Ask John: Why Do Americans Criticize Anime-Style Animation?

Question:
Why do anime fans complain when Americans create a show like Teen Titans? They call it an anime rip-off, but is it really? Anime started as an copy of American animation, so could Americans be doing the same thing? Taking something they like and developing it into a new art style?

Answer:
I believe that the urge to assail something like the Teen Titans cartoon, which emulates typical anime conventions, is a defensive reaction. For anime fans outside of Japan, anime is a unique treasure, so there’s a natural defensive reaction toward anything that threatens the role of anime. If anime becomes too conventional or too common, it looses much of its appeal because it’s no longer novel and unique. The scarcity of anime contributes to its perceived value, so when it’s common and often imitated, its value to fans is lessened. So to defend against that adulteration of anime, fans label imitations like Teen Titans a “rip-off” to weaken its power and potential to undermine the potency of anime.

Whether or not the Teen Titans cartoon is or isn’t a rip-off of anime depends largely on perspective. Without any doubt, the superficial style of the Teen Titans cartoon was based on Japanese animation, and was done so to tap into the American interest in anime. The Teen Titans debuted in 1964 and were first animated in a 1983 anti-drug abuse public service television commercial produced by Hanna Barbera. So in print and animation, the Teen Titans never resembled anime characters until the debut of the 2003 Teen Titans television series during the height of America’s interest in anime so far. Obviously, the radical change in design style from the traditional American super-hero look of the Teen Titans to the 2003 anime style look was a conscious marketing decision. So critics who wish to slam the show for cravenly adopting a superficial anime style in order to cash in on the American anime craze can call the show an anime rip-off. On the other hand, the show has been successful, and by most accounts is quite good. Furthermore, there’s no logical reason to criticize an imitation of Japanese animation if it’s constructed and executed successfully. Exhibiting homage to another art style isn’t inherently disrespectful or reprobate. If an anime style production exhibits poor quality, it deserves criticism and ridicule. But slandering something only because it exhibits influences from something else is narrow minded and judgmental.

Numerous times I’ve heard the argument that anime is merely a copy or extension of American animation and therefore inherently inferior or eternally indebted to its ancestry. That theory is simply Neanderthal because it denies the possibility of evolution and improvement. The fact that contemporary Japanese animation may have grown out of inspiration by American animation doesn’t mean that the two schools of art are the same or that contemporary anime owes anything to American animation. By such skewed logic, contemporary comics are a rip-off of pre-historic cave paintings and modern movies are a corruption of the traditional form of ancient Greek tragedies. The origins of an art form as relevant for academic study, but are not contemporary limitations or defining standards. The fact that anime was influenced by American animation fifty years ago doesn’t mean that contemporary anime is a clone of American animation or that anime has to live up to the standards of American animation.

Likewise, the fact that the Teen Titans cartoon is “anime style” does not mean that it is anime, and does not mean that it should be compared to anime. Comparisons are valid for analytical study, but expecting Teen Titans to match the standards of Japanese animation fails to responsibly recognize the independent qualities of the Teen Titans show. In other words, taken on its own, the Teen Titans cartoon has nothing to do with anime. It’s an American cartoon in Japanese style which fans may independently choose to watch and enjoy. The Teen Titans cartoon only becomes a threat to anime fans when its success encourages the “Americanization” of Japanese animation. To put it bluntly, the Teen Titans cartoon doesn’t concern me so long as I continue to get the unadulterated Japanese animation that I prefer. If animation is apples, American animation is green apples and Japanese animation is red apples. The green apples may taste better; they may be more scientifically advanced; they may adopt characteristics of red apples. As long as the red apples I prefer remain untainted, I’m satisfied, and may even respect and encourage the development and diversification of the green apples.