Japanese well-known product, anime and manga, have become increasingly popular throughout the whole world. Alverson (2013) have noted that in New York Comic Cons (New York Comic Convention), the amount of people attending the event has been increasing since 2000 (p. 23). Exner (2012) also appreciate the fact that anime has become mainstream form of entertainment (p. 28). So, what are they? In many people’s understanding, anime are Japanese cartoons and manga are Japanese comics. This belief is not wrong, but there are some fundamental differences that differentiate anime and manga from American comics and cartoon. Unlike comics which are mostly aimed at children, manga aim at audiences of various age and therefore have some genre that comics did not (Poitras, 2008, p. 49). This fact is also shown in the higher display of violence in anime than in Disney cartoons (Disney VS anime, 2000, p. 22). Additionally, manga stories usually tell a single tale with several volumes whereas comics generally have one story per issue (Poitras, 2008, p. 49). As noted before, these types of Japanese entertainments are becoming increasing popular throughout the whole world and many scholars are recognizing so (Fennell, Liberato, Hayden & Fujino, 2013, p. 440).
As these Japanese products stretch through the world, they also carry with them the Japanese culture depicted in their stories. Depending on the stories, the aspect of culture they depicted may be different. However, there are two particular facet of Japanese culture that reappear several times in the several manga and anime. The first of these two is the assimilation of Japanese religion, mythologies, and folklore into the content of the stories. According to Plumb (2010), many anime and man...
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...7). Shinto in Japan. Shinto In Japan, 1.0
Levi, A. (2013). The sweet smell of Japan: Anime, manga, and Japan in North America. Journal Of Asian Pacific Communication (John Benjamins Publishing Co., 23(1), 3-18.
Marciano, J. N., Ferreira, A. L. S., Carvalho Correia, A. C., Miranda, L. C. & Miranda, E. E. C. (2013). Karuchā Ships Invaders: Cultural Issues on the Design/Development of a Japanese CALL Game made by/to Brazilians. SBC – Proceedings of SBGames, 172-180.
O'Malley, R. & Bryce, M. (2012). Fantasy Can Speak the Truth: Focusing on the Manga Series, "Fruits Basket". International Journal Of Learning, 18(9), 81-89.
Plumb, A. (2010). Japanese Religion, Mythology, and the Supernatural in Anime and Manga. International Journal Of The Humanities, 8(5), 237-246.
Poitras, G. (2008). What is Manga?. American Libraries Association, 36(3), 49. doi:10.1075/japc.23.1.02lev
-Nara’s Buddhist temples were another result of cultural diffusion, Buddhist began in India in 500s B.C.E. about 1,000 years later, it came to Japan from China by way of Korea.
Image and Text.” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 33.2 (2006): 297-317. Jstor. 12 Oct 2011.
“Sailor Moon broke the mild with a girl’s show but with one whose characters fight and look pretty at the same time” (Allison, 128). Sailor Moon, while not being one of the first, was one of the most successful in North America because of its crossover appeal and the time it came in, which was all about female empowerment. “Institutions like the media are peculiarly central to the matter since they are, by definition, part of the dominant means of ideological production” (Hall, 82). Media often reproduces ideology. In the case of manga, we see these animations as a representation of Japanese culture since Manga is something that was created and produced by the Japanese.
Ogawa, D. (1993) The Japanese of Los Angeles. Journal of Asian and African Studies, v19, pp.142-3.
Greene, Carol. Enchantment of the World Japan, p. 97. 28 Pitts, Forrest R., Japan. p. 78. -. 29. Davidson, Judith.
Japan is part of our world that not many people know, for the few that do, they know that Japan is filled with an extraordinary history. Some of the history starts with little traditions like, the tradition of kimono’s, to big ones such as their well known Japanese festivals. Ancient Japan was a series of islands and many cultural expansions which included religion, armies, art, classic traditions, and their type of clothing. Ancient Japanese is still alive today, from basic works of art, to then a following of certain religions such as Shinto and Buddhism. Many Americans don’t the cultural aspects that were attributed by many across the world, they don’t know that many of those aspects made what Japan is today in society.
...t on music within Asian and Western society. Within the initial use of both traditional and modern musical styles and genres in order to create a diverse musical culture within a modern cultural, social, and economic movement, Japan has shown a wave of modernization through animation. With the various aspects of music that anime has approached in its spread across the globe, it proves to be a diverse and rapidly changing culture in Japan. With the success of anime in various areas on a global scale, of Japan is able to show a highly diverse subculture that originates from their nation exclusively that has impacted many different areas in life with both their close national neighbors and those who are even across the globe, showing how the large subculture within the island nation has grown since its inception and how much potential it has in the many years to come.
porn cartoons" which isn't remotely true, especially seeing as how "90% of anime is aimed at children." Also, because of the "cartoons are for kids" mentality, just a small amount of violence sets people off when what they need to understand is that violence happens. "Events have consequences. That's why violence is in the movies. People get shot, and when they do, they fall down and stay dead. This is something you don't see in American cartoons." "Sexual content is usually only hinted at and rarely explicit." "One thing to remember is the American press often makes statements about sex in anime that are untrue." Some people think anime is bad and evil due to what the media says, even if they have never seen it themselves, and what happens is censoring and it makes getting anime to be brought over to America that much harder.
This paper will explore what it is about anime that makes it so appealing to even a Western audience, creating an international fan base. Although manga can be traced to American origins, the comics that the Americans brought over have been intensely modified to create essentially a new form of media. Manga and anime have become a significant component of Japanese culture, and often times they integrate Japanese culture and society. Yet, regardless of its Japanese origin, anime is still viewed on the other side of the planet. The question then becomes what is it that makes it so appealing to a foreign audience? This paper will rely heavily on Susan Napier’s book, From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the
Roberts, Jeremy. Japanese Mythology A to Z (Mythology a to Z). New York: Facts on File, 2004.
Denison. B. (2002, January 1). A Basic Overview of Japanese Culture . . Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.mizukan.org/articles/culture.htm
In comparison, tone of medieval age Japanese literature becomes more intense, realistic, and darker in scope as focus shifts more to the lives and interests of people outside of court. In particular, the warrior class contributed a lot to Japanese literature during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, because of the increase in civil wars and shift in political power. This is clearly evident in the works of gunki monogatari, especially “Heike Monogatari,” because the tales depict inelegant things that were not to be mentioned in Heian period literature, such as blood and gore.
Many of us, if not everyone, has heard of the country of Japan through various means. Possibly through popular films such as Godzilla or the renowned horror films which the country produces. Perhaps through the various anime TV shows that have been dubbed in English creating a massive fan base here in the United States, or the massive franchise Nintendo that has filled our child memories with countless hours spent in front of a screen playing Mario or Pokémon. One way or another the Japanese have shared their culture with a huge audience but thats only scratching the surface of the Japanese culture. The country of Japan wasn’t always the islands that we see there today, the formation of the islands occurred during 50,000 BC and ended in 10,000 BC following the end of the last ice age. This is when we find the first signs of civilization in Japan but they are nowhere near the modern day Japanese culture today. The early beginnings of today’s Japanese culture dates back to the year 538 AC with multiple time periods slowly building up to today. The Japanese culture of today shares a few aspects with our American culture we are familiar with, both cultures love baseball, we both have representative democracies as a form of government, and both cultures do not label outsiders differently and accept them just as equally. Even though we may share aspects of our culture with the Japanese our cultures couldn’t be anymore different from each other.
Western Washington University (2011). US / Japan culture comparison. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from www.wwu.edu/auap/english/gettinginvolved/CultureComparison.shtml
Anime is a popular type of entertainment, primarily watched during one’s freetime that was originally created by the Japanese. Its origin stems back to World War II in which cartoonists and artists were enlisted in order to utilize art as a form of propaganda to rally their nation together against its enemies (novaonline.com). As World War II ended, propaganda was no longer necessary and cartoonists soon introduced a new form of entertainment that is now known as anime. Around the 1980s and 1990s is when anime began to flourish, becoming significantly well-known in America. Through the late 1900s and 2000s, numerous new animes were released which have since then gained much popularity, for example, Naruto, One Piece, Future Diary, Sword Art