Anime as a subculture

[LobsterMagnet]

Recently in my COM class I've been assigned a paper to do on a subculture. Couldn't help but start thinking about anime as a subculture. So I thought I'd get a little dialogue going and see if this could generate an interesting discussion (and maybe give me a few qoutes to borrow for my paper).

What defines anime as a subculture? Where does anime draw it's appeal from? How does one participate within the anime subculture and most importantly how has the anime culture come to influence mainstream culture. These are a few of the questions that I can come up with off the top of my head but there are many others. I hope that this will be the start of a nice intelligent discussion and I can't wait to see what you guys have to say. So do a little bit of self-reflection and think about what you have to say. Also please take this somewhat seriously and put some thought into your posts.

[DB_Hunter]

So basically you want us to do your paper for you...

OK so define what is meant by mainstream culture and subculture exactlly for starters.

[Honoko]

I'm assuming you're interested in our personal responses here.....unless you're wondering if any of us have actual academic knowledge on the subject.

I got into watching anime because while the cartoon style appealed to the kid in me, the themes and subject matter that some anime delved into actually appealed towards a more adult mentality. This disparity has always peaked my interest and even though in Japan these cartoons are actually focusing on the younger audience, American cartoons were always treated their kiddie audience a little TOO simply. As Miyazaki's Spirited Away proved, you CAN deal with difficult issues of good and evil, and moral relativity and still entertain the 9-yr-old. In terms of anime subculture influencing mainstream... I think that fairly obvious when you look at new cartoons that have come out during hte past few years. Samurai Jack is one.... I would think Kim Possible is another but I haven't really watched that show to actually vouch for it.

I'd write more, but I gotta go. Hope this helps.

[Assertn]

you just want us to do the work for you i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

I got into anime because

1) I was fascinated by the level of artistic freedom creators had with their series that is unheard of by US censorship standards. The ability to "push the envelope" farther than people are used to opens up a refreshing new approach to televised media, which is one factor that could also be attributed to the popularity of cartoons even in America, like Family Guy.

2) Simply put, stories with an extended plot gain more popularity over stories with plots so segmented that the order of watching it's episodes becomes a matter of preference over necessity. The ability to add more depth (and cliffhangers) beyond the 30 minute timeframe greatly enhances the creator's ability to hook an audience. The great thing about Anime is that it not only follows this trend, but, because it is animated, is also capable of telling stories that would otherwise be impractical for any budget-conscious live-action American series of a similiar extended-plot style.

[Lefty]

I got in to anime at very young age back when i was seven with Macross and Voltron. The big diffrence in plot, action, and complexty appealed ot my hyper active imagination. Also the comedy aspect beyond just simple fart jokes even t ot he point of making fun the genra it's self was fun but also the fart jokes were pretty funny as well. But Pushing the evalope as Assertn said was also a BIG draw to anime.

[masamuneehs]

I got into anime because it was on a totally different level from American cartoons. I always loved cartoons for their alternative ways of presenting plot, character etc, and the element of 'unreal' that animation can easily capture. At the same time I was very tired of the static, childish and mindless nature of most American cartoons. Anime is able to access unlimited genres and use numerous delivery techniques for telling a story.

What really made anime endearing to me was the fact that it deals with mature themes and serious matters (without just poking fun at stuff, ala South Park and Family Guy). I remember watching dragonballZ when I was younger and my parents (control freaks that they are) turned it off because it was 'too violent'. Needless to say that fueled my desire to watch it all the more...

Also, anime seems to be at a higher, almost more mature, level of animation than American cartoons. This gives a more realistic tinge to the story, IMO. You take things seriously because the people look so much like real people, and facial expressions can be so detailed (while not overexaggeratted, like the classic Bugs Bunny eyes-popping-out of the head thing) that it hits that much harder.

I'll post more later, but you better not just be a little POS and copy all that people write and use it as your own.

[XanBcoo]

My reasons for getting into anime are pretty much a collection of Masamuneehs' and Assertn's. But I also have to say that not all anime is mature. Not by a longshot. But it was the well animated, long running, or mature series that garnered my interest in manga/anime.

I'd say anime has a big enough fan-base to call it a subculture. I guess you could say the whole genre has sort of a cult following. A lot of anime fans have the usual geeky quirks that most fanboys/girls of anything have, like having their own lingo to go along with their fandom (in this case, using Japanese terms - like Otaku). Anime has also given its fans a certain familiarity with Japanese culture. I'm curious, was anyone else attracted to anime because of the cultural aspect?

Something related to this that bugs me. Quite a few anime fans seem to be Japanophiles. These people come either in the form of Seiyuu praising, subtitle loving, dub-bashing people or those who refuse to acknowledge any other type of animation or comics other than their praised anime. Seriously, it bothers me sometimes when people watch crap shows just because it's anime, or because it's Japanese and bash anything else because it's "Stoopid American crap". Though I must admit, I can be guilty of this too.

[KitKat]

I agree that you need to define what characteristics you use to define a subculture before we can classify anime as such. Tentatively though (in my extremely uninformed opinion) I'd say that it qualifies. Anime is like.....belonging to a secret club. A lot of people don't let on that they watch it, but every so often they'll let hints drop that signify their membership in the ranks of those who every week check the torrents to find the latest episodes of their favourite series. Then there are the people who are the proud supporters of anime, the ones who are the presidents of the anime clubs, who plaster areas with bright anime posters, who use japanese words in regular conversation, who call together all those like-minded for conventions and special anime events. Granted, these are the extremes and most of us probably fall somewhere in the middle, but the fact remains that even though anime is gaining in popularity it isn't quite mainstream. Bah, I have to go. And I totally forgot the point I was going to make i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif
Ah well, I'll come back to this later.

[LobsterMagnet]

LOL my initial post didn't come across like I intended it to. Don't worry I'm not going copy and paste your posts and string them together to write a paper. But it is very facinating to start this conversation take a step back and critically anylse it. Reading your posts is just getting me more excited to start researching and writing this paper. So many different facets. When I have time I'll tell you guys about the house of popular culture and maybe start to fit aspects of anime culture into that frame. Although before I finish this post how do you think the anime subculture has effected the mainstream culture. There's a certain awkward give and take between the two. On one end i'd say that in some respects that anime has certain nerdy taboo quality that many makes many people feel prejudiced against it. Yet at the same time a huge anime influence can be seen throughout mainstream culture. Such examples would be anime inspired sequences are seen in major motion pictures (i.e. matrix) and there are numerous non-japanse animated series that have aped the artstyle for their own (Totally Spies, Teen Titans, Code Lyoko, Avatar etc.). Manga are also becomming greatly more prevalent and widespread then before. Curious to hear what you guys think.

[XanBcoo]

Originally posted by: LobsterMagnet
On one end i'd say that in some respects that anime has certain nerdy taboo quality that many makes many people feel prejudiced against it. Yet at the same time a huge anime influence can be seen throughout mainstream culture. Such examples would be anime inspired sequences are seen in major motion pictures (i.e. matrix) and there are numerous non-japanse animated series that have aped the artstyle for their own (Totally Spies, Teen Titans, Code Lyoko, Avatar etc.). Manga are also becomming greatly more prevalent and widespread then before. Curious to hear what you guys think.

I think all of that pretty much sums it up. It's easy to see how anime is being incorporated into American pop culture more and more. Over the past few years, there has been a HUGE increase on the anime titles shown on television (mainly Cartoon Network), and I think it really is catching on. And not just with anime. In fact, manga titles are now the best selling graphic novels at bookstores like Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Waldenbooks.

Some of the things influenced by anime are arguable, but some are obvious (again, like the Matrix). Oh, I'd also like to point out that I've noticed that the anime community and video game community are very closely related. If one is a fan of either video games or anime, it is pretty likely that they are a fan of the other.

Here (http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,1134596,00.html) is a good article I just read that is pretty relevant. It's mainly about marketing anime in America, but it has a lot of good points about anime "culture" in general. It's kinda long though.

[LobsterMagnet]

XanBcoo you are a fricking god. Thankyou so much for posting that great article. If any of you also have stumbled across anything noteworthy please post a link.

It's interesting to note the general connection between videogames and anime. There is no doubt that it's undeniable. because of the powerhouse japanese developers who have been so tremendously influential upon the video game industry. Although I do feel a bit saddened when I think about all of the mega publishers (Ubisoft, EA, Activision) have stolen a great deal of thunder from many of the accomplished japanese developers. Although when they still hold a great deal of influence (for any further proof just look at the reaction everytime hideo kojima releases a new MGS trailer) but I can't help but feel that the new breed of mainstream gamers who buy each new yearly edition of madden are in some ways destroying this long standing tradtion.

[LobsterMagnet]

Sorry about the double post but comon guys what happened? This thead was going so well did you all just simply lose interest? There is so much to discuss I really hope that this thread dosen't simply die in the shadows.

[Carnage]

I started watching anime(dragonballz) when i was 5. The action hooked my brain and when i grew later i just started watching crap that i was more used to. I started watching better animes and realized why would I watch American shit when I can these GOOD stories. There is never anything good in either the movies or on Tv. (some shows are an exception: family guy)

[Cal_kashi]

strictly speaking anime isn't a subculture.
At least not as subulture is defined by Becker.

[LobsterMagnet]

Wait what do you mean how is anime not a subculture? Here's a definition of subculture as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary.

2. [SUB- 7.] A group or class of lesser importance or size sharing specific beliefs, interests, or values which may be at variance with those of the general culture of which it forms part.

Such things to explore would be the history of anime (when it emerged and how)
How is it a subculture in relation to the dominate culture.

Mythic/Cultural mindset-values beliefs

Artifacts materials and rituals, this area is particularlly easy to define, just think about cosplayer or the ritualized attendance of anime convetions.

Harder thing to pin down is the history and cultural mindset of anime fans. Such as what are the dominate views, what makes a person a legitimate anime fan vs. someone who just likes to watch the dubbed pokemon.

Another interesting facet is the anime subculture's relationship with the dominat culture. In many respects there is a certain taboo that's associated with anime (association with hentai hasn't really helped boost anime as legitmate artform). People who are extremely dedicated towards anime or people who attend said conventions and cosplay are looked down upon. There is certain loathing that comes form the dominate culture towards the anime subculture but at the same time dominate culture is forced to acknowledge anime culture contribution. This can be seen by all of the anime influences that have been pillaged from by a variety of socially acceptable main stream icons (matrix, nickelodeon, MTV)

[masamuneehs]

Lobster, was wondering if you'd finished your paper yet on anime as a subculture (assuming thats the subject you did it on). Was hoping you'd post a link to it here (or maybe just put the text in one long Post).

What interests me is that anime is clearly a subculture of Japanese culture (and some other Asian cultures' influence, obviously) but it seems to have grown into something different. I am not so much interested in the origin of anime as a subculture, but the direction it's been taking in the past couple years and where it might go in the future. The biggest thing I've seen is that anime has started to form even smaller subdivisions of itself, (mecha, shoujo, school life, ancient Japan (samurai, ninja), boys love, sci-fi, folklore specific, just to name a few), and I'm wondering which will die out and which will enjoy greater popularity (along with the changes and traditions institutionalized in each)...

[LobsterMagnet]

When I'm finished with it I'll post it here but for the time being I got finish up some other papers. But please feel free to contribute more towards the discussion. For example have any of you received any sort of social stigma towards your enjoyment of anime. I know I'm always cautious before I say anything when I meet someone new I never mention anime until I have an all clear knowing that I won't be wrongfully judged. I remember there was some thread posed by assertfailure or one of the other forum member where he was having a date with a girl and she spent half of it making fun of him because of the fact that he watched anime.

[XanBcoo]

That was Mut, before he was banned. And I do think it's true that anime gets a bad rap. A lot of it might come from the sheer geekiness of a lot of fans though, and the rest from some of the bad anime that mainstream American culture is subjected to. I'm not hesitant to say I like anime, though I'm never a fanboy about it (wearing anime t-shirts, and speaking in pseudo Japanese, for example).


The biggest thing I've seen is that anime has started to form even smaller subdivisions of itself, (mecha, shoujo, school life, ancient Japan (samurai, ninja), boys love, sci-fi, folklore specific, just to name a few), and I'm wondering which will die out and which will enjoy greater popularity (along with the changes and traditions institutionalized in each)...
I don't think of those as "subcultures", but more like subgenres within anime that will always exist. I also don't think any genre has shown itself to integrate into culture any more than the others (hell, look at the anime on American tv now, I'd say it's a pretty wide variety). What's really nice are the genre defining titles, that push themselves beyond any stereotypes or cookie-cutter plots. But, undoubtedly, there will always be shows that are exactly the opposite (we're still getting eva-clone mecha series, loads of harem shows, and epically long shounen adventures).

[LobsterMagnet]

Aha! It's finished now all that remains is proofreading. Enjoy!



In 2002 I encountered two surreal moments. The first being when my family traveled too DC where the Art Ceremony was being held for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. I had won a writing award but the contest also honored considerable achievements in the field of art. There was an art exhibition being held showing off the entire collection of award winning pieces of work that had come in from throughout the country. There was everything from drawings, paintings, sculpting, and pottery. Out of all the pieces on display one in particular caught my attention. I and my little brother both gave a chuckle as we recognized one of the award winning artist pieces to be a sketch of a pokemon, to be more specific, pokemon #245 Suicune. The second surreal moment occurred latter that year in the fall. A video game was released called Kingdom Hearts. The game was produced by SquareEnix a famous and iconic Japanese video game studio that has had an extremely influential role within the greater spectrum of anime culture. What made this game much more significant then other video game releases was that had been produced in cooperation with Walt Disney. In the ultimate fusion of eastern and western influences the two entertainment giants had joined forces to produce an original product fused with influences from both corporations. No where is this more apparent in the design of the main character Sora (see reference photo in back). He represents ultimate marriage of east and west design aesthetics. He serves as a bridge between the vast gap of eastern and western culture. The character features large circular oval eyes and unrealistically spiky hair and feet that are greatly deformed and oversized in classic Disney fashion. In the game he serves as the players avatar as they are accompanied by a redesigned Donald Duck and Goofy travel from world to world based upon famous Disney movie properties (i.e. Peter Pan, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland) in search of Mickey Mouse, while encountering a variety of iconic video game characters from SquareEnixs Final Fantasy video game series. This was the ultimate indication that the anime had finally pierced into the great spectrum of popular culture.
Both socially and economically anime has quickly risen as both a financial source of revenue and as its own social subculture. In 2005 box-office receipts and DVD sales are expected to generate $5.2 billion globally (Rowley, Dawson, Tashiro, Moon, 50). Animes book print counterpart Manga comics have also been steadily increasing in terms of revenue generated. In 2003 Manga comics generated $100 million in annual sales and in 2004 increased to over $140 million (Reid 30). Game, toys, and marketing tie-ins to anime characters and films generated $18.5 billion in Japan (Rowley, Dawson, Tashiro, Moon, 50). Such profits have motivated American comic publishers like Marvel, DC, and Image to create their own in-house Manga publishing divisions. What originally started as an expensive niche hobby in the 1980s with fans trading and selling video cassette tapes within a tiny subset of devoted fans willing to pay exuberant prices (Videos cost up to $100) has now exploded into a full blown industry (Reid 31). ADV one of the most successfully licensors and distributors of anime has even launched a 24/7 television network devoted towards airing the companies vast catalogue of over 1,500 titles. (Reid 33). Anime as well as manga have enjoyed a wide array of exposure in recent years. Most movie retailers have an anime section and book chains like Walden Books and Barnes & Nobles now feature store sections devoted towards paperback Manga. Even public libraries are beginning to build collections of anime and manga.

A Brief Overview of the History of Anime

Anime rose out of the post world war II situation as a direct extension of manga comics. A great demand for entertainment rose up in the post war environment since the population had been under a great deal of stress during wartime. Film served as an the most suitable form of entertainment for the era especially considering that most of theatres had been destroyed and white walls could be used for screenings. In this setting let to a great rise in demand for entertainment and since no Japanese film industry existed at the time this created the environment where manga comics and anime could proliferate. The most influential figure for both anime and manga was Osamu Tezuka who was as significant a figure for Japan as Walt Disney was for the west. He took the American comic book format and experimented with it creating a unique visual style that caught the eyes attention as the action drew itself from panel to panel. As the post world war II generation grew older they continued to read manga comics allowing the medium to grow and expand and branch out to a wide variety of genres. From science fiction, adventure, romance, to domestic drama, manga comics covered a wide variety of topics targeting different audiences, genders, and age groups, as opposed to American cartoons and comics which continued to be labeled as a commodity designated for children. Osamu Tezuka created the first Japanese black and white TV animation studio to produce animation in 1963. The first colored animation series was Kimba the White lion adapted from the popular manga. In order to reduce production costs Tezuka produced new animation techniques which became known as limited animation which is a term used for time saving techniques that limit the animation but still create the illusion of movement. An example of such a technique would be to slowly pan across a large painted image to give off the illusion of movement. This form of animation lead to many of the stylistic conventions that have come to characterize anime such as freezing a frame or focusing on the eyes and face of the certain characters emphasizing emotion. As economy grew and industry expanded different studios sprung up and wide variety of productions were produced for feature films, broadcast television, and direct to video projects. A great volume of material was produced throughout the 1970, 80, and 90.
American television was still in its infancy so many studios were desperate for programming. In the 1960s early anime shows like Speed Racer and Gigantor were rewritten and adapted for American television. Introduction of VCRs allowed bootlegged anime tapes to be viewed in the United States. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s anime began to catch the attention of small groups of people. These groups usually formed as offshoots of science fiction clubs. They would gather together and watch the bootlegged tapes that were often in the original Japanese without subtitles or dubs. Sometimes they would trade tapes or even go as far as to add their own subtitles. In the late eighties anime feature films began to proliferate in small art house theatres and college theatres would get a hold of anime feature films and play them again and again. This is where the roots of the anime subculture in America began (Scrolls to Screen: History and Culture of Anime Warner Home Video 2003).
As new communication mediums developed so did a wider exposure towards anime. Anime started to gain exposure on VHS as part a niche underground culture. But companies such as ADV began to license anime and bring it over to the United States selling it on VHS tapes then latter DVDs. Internet becoming more accessible to the mainstream granted other methods which Anime could be brought over and shared between avid users. File-sharing programs like BitTorrent helped form the creation of a whole underground community known as fansubbers. Fansubbers are anime lovers who swap their own subtitled versions of programs, and frequently get them into circulation before the original series hits the domestic market (Solomon 2.4). Fansubbers consist of small teams of people who go through a veritable assembly line of work that can collectively accumulate over twelve hours of labor to get a half-hour show ready for English speakers. People in Japan record an anime show then upload it to the internet, usually only hours after it has aired. Fans that are fluent in Japanese download the raw and then write up a rough translation in a text document and post it online through message board or forum. Translations go through multiple drafts where mistakes and mistranslations are rooted out. Self-appointed editors then begin to scrutinize the transcripts asking questions such as how well does the dialogue fit in to the context of the situation. Then the final person encodes the completed version. There are many different fansub groups that compete against one another to see who produce a final encoded file with the fewest glitches best filters and translation. The File is then distributed through file sharing programs like bittorrent (Roth 109).

Breaking into the Culture

Academic teacher Donna Mahar undertook a unique anthropological endeavor. She immersed herself within the prominent anime subculture that had developed at the middle school in which she worked. As she immersed herself she was surprised to find, A world full of rich and complex communication strategies that far surpassed the liner expectation of print text often presented within the classroom (Mahar 110). She discovered that anime subculture possessed a wide variety of codes, conventions, and tools. She observed the lunch group culture that had developed around anime and the unique social clique that it had developed.

Jocks, preps, skaters, and goths were all drawn together by their common knowledge of anime vocabulary, story grammar, and gaming rules. The lunch group formed a cultural identity around their devotion towards to anime. This cultural identity, or discourse, became part of each members identity kit, or way of being people like us (Gee, 1996, p. viii). This eclectic lunchtime community supported Gees concept that membership within a discourse is not static; relations are fluid, changing with the flux of new members, new situations, and new information. This is not to say that there was a completely open door policy to this emerging community. The core group of anime fans offered informal, verbal quizzes as a type of initiation of their lunchtime domain. These quizzes also served to support an unstated power hierarchy within the group. (Donna Mahar 111)

Throughout her study Mahar identified two leaders distinctive groups leaders. The first was Rob who established his authority through his knowledge of rules and tactics video and card games with an anime focus. The second was Madison who focused more on writing fan fiction as well as drawing anime-inspired artwork. As the year progressed Mahar noticed how the anime community split into three subdivisions. First was Rob with Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh card group. Second was with Joe whose group focused on drawing manga. The third was with Madison whose group focused on writing their own anime-based comics, stories, and fan fiction. Students would move freely between the subgroups especially Rob and Madison who had a considerable knowledge on a variety of different anime aspects (Mahar 114). Mahar also observed how the students out-of-school interest in anime encouraged them to use multiple literacy practices that had been taught in the classroom. She even witnessed literary discussions where student would make analogies comparing characters from the works of Tolkien to those in popular anime.
Anime: Rituals and Artifacts
Anime serves a unifying basis for a variety of people to meet up and socialize with one another. Many anime fans travel hundreds of miles to attend large conventions. An estimated 250,000 to half a million fans attend these tradeshows and conventions that are held all across the country (Roth 102). The annual Otakon convention that held in Baltimore attracts 22,000 anime fans where they each pay $55 to attend. The Anime Expo in Anaheim attracted to 33,000 (Roth 102). Another common phenomenon that takes place at these conventions and tradeshows is the practice of cosplay. The word is a contraction of the English words costume and play. This is when people dress up as their favorite manga, anime, or video game characters (see back for reference photos). Conventions in America often include both Cosplay and Costume contests. The Cosplay or "Masq." is a skit contest done in cosplay costume.This can range from a single person quoting a character's famous line to a 10-member cast singing and dancing to an animes popular theme song while in proper attire. The costume contest is often a test of skill, design, and audience reaction. The contestants are judged either before hand or on stage and then walk across said stage while the audience cheers. Mike Tatsugawa Chief executive officer of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation puts it best A lot of this isnt necessarily about anime: its about a community. These kids all know all the characters, so theres an instant connection between them (Mckinley E1). People from different socioeconomic backgrounds, different faiths, and different races meet up and socialize at these conventions because they are universally bound together by the various characters and stories that the all know and love.

Sub vs. Dominate: Animes relationship with Mainstream Culture
Anime has had a very unique relationship with popular mainstream culture, a relationship that could be described as schizophrenic, at best. While anime has gained more mainstream appeal and exposure, there still remains a hefty stigma that is attached onto it. This comes from the more adult aspects of anime and Manga which deal with sexuality in manner that is often quite foreign to western sensibilities. A great deal of the appeal that lies in manga and anime, sexual and nonsexual, is created by the sense of other-ness. Animes and Mangas feature large departures from Protestant Christian tradition seen in the U.S. featuring elements of romance, love, nudity (often nonsexual), and sex-related content (Cornog, Perper 4). Both anime and Manga have been frequently accused of encouraging misogyny and violence. An article written Bremner Brian for Buisness Week Online best exemplifies these views. Here he relates his experiences and fear of raising his daughters in Japan.

Anime also has another, darker, side that really unhinged me. A lot of Manga is basically soft porn, in which cute cartoon figures, often in school uniforms, are portrayed as objects of sexual desire and act accordingly. Every day on the train I would see middle-aged men reading this stuff, staring at ultra cute cartoon heroines doing really naughty stuff. In Japans pink trade (adult entertainment industry), phone booth flyers are full of come-hither pitches from girls in the late teens, some of whom cradle teddy bears or look like they just walked off the schoolyard. This wasnt cute anymore. I began to wonder if Japan was in the grip of some sort of massive Lolita complex. I started to project 15 years ahead and see Elena and Marie in their twenties, hanging around Shibuya (a youth fashion conclave in central Tokyo) in school uniforms, with Hello Kitty pendants dangling from their mobile phones, sending out cube vibes to get the attention of creepy guys. I didnt exactly wake up in the middle of the night screaming, but at one point I did feel an urgency to get the girls out of Japan as soon as possible. (Bremner)

Ethnocentrism leads to a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to sexuality dealt with in the anime and Manga. Martha Cornog and Timothy Perper are two psychologists in the field of contemporary psychology after thoroughly analyzing a wide variety of manga and anime titles said At their best, manga portrayals of sexuality are powerful, vivid, and deeply emotional. The sine qua non or pornography-which we take as a depersonalization of the individual and reduction of the personhood to genitalia-is strikingly absent in much manga especially translated manga (Cornog, Perper 5). They even went as far to say that the images of rape and sexual assault against woman does not condone or glorify the act of rape but rather shuns and discourages it because retribution and revenge are usually enacted upon the rapist. Genuine hatred for rape motivates these stories (Cornog, Perper 5).
An interesting contradiction that lies within the Anime subculture is the use of the Japanese word Otaku. In Japanese the word has strictly negative connotations. It is used to describe someone who is an extremely obsessive anime fan. Its similar to being designed as a Trekkie. Although in America many fans have tried to attempt to change the connotations of the term to something more positive, along the lines of boast or badge or pride. The typical otaku stereotype is a fat middle-aged, unshaven, man wearing glasses fantasizing about an anime girl or doll. Anime fans and cosplayers are stereotypically lampooned as being overweight or otherwise unsuited to the characters they attempt to portray. An issue with cosplaying anime and manga characters is that these characters generally do not have bodily proportions that can easily be mimicked by many typical cosplayers (i.e. gargantuan muscles or giant breasts). Anime fandom is stilly considered to be a negative offshoot of geek culture. Popular culture often targets anime fans for parody. The best example would be the Comic Book Guy character seen on the Simpsons. What makes this all the more interesting is the inherent symbiosis that takes place between popular culture and anime. Its no secret that anime has greatly influenced popular culture and one does not have to look far to see where. Anime has filled the airwaves on Cartoon Network and can be seen on a variety of other stations. All of the matrix films have been heavily influenced by anime. A number of U.S produced cartoon series have taken on an anime art style. Examples include: Totally Spies, Teen Titans, Code Lyoko, and Loonatic Unleashed which is Warner Brothers attempt to reinvent their classic Loony Tunes characters designed for the new generation weaned on anime. The pinnacle of cross over style is Nickelodeons Avatar an original action series produced by the network that features a blatantly anime art style (see reference photos in back). Avatar has enjoyed a great deal of success being the most popular show on TV for boys 6-11 and regularly winning its 8 p.m. Friday times slot with children 2-11 (DiMartino, Konietzko 2.19). There is no doubt that anime will continue to have a large impact on mainstream popular culture. As time passes more anime is being important from Japan and being exposed to a wider audience. What was once a niche subculture could become the dominate form of entertainment in the next millennium.

[Carnage]

wow. I dont know what manga this guy is talking about. At most they nudity is show only for very comedical purposes. And if people were really perverted, then they'd just be reading plain porn.

[PSJ]

There is mangas with sex scenes, rape and other stuff along those lines. There is a very graphic sex scene in Berserk for example. You can't judge all manga based on the few shounen titles you read.

[XanBcoo]

Your essay really reminds me of one I did for my rhetoric class Lobstermagnet. It deals with a lot of the same stuff. Decent overview of the anime-culture.

[KoKo37]

whoa thats prety good, normally i wouldn't read all of it though it was about anime n from a gotwooter XD.

i never really looked into anime culture and stuff like that, so a lot of this stuff i found really interesting. Iv never been to japan although I knew that they had rape mangas n stuff ( i watched a show on it.... -.- ) personly that kinda stuff in manga all the time is disturbing, however if its just one part of the manga like PSJ said, then it doesn't really bother me too much. Iv never been to an anime convention before though that would be pretty cool to talk about anime n dress like them too lol. Personly i think overall that it was a very good report and you derserve a high grade for it XD

[Cal_kashi]

yeah, i guess with that definition of subculture, theres no porblem with anime as a subculture. My statements were based on the definition I was taught for subculture:
"A culture-within-a-culture; the somewhat distinct norms, values, and behavior of particular groups located within society. The concept of subculture implies some degree of group self-sufficiency such that individuals may interact, find employment, recreation, friends and mates within the group"

[KaosSinner]

I know everything is finished in this thread, the work completed and the opinions stated, but not mine. I wanted to post my opinion anywayl, dont care if no one reads about it, I have nothing better to do right now. Many of my points might have been mentioned before by other people, different people may have same opinions after all.

Anime in the same way as other cartoons were first created to entertain children. The main difference between anime and american cartoons lets say, are the different directions they have taken. Anime has become an important subculture with a greater purpose than to merely entertain children. Over the passing years it has become an art, a channel to express peoples ideas, thoughts and belief, just like painting and music, it has become a way of expressing peoples feelings. Anime and Manga display a very accurate picture of our society today. Through proper interpretation we can appreciate all the critisms, ideal scenarios, different cultures that are present today. This conception is only understood by real anime artists and anime lovers.

Most of the people that I know of do not have the same image as I do of the anime world. A great majority of people think animes are for children, theyre too childish, not worth giving it a try, people watching those things are total freaks with no social skills whatsoever. However, I dont think that way. As an anime supporter, Im not embarassed of liking anime, I let people know about my hobby very proudly. You could say Im some sort of anime missionary. I try to get as many people as I can to give this a try. Elfen Lied and Full Metal Alchemist are always what my recomendations.

Going back to the subculture thing, anime is used in my opinion to preserve the countries culture and at the time introduce new ideas and foreign cultures. It has now taken a more commercial form coz money is always a motivator. having reached every country in the world, it still ramains as a niche. The reason might be the anime producers are better off by selling to the niche market rather than the mass market. In this way higher prices can be charged thereby keeping anime as something rare and valuable.

That all guys. I know its boring but, who the hell told you to read it?i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif

[KoKo37]

Originally posted by: KaosSinner
Most of the people that I know of do not have the same image as I do of the anime world. A great majority of people think animes are for children, theyre too childish, not worth giving it a try, people watching those things are total freaks with no social skills whatsoever. However, I dont think that way. As an anime supporter, Im not embarassed of liking anime, I let people know about my hobby very proudly. You could say Im some sort of anime missionary. I try to get as many people as I can to give this a try. Elfen Lied and Full Metal Alchemist are always what my recomendations.IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif" border="0[/IMG]

i totally agree with you there XD, its so annoying when people are like "0mG YUo's like Animez?' when they never even watched like more then 1 espisode -.-, like i dont mind if they watch like 20 espisodes then dont like it, nor if they dont give anime a try and dont talk about it. however if they start saying it sucks and stuff and its kids only without watching it, that can be annoying at times because they see like one childish English dub espisode of something then they judge *All* anime based on the 23 mins of one show they saw -.-, though i dont usally let people get on my nerves less they keep repeating it over and thinks it makes me shamefull to hear something i admitted -.-t lol. ne ways im not embarassed to talk about anime, if a espisode of something will make a good part of a discussion then il talk about it i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif ( less the person doesn't like the show or has never seen the espisode b4 >: ).

[XanBcoo]

I think you mean English Dub, Koko. In any case, a lot of people's bad impressions of anime comes from shows like Pokemon or Yugioh. Which is unfair.


Anime in the same way as other cartoons were first created to entertain children. The main difference between anime and american cartoons lets say, are the different directions they have taken. Anime has become an important subculture with a greater purpose than to merely entertain children. Over the passing years it has become an art, a channel to express peoples ideas, thoughts and belief, just like painting and music, it has become a way of expressing peoples feelings. Anime and Manga display a very accurate picture of our society today. Through proper interpretation we can appreciate all the critisms, ideal scenarios, different cultures that are present today.
I completely agree with that. Very good points.

[masamuneehs]

If there is an 'answer' to this topic, I think Kaos just about has all of it accounted for.

The only thing I find lacking in this discussion about anime is how it is a business. Anyone who suffered through Gundam Seed: Destiny knows that anime is a huge tool for marketing to an audience that cannot just be captured by picking various movie or TV genres. Namely, the correlation between video games and anime (and, for younger audiences, card collecting and anime) is pretty evident. Then, naturally you have action figures and the more expensive Model Kits.

In a way, anime has created its own kind of economy to go along with its culture. Unfortunatley, that means that some shows will just overdose you with plugs for model kits, cards, and the like. Cash is king. I suppose greed and ugly ambition sneak their way into every kind of culture.

[LobsterMagnet]

There is absolutely no entertaiment industry that is as fricking comercialized as anime. A really good exploration of these sort of subversive marketing tactics can be seen in the PBS documentary: the merchants of cool. If you can get your hands on it by either download or hardcopy I highly recommend it since it details the process of marketing cool used by massive conglomorates like MTV. Same messages can easily be applied by anime.

I'll do some summerization for you off the top of my head. There are expert researchers called cool hunters who go about and track down trendsetting kids. Kids, and teenagers who lookoutside their backyard for inspiration and find things outside the norm to choose for their trends. These cool trendsetters often create new subversive niche cultures based around their findings as well as influencing other peers. What happens once a cool hunter finds this property is that it is mined, marketed and then distriputed towards the masses. Thus forcing the cool kids who may have started the trend in the first place to move on and abandon what they found. The paradox of cool hunters is that they invariably kill what they find.

Examples of this can be seen in such stores like hottopic which has literally created an entire brand around creating the illusion of subversive against the norm rebelious punk/goth culture by selling subversive sarcastic t-shirts promoting bands, movies, and anime. But if you look very carefully you can tell that despite the alternative culture image that hottopic uses a very coporate buinsess tactic such as selling tie-in promotions to recently released movies like the burton remake of charlie and the chocolate factory. As well as to cult favorites like Napoleon Dynomite.

A good example of this that I'm observing right now in the anime world is what's going on with naruto. Naruto started out as a cult anime phenomena that was spread by word of mouth and proliferation of fansubs. It has reached it's peak of saturation and began to decline. This decline has been created by numerous factors (fillers, released of dubbed naruto in US.) forcing those who originally discovered naruto in the first place to move on to other anime (i.e. Bleach) or different anime genres or series. Now naruto is becomming to gain momentum in the states, evidence of this can be seen in the increasing amount of naruto merchandise available in hottopic (naruto jumpsuite featured as a sweater, more and more common use of forehead protectors) I believe that once the chuunin exam arc begins to air in the US that naruto will begin to start building up to critical mass. About this time educated anime fans such as us will begin a massive movement denouncing naruto making it a taboo in our society similar to what's happened with Yu-Gi-Oh, pokemon, and dragonball z. Once something that we once found special and to be exclusive to us is taken and accepted into the mainstream culture is when we begin to reject it since it loses it's original niche quality. To a lesser degree this has happened with Full metal alchemist.