Ask John: Why is Anime Not as Respected as American Superheroes?

Question:
Why are things like X-Men, Spiderman, Blade, Superman, Batman, and Daredevil embraced in such a loving way by adults and “important” people in this nation but manga and anime is almost shunned and ridiculed and they shrug it off as cartoons?

Answer:
If we compare the current American mainstream success of native comic book heros to imported Japanese animation, I think the difference is seniority. American superheroes have been a familiar component of American pop culture for over 50 years. On the other hand, anime has only been “mainstream” in America for roughly 15 years. Persecution from the Comics Code Authority, years of bad comic book film adaptations, and very little mature content in comics themselves and little mature marketing to mainstream America before the past two decades or so have plagued the American comic book industry and characterized it as a children’s market. It’s only within the past 15 years or so that American comic books and comic heroes have begun to be recognized as cultural assets and respectable cultural icons. So it’s taken a long, long time for American comics to even begin to be respected by mainstream American society.

One of the major differences between the perception and acceptance of the American comic industry and the contemporary status of Japanese animation in America is the fact that contemporary reaction to comics is being shaped by influential people that grew up with American comics. Successful and influential film-makers like Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro, Ang Lee, Sam Raimi, and Bryan Singer grew up with a respect for and love of American comic book heroes. Their respectful treatment of live action movies based on their childhood heroes has encouraged the mainstream American respect of superheroes as characters with value and appeal beyond the realm of children’s comics. If the same thing is fated to happen with the American reaction to anime, it may take another few generations before today’s youngsters who are now growing up with anime as a familiar part of their lives are influential adults that can inspire others to similarly respect anime.