Anime is… difficult | Clockwork of the Universe #3

こんにちは! Anime is a really complicated topic to discuss, there’s no clear way to cut it. So, before I start I’d like to remind everyone to be respectful, and please, please don’t overgeneralize. Is this article biased? Probably, but so are most people discrediting anime.

So, what is anime?

Hunter x Hunter

アニメ is short for the word animation (アニメーション or animeeshon), and while the Japanese use it to refer to all animation, the West uses it to refer exclusively to animation coming from Japan. Nowadays, the archetype of anime is huge eyes and crazy hair, but anime is more than that.

A short history

Osamu Tezuka

The history of anime reaches as far back as 1907, and the first commercially released anime was “Namakura Gatana (なまくら刀)” in 1917. From the beginning anime was heavily influenced by Western cartoons, Osamu Tezuka — The Godfather of Anime — openly admitted that he was inspired by Walt Disney.

While Disney was definitely a blessing for anime, it equally was a curse, because their movies were sold cheaply in Japan as they already made the big bucks in the US, and that made it really hard for anime to compete with cartoons. Since it was so hard to sell anime it was mostly used for PR films for the military and government. All that helped form some of its defining features.

Anime vs. Cartoons

While both anime and cartoons are animated and share other similarities, there are some key differences between the two.

Violet Evergarden

Cartoons mostly focus on humor and satire, I feel like the stereotype of animation being for kids is still strong in the West and that definitely influenced the way cartoons evolved. On the other hand anime can be anything — if you can think of a niche it probably has an anime, there’s romance, comedy, action, mystery, slice of life, drama and more! Anime also definitely does a better job at appealing to all age groups. Almost all cartoons are made either for kids or full on adults (although there are some exceptions of course). In a way it’s closer to live action shows/movies than cartoons, while also allowing everyone to embrace their inner child.

No matter how hard they try most cartoons just aren’t very feelsy, whereas anime like for example “Your Name” can really tug at your heartstring. And even shows like “Attack on Titan” from which you wouldn’t expect much in the emotional department can make you search for a box of tissues.

A big hallmark for anime is its simplistic style most of the time, only to surprise you with a super detailed scene, you will never forget. Anime can also have very complex and engaging narratives.

This is only really scratching the surface. There's much more to anime, I can recommend this article if you’re interested.

The hard part

Yes, you can find some anime with strong sexual undertones (and straight up pornography), I won’t deny that. However, no one is forcing you to watch it, you can stop any time you want. And it is simply a part of Japanese culture, so you can’t just be like “Ban everything sexual from anime, because it’s animated and I don’t like it” that’s just not how it works. There’s more and more of this type of anime only because people want it and animation studios deliver because people will pay for it.

Three fun facts

As it stands over 60% of animation-based content around the world is anime.

The Guinness World Record for the longest running animated TV show belongs to an anime “Sazae-san” which has over 7500 episodes.

Moomins and Maya the Bee are anime since they were created entirely in Japan.

Recommendations

If this article made you want to see for yourself what anime really is, here are some recommendations (WH - watched by me):

• [WH] Patema Inverted [Adventure/Post Apocalypse/Sci-Fi]

• [WH] Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade [Action/Drama/Psychological/Romance/Alternate History/Thriller]

• [WH] Dr. STONE [Action/Adventure/Comedy/Post Apocalypse/Sci-Fi]

• [WH] Steamboy [Action/Adventure/Alternative History/Sci-Fi/Steampunk]

• [WH] Cells at Work! [Comedy/Educational]

• [WH] Penguin Highway [Fantasy/Sci-Fi]

• [WH] The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. [Comedy/School Life/Super Power]

• Spirited Away (and all other Ghibli works) [Adventure/Coming Of Age/Drama/Fantasy/Romance/Supernatural

• A Silent Voice [Coming Of Age/Drama/Romance]

• A Garden of Words [Coming Of Age/Psychological/Romance/Slice of Life]

• Your Name [Drama/Romance/Supernatural]

• Violet Evergarden [Drama/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Slice of Life/Steampunk]

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba [Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Historical/Supernatural]

• Parasyte [Action/Drama/Horror/Psychological/Sci-Fi]

• Cowboy Bebop [Action/Adventure/Comedy/Drama/Post Apocalypse/Sci-Fi]

• Erased [Mystery/Psychological/Supernatural/Thriller]

• Death Parade [Drama/Mystery/Psychological/Supernatural/Thriller]

• My Hero Academia [Action/Comedy/School Life/Superhero]

• Neon Genesis Evangelion [Action/Mecha/Post Apocalypse/Psychological/School Life/Sci-Fi]

• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time [Adventure/Romance/Sci-Fi/Slice of Life]

• Paprika [Fantasy/Horror/Mystery/Psychological/Sci-Fi/Thriller]

• Akira [Action/Adventure/Cyberpunk/Horror/Post Apocalypse/Sci-Fi]

• A Place Further Than The Universe [Adventure/Slice of Life]

• K-On! [Comedy/Slice of Life]

• Assassination Classroom [Action/Comedy/School Life]

• Tokyo Ghoul [Action/Fantasy/Horror/Mystery/Psychological]

• Attack on Titan [Action/Adventure/Alternative History/Drama/Fantasy/Horror/Post Apocalypse]

• Nichijou [Comedy/Slice of Life]

• Weathering With You [Fantasy/Romance/Slice of Life]

As you can see, anime is wildly different from both cartoons and live action, hopefully I made you revise your thoughts on anime.

Well, adieu!