Anime misconceptions don’t stop its popularity

As printed in The Northern Light newspaper
Aug. 23, 2006

Japanese culture has a large impact on the entertainment industry. Anime sales in the U.S. are over $5 billion annually, according to a 2005 BusinessWeek article, and video game sales are estimated around $7 billion in 2005. Anime and video games are closer to mainstream than ever. As the first generation to grow up with video games and anime, today’s young adults and their children are likely to be much more accepting of these entertainment forms than older ones.

Hollywood is starting to catch on too; movies based on video games (“Silent Hill,” “Doom”) are increasingly common, while big names like James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson all have different anime- or manga-related projects in the works (manga are essentially Japanese graphic novels, which many anime are based on).

While most people are familiar with at least the concept of video games, many don’t know exactly what anime is.

Put simply, anime is animation from Japan. Although in Japan the term refers to any work of animation, here in the West the term refers to Japanese animation specifically. It also suggests a certain style of drawing, movement and story elements that are associated with anime. While most anime titles share these stylistic traits, they don’t have to fit any mold to be anime; they just have to come from Japan.

But some people still have misconceptions about anime, due to limited exposure. Whereas some think of heavily merchandised kids shows like “Pokemon” or “Yu-Gi-Oh,” others might hear Japanese animation and go the other extreme, thinking of xxx-rated tentacle monsters or gruesomely violent shows like “Fist of the North Star.”

The fact is, anime is a medium, not a genre. Saying “I like anime” is akin to saying “I like movies.” Anime contains the extreme examples cited earlier and everything in between. It includes the same genres as every other medium: drama, romance, comedy, sports, action, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, erotica and so on.

Unlike U.S. television, most anime shows run for only a year, with a complete story told in 13-26 episodes. Without the constraints of live action, most anime tends to contain some fanciful elements, though a few are very down-to-earth and realistic. Of course, some genres are more popular than others, and shows are of varying quality – just like Western entertainment.

That’s where this column comes in; it will feature the newest entertainment to come out of Japan, while keeping readers up-to-date on the latest trends, industry happenings and other analyses. Both newcomers and otaku alike should find something interesting as this new biweekly column examines these cross-cultural mediums, which are too often overlooked but fast becoming part of our mainstream.