Before arriving in Japan I had heard of Anime, but had never really been interested in it. I had heard of animes such as Final Fantasy Advent Children or Ghost in the Shell, but I had never watched them. I knew that anime was a very popular in Japan, but I had no idea to what extent this media permeated the culture. Manga books are available in many convenience stores sitting on the same shelves as news magazines. Purchasing a manga in the morning is as natural in Japan as buying a newspaper is to us. People of all ages and genders read anime on the train during their morning commute; this showed how diverse the manga audience is in Japan. While anime and manga fans are a small population in America and most people cannot distinguish them from a cartoon in Japan many people enjoy this art form. Anime hasn’t become extremely popular in America, but with the success of Advent Children and Ghost in the Shell it could depending on the popularity of the property.
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Ugh. Of course, I have to comment on this as I, myself, am a good anime fan. Though I’m not as into it as a lot of people, and stick more to the more “mainstream” animes, I love anime must more than any American cartoon directed towards the same audience for the same purpose. But, contrary to what you may think, anime is actually VERY prevalent throughout America. Not as much as Japan, but still. Case-in-point, a majority of our action cartoons towards kids are either of Anime decent, or based heavily on the style of writing and animation. Pokemon is obviously the biggest anime seller here, but shows like Teen Titans, Ben 10 and Avatar: The Last Airbender follow heavily in the trends set by animes with distorted faces that overemphasize emotional distress or whatever. If you were ever interested, http://www.onemanga.com has a ton of mangas tranlated in English. Maybe you might get hooked on some… they’re not ALL for young kids.
Comment by mynameisflip June 20, 2008 @ 11:33 am