Ask John: Why Do Non-Japanese Anime Fans Bash Kids’ Anime?

Question:
I often see anime fans bashing kids anime like Dragonball, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Crayon Shin Chan, Hamutaro, etc. Why do especially American anime fans bash kids’ anime? In Japan, kids’ anime fans are the elitest fan of all anime fans. Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain, Evangelion. Those anime are for newbies. Everyone can find that they are good. But the good kids anime are difficult to percieve why they are good. I don’t watch kids’ anime, but that only means that I need more practice to find fun in kids’ anime. If I say that some kids’ anime are trash, I will be bashed by the Japanese hardcore animefans, about my training shortage. Why do the non-Japanese anime fans that bash kids’ anime not see them clearly?

Answer:
It’s probably inevitable that there will be objections to my opinion about this topic, so I feel that it’s particularly necessary to clearly state up front this this is my personal opinion, which should be taken as one of many possible explanations.

I believe that American anime fans often denigrate anime intended for children, ironically, because of their own immaturity as anime fans. I don’t mean to imply stupidity or conscious discrimination. I mean literally that the anime fan community in America is still so young that many American anime fans haven’t been fans long enough to benefit from experience. Anime has existed in Japan for fifty years, but the big explosion of anime in America only occured about five years ago, and anime fandom in its entirity has only existed in America for about 30 years. Furthermore, the popularity of anime in America has recently exploded so quickly that it hasn’t given fans enough time for rational reflection, evaluation and consideration. First impressions and unvalidated theories are the order of the day because the rapidly expanding hobby in America forces many new fans to have opinions before these fans have had an opportunity to coalesce educated opinions.

I know from first hand experience, after watching thousands of hours of anime over the past twenty years, that nothing teaches more about anime than actually watching anime. Seeing screenshots, reading reviews and summaries, and seeing clips and trailers are an effective way to form an impression about a particular anime, but only watching that anime personally provides a truly accurate knowledge of what that anime is really like. But in the case of most anime series targeted at Japanese children and families, the only exposure to these shows that American viewers have is through second hand material like still images, second hand reports, and edited American releases. Since most Americans don’t have access to imported anime titles like Crayon Shin-chan, Doraemon, and Chibi Maruko-chan to watch, we form opinions of these shows based on our cultural expectations. Americans expect children’s animation to be simple and often built around advertising related merchandise to children. Furthermore, Americans are used to children’s animation teaching fundimental and easily grasped moral lessons like “Honesty is the best policy,” and “Teamwork is best.” So Americans assume that since these characteristics appear in American children’s animation, these characteristics must also typify Japanese children’s animation. Only the experience of actually watching Japanese children’s anime reveals that these shows are often more thematically and morally complex and mature than we give them credit for being. Most American anime fans don’t realize that Japanese children’s anime do sometimes deal with more mature concepts, in more mature ways, than American children’s cartoons do. Furthermore, only experience reveals that Japanese children’s anime are frequently much less condescening than we expect them to be. Many American anime fans are so entrenched in their native assumptions about children’s cartoons that they refuse to even consider the possibility that their American stereotypes may not precisely apply to non-American animation.

American anime fans, I believe, also consciously distance themselves from children’s anime as a method of validating their own self image relative to their native standards. Americans are taught from birth to believe that cartoons and comic books are for children. Continuing to enjoy comics and animation past the childhood years is percieved as a sign of immaturity; an unwillingness to accept reality. The appreciation of mature animation like Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and Wolf’s Rain is easily defended as an appreciation of contemporary art. But many fans that enjoy young adult oriented anime find themselves compelled to condemn children’s and family anime in order to reinforce their own, self imposed deliniation between childish and adult interests. Evangelion is “good” because it’s obviously literary and artistic. Dragonball and Pocket Monster are “bad” because they’re obviously commercial and apparently lacking in cinematic, thematic, artistic and intellectual value. In other words, “adult” anime is good while “kids'” anime is bad because “adult” anime can be easily rationalized while children’s anime is embarrassing. It takes a lot of maturity, and a lot of heartfelt interest in Japanese animation for an American adult to have an interest in watching Japanese children’s cartoons.

When phrased that way, the argument that anime like Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop are easy to be a fan of while only the most devoted anime fans can appreciate children’s anime becomes clear. Adults that appreciate children’s anime must be mature enough to disregard externally imposed arbitrary sanctions. A real, hardcore anime fan ignores what other people think and refuses to criticize children’s anime just because it is children’s anime. Many American anime fans, I think, criticize shows like Dragonball and Yu-Gi-Oh not because of the quality of the shows themselves, but rather as a psychological way of protecting themselves from their own anxieties. The rationale is, “I’m not childish because I don’t like kids’ anime.” Unfortunately, this subconscious defense mechanism may prevent many American anime fans from actually seeing the value and quality that does exist in many children’s anime series. Shows like Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion that are popular in America typically last 26 episodes- half a year. Programs like Detective Conan, Dragonball, Sazae-san, Pokemon, Anpanman, Crayon Shin-chan and the like continue for years and years and hundreds or even sometimes thousands of episodes. These children’s shows continue to entertain multiple generations of viewers. Presumably there’s got to be something good about them for them to remain successful and popular for so long.

It’s not necessary or even advisable to like every anime series. Critical evaluation skills can only be developed by having selective tastes and subjective interpretations. But patently denying the relevance and quality of any and all children’s anime is narrow minded and contrary to the goal of becoming an educated and experienced anime fan. I think that many American anime fans “bash” kids’ shows like Dragonball and Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon not because they dislike the shows, but because they feel a psychological necessity to do so. I think that anime fandom is still too new in America for a majority of American anime fans to yet realize that it’s okay to be interested in Japanese children’s animation. The very point of being an American anime fan is to be interested in the art and culture of a foreign country. Right now, the way children’s anime is treated in America, in particular the heavy editing imposed on American television broadcasts of shows like One Piece, Tokyo Mew Mew and Pocket Monster, only help cement the instinctive American fan reaction against Japanese children’s shows. I hope and believe that more experience and maturity will make more American anime fans realize that what they should be criticizing isn’t Japanese children’s anime itself, but rather the way such anime is treated in America. A show like Yu-Gi-Oh is unquestionably an extended advertisement for collectable trading cards. But that doesn’t mean that the Yu-Gi-Oh anime itself can’t be entertaining or can’t reveal something about Japanese culture. And even if a show like Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon may have little intrinsic value, it’s unfair to presume that all children’s anime has minimal artistic or literary value.