Ask John: Why the Hate for Emo Anime Characters?

Question:
I am a beta male, and as such I enjoy male anime characters that express their emotions. To me, it gives them more depth and personality as a character. However, I see such a blatant disgust among the western fandom for these kinds of men. They are dubbed as being too “whiny” or “emo.” I often hear from fans how they wish that anime men went back to being more masculine. What’s wrong with a male anime character having angst, sensitivity, and emotion? Isn’t that part of being human?

Answer:
Speaking as an American male, I do appreciate seeing assertive, masculine male protagonists in anime. I appreciate that Ao Fukai in the current Eureka Seven Ao isn’t a whiny pushover. I appreciate the way Kuroko no Basuke’s Tetsuya Kuroko and Medaka Box’s Zenkichi Hitoyoshi feel no hesitation to express their thoughts. However, at the same time we also see characters like Accel World’s Haruyuki Arita, Sakamichi no Apollon’s Kaoru Nishimi, and Tsuritama’s Yuki Sanada who have varying degrees of self-loathing and anxiety. As Americans, we should remember at all times that anime isn’t primarily made for us. Anime is designed to be accessible to Japanese teen viewers, so typical anime for male viewers either present idealized characters that viewers can aspire to be or characters that viewers can easily empathize with and relate to. While Americans are socially encouraged to be outgoing, independent, expressive, and socially adjusted, Japanese society still values a degree of personal restraint and decorum. While public expression of personality is far more tolerated, and even encouraged in contemporary Japan than it was in past generations, school aged Japanese boys are still largely expected to conform to formal, disciplined, rational structures of behavior and appearance that conflict with public displays of anxiety and emotion. In other words, many real-life Japanese teen boys continue to sublimate or consciously restrain their emotional and psychological anxieties. It’s precisely because many real-life Japanese teens do this that anime incorporates teen boy protagonists like Haruyuki Arita, Suzumiya Haruhi’s Kyon, Gantz’s Kei Kurono, Guilty Crown’s Shu Ouma, and Hyouka’s Houtarou Oreki who monologue to themselves about their frustrations and anxieties. The appeal of such characters to Japanese viewers is a sense of empathy, a confirmation that such perspectives and thoughts are normal and common among teen boys.

Here in America male expressiveness or angst within pop culture has been largely associated with lacking masculinity and outright ridicule. Objectively, there’s nothing “wrong” with emotionally tortured teen boy protagonists in anime. They serve a relevant purpose for their core demographic anime viewer. But since Americans aren’t the core demographic viewer for anime, Americans don’t perceive or react to these characters quite the same way that Japanese viewers do. Americans typically have a different expectation and demand from anime than Japanese viewers. Where Japanese viewers want anime to be an alternate world that they can immerse themselves in and relate to, Americans want anime to fit into their world, satisfy their real-world expectations and demands for exciting, engaging fantasy entertainment that makes sense to an American perspective. Typically American anime viewers don’t examine or react to anime protagonists in terms of how contextually the character fits the setting of the story or how appealing the character may be to Japanese teen viewers; Americans perceive anime characters in terms of their own uniquely American standards and expectations and how believable or likable the character seems to be from an American’s judgement. Since contemporary Americans collectively disparage “emo” tendencies and exhibitions in both real life and American popular fiction like The Twilight Saga, naturally Americans automatically apply the same judgements and standards to imported pop culture entertainment, even when applying such foreign standards isn’t actually appropriate. Judging American pop culture by American standards is logical. Judging imported Japanese pop culture with American standards doesn’t make much sense, but countless American otaku do so regardless because they act without thinking about the logical appropriateness of their reactions.

In effect, the disparagement of “emo” anime characters is a nearly unavoidable knee-jerk reaction. Americans are culturally indoctrinated to respect Alpha males, and the contemporary marginalization of the goth and emo interests in American teen culture has consciously widened the distance between lionization of assertive, masculine fictional characters and derision and enmity for “emo” characters. Given the vast diversity of anime available to American viewers, and even the diversity of characterizations found in contemporary male anime protagonists, there’s plenty of anime available to satisfy all tastes. Emotionally and psychologically conflicted male characters may not suit the taste of every American otaku, but roundly criticizing their very existence is a short-sighted, narrow-minded rejection based on immediate, instinctual reactions and not on rational, considered thought. No otaku is expected to like everything, but automatically criticizing certain types of anime characters just because they exist or seem especially prevalent in contemporary anime fails to consider the cultural and timely explanation and reason for their existence.