Summary: From Impressionism To Anime

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

West.
Though many anime have been dubbed over and domesticated to fit into Western society, many anime viewers in the West still watch original Japanese productions with fansubs. These particular anime series include genres such as school, fantasy, romance, etc., and incorporate specific cultural facets of Japan exclusively. For example, the school system in Japan is quite different than that in the United States. Students are much more active in school affairs, and the overall organization is also different. Many of the fantastical settings of anime deal directly with Japanese folklore such as shrine maidens and nature spirits. Some of the elements that deal with romance are also unknown to Western audiences. For example, no Westerner would know what White Day is, however, White Day could be considered a key time for the development of a relationship in Japan. The list can go on and on, yet the Western audience embraces these cultural facets. What could it possibly be about anime that fascinates the Western audience to such a degree that they are willing to view such a foreign product?
The answers to this question can be split into three main viewpoints. First, there is the idea that the “Japaneseness” of anime has been severely toned down in order to allow foreign audiences to better relate to the story. The second viewpoint is that “Japaneseness” has not been reduced but blended with Western culture, and the last viewpoint is the notion that foreign fans appreciate and embrace Japanese culture, allowing it to help create their own personal identity. However, all three of these ideologies do hold certain notions in common. Anime is known to have complex narratives, deep characters and incredibly diverse storylines. With these key components, anime has become incredibly popular in the western world.
Often times, Western media lacks the complex narratives that anime has.

For example, when looking at children’s programs, one could easily define most Western cartoons such as Bugs Bunny or Spongebob Squarepants as quite episodic. There is in fact no overlying plot, whereas Japanese anime productions such as Pokemon or Yu-gi-oh have very well drawn out storylines that progress for multiple seasons. According to Napier (2007), “these fantasyscapes offered a colorful world of adventure, risk, and competition and even, according to some scholars, a vision of personal maturation.” Although the “Japaneseness” of these shows is questionable, they nonetheless have lengthy storylines. Similarly anime meant for older audiences have incredibly complex storylines. For example, One Piece has already aired over six hundred episodes. The Simpsons, America’s longest running sitcom animation, can be comparable in that it has aired over five hundred episodes. The most distinguishing difference between the two, however, is that while The Simpsons is episodic, One Piece is a continuous story of the protagonist, Luffy, trying to become the king of the pirates. The anime therefore consists of a very extensive storyline with numerous characters. Furthermore, many times these characters go through some sort of maturation as mentioned by Napier. In many Western shows, characters lack depth and play very static roles. In contrast, anime characters are able to grow and change. Consequently,

Western viewers are also easily able to identify with anime characters and gain inspiration from them. For example, a fan of the popular action anime Naruto, claimed that Naruto’s rigorous training became a model for their student life, as Naruto is a character who pushes himself very hard, and whatever he cannot accomplish through skill he does by sheer effort. Similarly, another fan mentioned how Luffy from One Piece, exemplifies the values of loyalty to your friends and enjoying life (Napier, 181). Moreover, both of these characters grow as individuals over an extensive storyline.
The last component of anime’s universal appeal is the wide variety of genres that anime encompasses.

In the United States, comics have a largely consolidated genre of superheroes that only appeals to a single demographic; white post-adolescent males (Mescallado, 2000), whereas, in manga you have appeal to essentially every possible demographic group conceivable. The storylines are incredibly widespread and create numerous themes within the context. Antonia Levi mentions how there are three dominant themes in anime that attracts the western audience: environmentalism, technoterror, and sadness. She claims that although environmentalism and technoterror are universal themes, sadness is something relatively new to the west, where the classic happy ending is most prevalent (Levi, 2013). The novelty of sadness therefore also entices foreign audiences. The world of manga and anime is so amazingly diverse, it is almost impossible to find something audiences do not

like.
Although many other qualities could also attribute to the appeal of anime to the west, the narratives, characters, and variety are by far some of the most alluring qualities. However, while these qualities do in fact draw in foreign audiences, the question then reverts back to how do foreign audiences accept the Japanese cultural facets of anime, or the “Japaneseness.” The answers diverge into three ideologies; the belief that much of the “Japaneseness” is toned down to allow foreign audience to better understand the storyline, the belief that “Japanesness” has been blended with western culture, and the belief that the “Japaneseness” of anime is appreciated and embraced.
Many scholars have coined terms to define the lack of “Japaneseness” in anime. For example, Iwabuchi Koichi (2002) calls this concept “cultural odorlessness.” What he means here is anime is specifically designed to ensure that Japanese culture is not prevalent in the story and therefore getting rid of its “odor”. In this case, Iwabuchi points to the lack of racial features in characters in anime. In Japanese, the term, mukokuseki, is defined as stateless or no nationality. Another term, used by Sato (2003) is nihonjinbanare or using non-Japanese cultural elements in anime. Many believe that anime characters in fact look Western at times, with some characters having blonde hair and blue eyes. However, I believe this argument is flawed as there is a large variety of different hair and eye colors, with most not even being realistic. Hair colors such as green, blue, pink, and purple are not even naturally plausible. Therefore, anime characters do not necessarily identify closely with western racial features, as one could make the same argument and say that a large majority of characters that have black hair are meant to identify as Japanese. The racial features of anime characters allow the creation of a separate universe. Nevertheless, if all characters have unnatural hair colors, the anime world becomes difficult to relate to. Hence, characters with natural human features such as black or blonde hair are also included to provide viewers to easily accept the anime world.
On the contrary, Iwabuchi supports his argument claiming that much of Pokemon’s popularity was due to the fact that it had very little to do with Japanese national origin (Napier, 130). He also points out how American television producers made changes so that “a relatively ambiguous portrait of good and evil was changed into that of black and white confrontation between characters” (Iwabuchi, 69). Likewise, he mentions how Hello Kitty is “London-born” and whose last name is “White” (Napier, 130). However, an important note that should be made when analyzing these Japanese products is that they are targeted toward a relatively young demographic. This demographic is more likely to appreciate stateless characters, to which they can easily relate to, whereas, the older demographic is more likely able to appreciate foreign cultures. Despite these non-Japanese features, one can still attribute the Japanese idea of kawaii, or cuteness, in these products. Many can attest the success of Hello Kitty and Pikachu to their universal appeal of cuteness. Furthermore, other factors such as Anne Allison’s techo-animism can be identified as Japanese. Allison explains how consumers imbue inanimate objects with a kind of soul. Although these kinds of notion are not unique to Japan, it is certainly relevant to Japanese religions such as Shintoism and Buddhism, where in the former spirits are imparted upon various aspects of nature from rivers to rock, and the latter has a strong foundation in reincarnation and transubstantiation (Napier, 131).