture Knowledge Certification Exam? Should all of the American anime companies get involved in this?

Answer:
While I know that there has been some internal discussion of creating an “official” anime trivia exam for English speakers among members of America’s anime industry, no such English language exam has ever surfaced. On a comparative note, I think that it’s worth pointing out that Japan has had a thriving anime production industry for forty years, yet has only this year developed its first “official” test to objectively measure fan knowledge of anime culture. America’s anime industry has only existed as a relatively unified, insular community for about 15 years. More importantly, I don’t think that there’s any need for a formal “anime exam” in America.

The first Japanese “National General Anime Culture Knowledge Certification Exam” is scheduled to be conducted on November 23rd. The standardized test is open to all, and carries no accreditation beside a sense of pride. The test is not related to employment opportunities, nor does it have any formal educational weight. In practical terms, the Japanese “anime exam” is just for fun. It’s designed to encourage knowledge and respect for anime among enthusiasts, and provide hardcore otaku with a formal method of measuring their obsession.

Despite the fact that Japan has only a fraction of the population of America, there are far more hardcore anime fans in Japan than exist in America. Earlier this summer, Bandai Visual USA president Tatsunori Konno estimated that there are fewer than 200,000 hardcore anime fans in America. Attendance at this year’s Anime Expo convention in California was originally estimated at just over 35,000 attendees, although the official final count claims 44,000 attendees for the 4 day convention. This summer’s Comic Market convention in Tokyo drew an estimated 550,000 attendees in only 3 days! The sheer number of anime fans in Japan, it may be argued, justifies the creation of a formal test to determine ultimate otaku status. Considering the drastically smaller number of anime fans in America, and the fact that “anime exams” have little or no marketable value, there’s debatably very little reason to develop such an exam in America. I want to specify that simply knowing a lot of anime trivia does not make someone an ideal candidate for employment in the anime industry. Work ethic and marketable technical skills are far more valuable to businesses than a certified command of trivia.

Finally, I think that Japan is significantly more adept at creating a legitimate, objective “anime exam” than America. America’s anime distributors tend to not often closely work with each other because they are all competitors within a relatively small market. And they’re all preoccupied with the daily business operations that keep them solvent. Collectively organizing a non-profit “anime exam” is probably a very low priority for most, if not all of America’s anime companies and professional organizations. Japan has a large community of anime experts, and Japan’s anime industry has a decades long history of inter-company cooperation. America, however, has managed to organize an “American Anime Awards” hosted by an organization not affiliated with America’s anime industry, and organized and judged by an organization not directly affiliated with America’s anime industry. And the first “American Anime Awards” was riddled with widely recognized errors and omissions. In other words, America does not have a confidence inspiring track record for organizing objective, communal measurement instruments.

Ultimately, there’s just no convincing, compelling reason for America’s anime community to devise an “otaku exam.” Japan’s anime community can do it because the community is much older, larger, organized, and committed to promoting anime as a national art form. Japan’s anime community has the professional and educational experience to produce a comprehensive, objective test, and a large audience interest in such an exam. America’s anime community arguably does not have as much comprehensive knowledge of the history, nuances, and production methods of anime; does not have the spare manpower and experience to compose a comprehensive, appropriate exam; and does not have a large enough core of devoted anime scholars and fans to necessitate the development of a formal exam to distinguish certified otaku from non-certified otaku.