Is Jikken-hin Kazoku Anime?

KJJ Animation & Big Firebird Animation’s currently airing “Jikken-hin Kazoku: Creatures Family Days” seems to be blurring the clear distinction of “Japanese animation” more than any prior production ever. “Shiyan Pin Jiating: Frankenstein Family,” as it’s known in its original language is a Taiwanese manhua series by Hong Kong-based creator Yanai. The Japanese translation of the comic is published by Comic Bunch. The animated television series adaptation is written by Cai Zhiheng and directed by Wei Tianxing. In fact, the only Japanese staff member on the animation’s executive production team is sound director Tomohiro Seki. Despite the animation being produced by studios that have previously only produced animation for Chinese broadcast, Jikken-hin Kazoku appears to be specifically intended for Japanese television broadcast because it’s only audio language appears to be Japanese. The anime consists of fifteen minute animation segments bookended by nine minutes of live-action introduction & commentary from the Japanese voice cast.

Beyond any doubt Jikken-hin Kazoku looks indistinguishable from any other conventional Japanese produced anime. Its animation has a low frame count resulting in the animation looking a bit stiff and occasionally jerky, but even some concurrent fully Japanese produced shows this season also exhibit sub-par animation quality, for example, Devils Line and Lost Song. The show contains no on-screen Japanese text outside of its title card, but the show also appears to be set in an Asian country besides Japan.

But unlike conventional “anime” that derives from Japanese scripts and Japanese animation character designs, the principle design development of this show had no Japanese creative involvement. My own long-standing definition of anime is “animation created by Japanese creators for Japanese viewers.” While Jikken-hin Kazoku appears to have been created for Japanese viewers, none of the visual component of the animation nor any of the series’ script was created with any Japanese creative input. The show was not created with and from a native Japanese psychology and creative perspective. So strictly speaking, Shiyan Pin Jiating is a Taiwanese animation dubbed for Japanese release, meaning that it’s not “anime.” I’m honestly undecided on whether to consider this series “anime.” Perhaps if this is the first of future non-Japanese created shows to be produced for the Japanese market and be practically indistinguishable from authentic “anime,” the rigid definition of “anime” will have to evolve and expand in response.

For the present, I’m highly curious to know how other fans classify this show.