The Influence Of Japanese Animation

The United States has been the leader in film and television since the rise of Hollywood, but one area of western visual entertainment has been lacking as a superpower. Animated television shows in the United States and all over the world have been increasingly influenced by Japanese style animation. This influence has been growing for over a decade and shows no signs of decline as hundreds of American, European and Canadian comic books and television shows emerge.

Brief History

The Japanese style of animation has roots in the Japanese comics called Manga. Manga is believed to have begun as long ago as the 12th century when Japanese monks used the likeness of animals to tell tales of corruption in the political system. Characters are typically iconic in the extreme. Very simple lines are used to show few exaggerated features. Emotions are often revealed by curved lines and colors.

Anime In The West

In the western world, the word anime refers to the Japanese style of drawing. There is even a term for western animation that is obviously influenced by the anime style. This western term is Anime-Influenced Animation. Many people believe there to be two mainstream styles of comic drawing and story telling; The Japanese manga and the American superhero. However, modern cartoons about highly symbolic American superheroes have even begun to take on an Anime influenced style. The current morphing of American style comics and cartoons is proof of the huge influence Japanese anime is having on the world. This Western style change most notably began in the 80’s with cartoons such as Transformers. Before this influence, American comics were a staple of American culture and ideals. Ruggedly drawn superheroes were more than iconic for many westerners, but times change and Japan has proven itself as a leader in comics and animation.

Adult Content

The Japanese style has proven influential for adult themed animations as well as children’s shows. Many popular late night western adult cartoons show a more mature Japanese style. Settings often combine western and eastern cultures. Manga and anime are no longer considered immature mediums. Many serious artists produce respectable works through Japanese influenced animation techniques.

Worldly Influence

It is not just the United States that has been influenced by Japanese animation. Europe and Canada have produced quality art with obvious eastern influences. It was a Canadian short film that became the first non-Asian work to win the Open Entries Grand Prize. The prize is given at the Anime Awards held in Tokyo, Japan.

Western Influence On Japanese Animation

Though the influence of Japanese animation on the rest of the world is obvious, it is also known that certain western films influenced the future of anime. A Japanese film maker named Osamu Tezuka began making anime films in the 30’s by adapting Walt Disney pictures. He first adapted Snow White and the Seven Dwarves so that it could use less frames and be more cost effective. This began as a way to create films on a low budget, but the simplistic style eventually took on a life of it’s own.

These top 10 Japanese anime lists can be very opinionated, but there are really some top choices that have created an influence all across the globe!

1. Princess Mononoke - Hayao Miyazaki is a prominent writer, animator, and film director. His name is often synonymous with the late Walt Disney. He has a keen eye for detail and story, and that’s what made Princess Mononoke such a great anime! Although, it was made in 1997, it still has a huge impact and looks ahead of its time!
2. Cowboy Bebop - This series was straight to the point; no realfillers during the series. The animation was on point as well as the characters giving the right level of mystique, punch, and panache. What really made this series shine on a number of levels is the music. The music made by legendary composer, Yoko Kanno, gave the anime the right direction and subtly it needed!
3. Pokemon - Beside, being a very unique and kid friendly anime, it is one that has transcended a number of countries. With it’s brilliant and warm feeling, it has captivated many homes across the world. It even transcended gaming, movies as well as merchandising!
4. Gundam  – The art style of the time as well as the voice acting and storyline made it a fan favorite among teenagers as well as adults. It had a very serious tone in contrast with more light hearted, wacky style animes. This was one that could be enjoyed by mature audiences with deep undertones.
5. Sailor Moon – This is another solid series that was intended for a younger teenage girl audience, but guys also watched it. It was well made, and had a real impact on the cosplay (costume playing) world as many girls would dress in their favorite sailor scout outfits!
6. Akira - From a more science fiction type of role, this would have to be at the top tier! The fact that an anime could influence pop culture with a worldwide known artist like Kanye West is spectacular. He parodied a scene from the movie in his song “Stronger” back in 2007.
7. Digimon - Digital Monsters were becoming really popular with devices like Gigapets and Tamagotchi pets. It served as a great alternative to a series such as Pokemon with a more serious overtone.
8. Ghost in the Shell -  This still remains a popular series to watch. The complex themes as well as the science fiction makes it a very stand out anime.
9. Slayers - The series has had a successful run from the early 90s all the way to 2009-2010.
10. Dragon Ball (particularly Dragon Ball Z) - From the countless games that come out yearly, a Hollywood movie as well as costumes, it remains a worldwide phenomena! Both kids and adults love this series! 

Train Man is a Japanese movie that centers around the life of a twenty-three year old man who plays on his computer and does not have much of a romantic life. That is until he is instrumental in stopping the harassment of some young women on a train by a drunk man, and he meets a woman who he later begins to date. This movie is supposedly based on a true story and has been so revered in the Japanese community that it has been adapted into not just a movie but also a television series, manga and novel.

The supposedly true story comes from a computer thread where an anonymous man, later nicknamed Train Man, told people about how he had helped fight off a drunk man from harassing a group of women on a train. This man apparently posted on the thread about how one of the women that he had helped was especially thankful for his service to her and asked for his address. The fable goes on to tell that after the Train Man received a gift from this particular woman, that he was advised by the other men on the thread to contact the woman, and throughout the course of the relationship of Train Man and the woman that he saved, it is said that he kept the people on the computer thread completely informed.

Whether or not the story of the Train Man is true, no one can really say for certain. Some people, including the producers of the television series, claim that they have spoken with the real man who is supposed to be Train Man. However, some have seen this as a way to increase the ratings of the show by making it seem like the story is true. Either way, the Train Man is a very compelling story that has captivated audiences in many different arenas of entertainment.

The book that the movie was based off of sold many copies in a very short period of time when it was officially released. The story of the Train Man has become so popular that other movies and stories have been named similar things to create a buzz for their Japanese release. For example, the American movie Napoleon Dynamite was renamed Bus Man for this purpose. This proves how the story of the Train Man has impacted the lives of people living in Japan.

The main thing about the movie Train Man that people love is that it is the quintessential love story. The Train Man is generally portrayed as an academic computer type that has not had a lot of love in his life, and the main female that he saves on the train is the typical damsel in distress. Men and women, alike, love to see the computer geek boy with no romantic life at all get the girl in a dramatic rescue. That is why this story has spread so far into the different genres of media, because it is a story that people never tire of hearing.

Densha Otoko which means “Train man” in Japanese is a shonen genre book. This book has been used as an example about the stereotypical nice guy who happens to be a geek and wishes for a girlfriend but is too shy to openly speak to others. Densha Otoko has turned into a popular success in Japan, as it has a television series, a full feature length film, and a manga series. The plot of the novel is described as the “internet generation love story from Japan”. It recounts what is possibiliy a true tale of a young otaku man who helps many girls from a drunkard on a train. The otaku man eventually ends up getting a girlfriend out his bravery. 

The story starts out when the young man witnesses a drunk harassing women aboard the train and struggles to stop the aggravation. Every time he finds himself in this situation, the women come up to him and thank him deeply for his kindness. The otaku, who never had this form of appreciation before, shared his experiences with posters on a forum called 2channel. From then on, he was dubbed Densha Otoko. One of the women showed her appreciation by sending him a fancy set of saucers and cups from Hermes. He was shocked at this gift and turned to his fellow 2channel posters for suggestions on the matter. The Train Man finally had several outings with the woman and began to change his nerdy demeanor, becoming more confident in his persona and looks. The novel’s success was international due to how many young men could relate to the main character and his shyness. The original novel was released on October 22nd, 2004 in Japan. An English translated version came out in 2007, which was published by Del Rey Books.

The way the book is presented is definitely unique compared to other Japanese novels. The story is written as 2channel posts that follow through fifty seven days. The story is made up into six chapters and has over twenty thousand posts from the train man himself and other 2channel posters with whom he converses. The author of the book is left anonymous under the pseudonym Nakano Hitori, which is a play on the words “Naka no hitori”, a word used to describe people who post on internet forums. Densha Otoko has played a large part in the popular culture of Japan and serves as inspiration for otakus who have trouble coming out of their shells.

Anime is a term for animation produced in Japan which has a very distinctive style that tends to feature bright colors and themes that Americans wouldn’t associate with cartoons. The word itself is the shortened form of the word animation in Japanese, and this form of entertainment has taken the Western world by storm over the last several decades.

The origin of anime’s unique style can be traced back to the 1960s, even though Japan was producing cartoons and animations as far back as 1917. Some of the earliest examples that Western audiences might recognize are the original “Astro Boy,” “8 Man,” and even the popular “Speed Racer” and “Voltron” series. However, as technology has advanced, various studios have created their own art styles and unique looks. Some have even experimented with 3D animation, leaving the distinctive, hand drawn style behind for many projects, though part of the appeal of anime is its unique, Japanese art style.

Another thing that makes anime really stand out, particularly among Western audiences, is that the themes it features run the gamut from child-friendly to highly provocative adult themes and everything in between. This isn’t a standard that a lot of audiences are used to, since we usually associate animation to be something for kids. The shock value of cartoon death matches can sometimes be enough to get an audience’s interest alone. However, the stories that anime tells also make it a unique form of culture and a distinctive story-telling mechanism.

Anime covers a variety of genres, from fantasy pieces like “Berserk,” to science fiction classics like “Armitage the III,” but no matter in what the genre the series or movie is taking place, anime is told with a distincly Japanese flair. Puns and slapstick comedy are some of the staples of an anime series, even those that have deathly serious plots and that feature characters with humorless professions or dispositions. Additionally, many anime series feature characters from countries foreign to Japan, and the way those characters are viewed is seen through a different cultural lens. For instance, American characters tend to be larger, rude, brash and occasionally brutish. Chinese characters may be seen as overly concerned with ceremony and history. Russian characters may be seen as convicts, killers or otherwise dangerous men and women. It’s a window into the way Japan views foreign countries, as well as a different way of telling a story.

In modern Japanese slang, otaku refers to an overly obsessed fan of any one particular theme, topic, or hobby. The term is used most commonly with anime or manga otaku, but by itself just means “fanatic.” Thus, there are many varieties of otaku in Japan, such as paso-kon otaku (personal computer geeks), game otaku, idol otaku, tetsudou otaku (metrophiles), or gunji otaku (military geeks), etc. Furthermore, while in Japanese the term otaku possesses a fairly derogatory air about it, internationally, the term has evolved to mean, simply, an obsessed fan of Japanese manga or anime (or more broadly, Japanese popular culture). Thus, outside of Japan, serious devotees of anime and/or manga proudly refer to themselves as otaku. Train Man: Densha Otoko is the allegedly true story of one otaku who posted his story on the famous internet bulletin board 2ch (http://www.2ch.net/). 2ch is the largest internet forum in the world. With over ten million visitors a day, 2ch is gaining a significant profile in Japanese society, competing for influence with traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. 4-ch (http://4-ch.net/) is an English-language website, with discussion boards for English speakers, presented in the style of 2ch. It also contains a board where Japanese 2ch users can talk to each other in Japanese.

Read More about Otaku Subcultures!

Cruising the Anime City: An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokyo
By Patrick Macias and Tomohiro Machiyama
(Stone Bridge Press, 2004, ISBN 1-880656-88-4)

If you’re into anime and manga, there’s no place like Neo Tokyo. Here, otaku dress-up cosplay-style for real, more than 100,000 fans attend cons to buy and trade their favorite wares, and anime soundtracks are performed in concert halls. Neo Tokyo is where anime has become both urban fashion and cultural zeitgeist, and this is its first street-smart guide in English. Featuring interviews with tastemakers, it covers studios, toys, museums, games, film “locations,” music, plus where to hang and how to cruise. Four-color, with maps and index. www.patrickmacias.blogs.com

Japan Edge
By Satoru Fujii, Carl Gustav Horn, Mason Jones,
Patrick Macias, and Yuji Oniki
(Cadence Books, 1999, ISBN: 1569313458)

This lively, idiosyncratic survey of Japanese film, music, animation, and comics showcases the experiences of five avid American fans: journalist Carl Gustav Horn, who writes about anime; critic and musician Mason Jones, who releases Japanese alternative music on his Charnel Music record label; Patrick Macias, a writer on Asian film for the San Francisco Bay Guardian; Matt Thorn, a translator and expert on shojo (girls’) manga; and Yuji Oniki, a student of Japanese mass media.

Akihabara

The opening of Train Man: Densha Otoko takes place in the central Tokyo neighborhood of Akihabara. Filled with urban noise and neon lights, this “Electric Town” provides the setting for a true love story. Akihabara (referred to by locals as akiba) is known as one of the largest shopping areas on Earth for electronic, computer, anime, and otaku goods. It’s known around the world as the mecca of otaku culture. Akiba otaku lead a unique lifestyle, based around technological interests and love for anime and manga. It’s a lifestyle that’s made them outsiders in Japanese society. However, recently, with the rapid growth of the anime and manga market in Japan, otaku culture has gained a higher profile and generated greater interest in the Japanese media. The film Train Man: Densha Otoko is based on a bestselling book, Densha Otoko, released in 2005, that generated a mass-media craze over all things otaku. >> go to Akihabara Links

Rental Showcase and Gacha Gacha

The first appearance of “Train_Man” in the movie has him shopping at a “rental showcase” shop in Akihabara. In these shops, you can rent display cases for action figures, miniatures, promotional tie-in prizes, premium trading cards, vintage gacha gacha toys, etc. Gacha gacha is a coin-driven toy dispensing machine, somewhat like what you at the entrance of supermarkets in America. In the movie, a gacha gacha machine appears in a street scene in Akihabara, where an otaku guy gets excited over his gacha gacha toy. Originally, gacha gacha were meant for children, but recently a great deal of excitement has been generated over toys for grown-ups (as distinguished from “adult toys”). These “toys for grown-ups” are usually well-crafted figurines, sold for 100-200 yen, depending on the complexity of the item. All gacha gacha toys come in a spherical plastic capsule, something that Train_Man happens to drop on the subway, though in this case the capsule doesn’t come directly from a gacha gacha, but from the rental showcase shop. >> go to Rental Showcases Links

Manga Café

A manga café (or manga kissa in Japanese) is a kind of café in Japan where customers can read manga. Customers pay for the time they stay in the café. They may also be offered internet access, video games, television, magazines, and beverages as part of the fee. They can order snacks for extra, and more luxurious and newer cafés may even offer massage chairs or spa rooms. The history of manga cafés is a long one. The first manga cafés opened in Nagoya in the late 1970′s. These tended to be ordinary coffee shops offering a large collection of manga available for customers to read on the premises. Nowadays the cost for a manga café is around $4-5 an hour. Some manga cafes even offer a service where customers can stay the night for only about $13, which is nice for people who missed the last subway. In April 2006, a man was arrested for living in a manga cafe for 34 days without paying. >> go to Manga Café Links