Ask John: Why Do Many Americans Think that American Comics Are Copying Anime?

Question:
(Yeah here’s a doozy for ya mr.john better anwser it. Sure you had same questions like this over and over.)

I got total respect for you otakus and animefreaks (ANime fans) but I get tired of wapanese (wannabe white people trying to be chinks) think whenever americans make cartoons they assume to think it looks like a ripped off, so whats up with that? Are they blind and they jack off to hentai cause you recommended to them? Or they’re just brain-dead losers who hang out here to ask your almighty wisdom to further there hatred because they live in a country that give them freedom of speech and does not force things on them?

(Editor’s Note: Question presented exactly as it was received.)

Answer:
It’s an advantage to my career that I’m not especially easy to offend. I’m not particularly fond of intentionally malicious racial slurs (as opposed to racial epithets used with satirical intent), but they don’t offend me as I’m aware that people exist who do use them, and have a constitutional right to use them. I wish to explain, as politely and objectively as I can, that I wouldn’t normally reply to a question like this that exhibits obvious, albeit misapplied, racism and obvious ignorance of basic literacy. In this case I’ll make an exception, not only because of the direct challenge – which itself is not motivation enough for me to respond – but also because I do receive questions of this sentiment on a fairly regular basis. So I think that my response may be of use to a wide audience. Furthermore, in this particular case, I’m willing to address this question because I think that the question itself may be as enlightening to readers as my answer.

While I’ll try to be objective, I am an anime fan, so my response will be inevitably biased in favor of anime and its fans. That said, I think that it’s reasonable for Americans to frequently accuse contemporary American cartoons and comics as “rip-offs” because many of the examples they cite are influenced by Japanese art, or are intentionally patterned after Japanese art. Craig McCracken’s Powerpuff Girls seems obviously inspired by anime, considering its color palate and character design style that emphasizes large, round eyes and rounded features reminiscent of Astro Boy. Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack seems to be an obvious homage to Japanese animation considering its combination of sci-fi and samurai action. Executive producer George Lucas has publicly referred to Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars cartoon as an anime style work. The Megas XLR and Kappa Mikey cartoons are acknowledged homages to Japanese animation. The American Teen Titans cartoon was unmistakably designed to replicate Japanese animation characteristics. Although the Puffy AmiYumi cartoon doesn’t overtly resemble conventional anime, it stars real-life Japanese pop stars.

In the comic book realm, veteran American comics like Ninja High School and Gold Digger have been consciously inspired by manga, and have sought to parody manga. Marvel Comics developed its “Marvel Mangaverse.” DC Comics has published works including the Death: At Death’s Door graphic novel that consciously emulate Japanese manga. And publishers including TOKYOPOP and Seven Seas have diligently tried to eliminate the association between “manga” and “Japanese” by publishing and promoting “OEL” Original English Language manga. In other words, non-Japanese comics exhibiting superficial characteristics of Japanese comics.

The argument may be made that modern anime was influenced and inspired by American animation of the 1940s and 50s, but extending that argument to the point of saying that contemporary American animation that emulates anime is merely copying that which was American in the first place is an egregious fallacy. Disregarding the fact that modern Japanese animation has evolved and developed its own, unique characteristics over the past half-century is a gross error in logic. Modern anime may have been influenced by American animation, but that fact has little bearing on the fact that a significant number of contemporary American cartoons and comics emulate Japanese art. The modern Japanese art that American artists are copying has virtually no resemblance to the American cartoons of the 1940s that originally partially inspired anime.

In effect, examples prove that American anime fans are sometimes justified in claiming that contemporary American comics and cartoons “rip-off” anime, although “rip-off” may be an unduly harsh description. I find it particularly ironic that this question specifically emphasizes that America does not mandate its citizens tastes, yet at the same time criticizes Americans for exerting that right. I’m aware that there is a sub-culture of Americans who are so enamored with their limited perspective on Japanese culture that they seem to automatically respect anything Japanese and condemn anything American. I personally believe that these people are simply young and inexperienced, and allow their enthusiasm to cloud their objective judgment. While their exuberance may sometimes be aggravating, I respect their eagerness to expand their cultural and intellectual horizons beyond their own culture.

I’m also aware that there is an American sub-culture of people who instinctively dislike the modern American fascination with Japanese pop culture. This knee-jerk opposition to the “wapanese” sub-culture seems, to me, narrow-minded and ignorant, especially unwilling to admit that there are a number of examples that literally prove that American cartoons and comics do sometimes “rip-off” anime and manga. I’m not referring to American cartoons that copy Japanese animation that copies American animation. I’m specifically referring to American cartoons that copy distinctive, uniquely Japanese artistic characteristics. I do think that many of America’s “wapanese” are blind to indecorous Japanese cultural characteristics like modern Japanese sexism, social pressures that have resulted in one of the world’s highest suicide rates, and a rigorous educational system that emphasizes short-term accumulation of factual knowledge over analytical reasoning skills, and environmental awareness that falls behind America’s in many respects. At the same time, I think that those Americans who indiscriminately chastise fans of Japanese pop culture tend to overlook arguments that weaken their case, and narrow-mindedly refuse to respect other people’s right to individuality and personal expression.