Ask John: What Terrorism Related Anime Could Never Be Made in America?

Question:
Besides Guilty Crown and CANAAN. do you know any other shows that, due to terrorism themes, would probably not be made in America?

Answer:
Part of the reason global fans are attracted to anime is because of the uniqueness of anime. While numerous countries produce pop-culture animation, Japanese animation is frequently distinctly Japanese. France produces dramatic, slice-of-life animation like Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist, and South Korea produces provocative animation like Yeun Sang-ho’s bullying & class conflict drama The King of Pigs. Even Canada has produced some mainstream adult-oriented animation including Heavy Metal & Rock & Rule. But a lot of anime revolves around concepts and ideas that seemingly could only come from Japan, or could only be made in Japan due to the country’s affection for animation and its encouragement of distinctly Japanese creative concepts.

America prides itself on its multicultural integration and tolerance for personal expression, yet it’s typically Americans themselves who frequently assume that the American zeitgeist is more sensitive than it really is. America does oblige political correctness perhaps more than any other country, to the extent that Americans now commonly assume that anything potentially offensive is controversial and therefore insensitive and prohibited, but examination of our popular culture does reveal that America remains more accepting than many Americans immediately presume. Following September 11, 2001, we can accept satirical depictions of terrorists and tyrannical dictators in domestically produced films like The Dictator and God Bless America, and imported films including Postal (Canada) and Four Lions (UK). But America still applies different standards to traditional animation. The average American may presume that terrorism is simply a touchy subject in America, making it strictly off-limits for American animation. But obviously parodical animation like Team America: World Police and South Park have depicted satirical illustrations of terrorists without inciting controversy or moral outrage. However, alternate depictions of terrorists in American animation may not be quite as viable in America, but not necessarily due to fears of political insensitivity.

When I realized that roughly a quarter of the Guilty Crown television series was about teens having to create an institutional discrimination among themselves in order to collectively survive a genocidal purge by their own government, I realized that the should could only be Japanese. Guilty Crown is a tremendously complex narrative revolving around a misguided terrorist group that doesn’t realize that it’s ultimately working toward the same apocalyptic goal as the corrupt government it opposes. The fact that terrorists are depicted as heroes isn’t what makes the series impossible in America; the terrorists are actually socially conscious freedom fighters opposing a repressive regime. That distinction makes the setting acceptable for American viewers. The Lord of the Flies-esque conflict within the high school is also a concept viable within American pop culture. But the combination of these two themes along with genetically manipulated supernatural powers, political wranglings, sexual politics among children, and the extensive depiction of child soldiers and child mortality, all with a serious and dramatic tone collectively make Guilty Crown an anime that could only be produced in Japan because Japan is the only country in the world with an animation industry and viewing audience that can sustain such a complex, provocative, and challenging animated story. America has never produced any 2D animation that’s remotely as narratively convoluted as Guilty Crown. A title like this is barely marketable in Japan’s very receptive audience for animation. In America, a story this complicated, that covers so many different provocative themes within a single show, could hardly get approved for production even in live-action because it doesn’t have a large enough potential audience in America to justify or recover its production cost.

Canaan is another tricky show because it humanizes and makes an effort to justify the leader of its violent terrorist organization. The show is also particularly violent. While Canaan is possibly a story that could exist as an American-produced live-action effort, it’s difficult to envision as an American-created animation because it’s such a violent, political, and adult-oriented action story rather than an insightful, philosophical drama.

FLAG is an anomaly even in Japan. This ultra-realistic documentary-style examination of a UN military effort to root out a terrorist cell isn’t unviable for America because of its content but rather because of its style. The concept of a team of soldiers using super high-tech military vehicles to fight terrorists has already been done in American animation and live-action like G.I. Joe (1985) and Megaforce (1982). Depicting the struggle in documentary style, first-person “found footage,” however, is totally unlike anything ever done in American cinema or even Japanese animation. Reality TV may be popular in America now, and “found footage” may have some lingering viability in America, but combining the two approaches with documentary and 2D animation results in a product seemingly designed to turn off American viewers.

Higashi no Eden is another anime revolving around terrorism that simply could never be produced in America. The fact that its protagonist is taken for a terrorist doesn’t preclude the possibility that the story could be told by an American production studio. The idea that the population largely disregards the initial terrorist attack seems a bit more plausible for a Japanese mindset than an American one, but even that idea could possibly work in an American setting. However, Higashi no Eden is a convoluted, dialogue-heavy suspense drama that requires a tremendous amount of viewer concentration. While the story could possibly get greenlit as a live-action American television series or feature, it’s far too literate and dramatic for American animation. There’s simply no significant sized American audience for domestically produced intelligent, provocative, dramatic socio-political 2D animation.

Certain anime involving terrorism would be impossible to create in America due to content concerns, ironically, unrelated to terrorism. Anime including Full Metal Panic, Gunslinger Girl, and Detective Conan can slide under the radar because they’re foreign imports, but they could never be produced domestically. Full Metal Panic involves an armed member of a private militia infiltrating a public high school. The concept is probably too provocative for any American production studio to touch. Live-action films like Hanna have depicted teen girls shooting people, but cartoons depicting children carrying and using firearms are strictly forbidden by American pop culture. Detective Conan, likewise, is filled with domestic and international terrorists and could never be produced domestically for fear of being accused of encouraging children to enter dangerous situations instead of alerting parents, adults, or authorities. The No. 6 television anime could never be produced in America, not because it depicts terrorists trying to undermine a government, but because it’s 2D animation that includes themes of child prostitution and homosexuality, concepts which are touchy even in American live-action cinema.

The final two episodes of Upotte revolve around domestic terrorism. The visual of the schoolgirl with assault rifle has been around in Japan since at least the late 1970s in examples like Jiro Akagawa’s 1978 novel Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, but the imagery of teen girls with guns is entirely foreign to American pop culture. American produced animation can depict adults carrying firearms, but not children. Moreover, the very idea of rifles anthropomorphized as teenage girls is a concept which could only come out of Japan. America would never produce an original animation like Upotte because America would never conceive of an idea like Upotte without being first inspired by a similar Japanese creation like Hetalia, Miracle Train, or Afghanis-tan.

Post 9/11 America isn’t so sensitive that the mere depiction of terrorists or terrorism in pop culture entertainment is blacklisted, distasteful, or too controversial. However, 2D animation is still considered primarily a medium for children, and animation in America is still subject to market viability. Practically any 2D animation that depicts children around guns is nearly impossible to produce in America because no television network will air it. Any sort of provocative, intellectually challenging 2D animation, including terrorism or not, is a longshot for American development because no American studio will want to invest in such a production that only a tiny minority of American viewers will be interested in watching because average Americans simply do not watch intelligent, provocative, adult-oriented 2D animation that’s not comedy.