Anime's International Appeal
Chuck Lovelace, president of the Animation Society of St. Charles, Missouri, says, "Animated films are consistently rated higher with Japanese audiences than live-action films mainly because they deal with such a variety of themes, unlike our own, which are usually funny" (qtd. in Fenning). In America, we usually associate animations with cartoons, which are primarily two-dimensional television programs for children, the majority of which are too simplistic to hold any adult interest. We usually think of animation as something imaginative and unconcerned with the real world, entertainment for children. In Japan, animations are created with a multitude of audiences in mind: there are some for children, some for teenagers, and many for adults that cater to a wide range of real interests.
Unlike most American animations, which are episodic in nature, most Japanese animations feature a complex plot with multidimensional characters that develop over time. In anime, the world of reality merges with the world of fantasy. As in reality, there are unexpected twists of plot and theme. The actions of the characters have consequences, for good or ill. Characters make mistakes and learn from them. They are challenged, defeated, and killed; they are not all victorious superheroes. There is no fixed boundary between good and evil: evil characters can do good deeds, and good characters can become corrupt and selfish. Some characters simply remain ambiguous. Even though Piccolo is the arch enemy of the hero Goku in Dragonball Z, he takes a liking to Goku’s son, Gohan, and trains him in the martial arts.
After what usually amounts to several volumes, most anime has a tendency to come to a climax, one that challenges the experience and abilities of all of the characters, and then a resolution. The eventual conclusion of the story is one of the points that many fans find unique and attractive about anime. Eri Izawa, an anime fan, writes, "…the anime or manga is often carefully crafted to either jerk tears out of your eyes, or make you stare in wide-eyed absorption to the very last line of the credits…. think of the ending to any truly good movie, and you probably have it." The bad guys aren’t always defeated at the end, either. From her observations, Izawa writes about three possible endings: "…the hero wins (the throne, the person of the opposite sex, whatever), the hero dies (usually after winning), [or] the hero sort of wins (usually after a great loss)." American animations, because of their episodic nature, usually lack the buildup of thematic momentum and the sense of closure that a complete story can provide.
In anime, the world of reality merges with the world of fantasy.
Copyright © 1998 by Sheri Le