Welcome to my rant on what is Anime.

RANT

After watching many years of anime, from Doraemon to Ghost in the Shell Innocence (the last anime I watched at the time of writing), I have decided to write a weblog about anime. Instead of me writing about anime and try to get it published in some journal which has absolute no academic value whatsoever, I have decided to put it on the net which also holds absolute no academic value either.

Well, since you're here, I assume that you know why you are here. However, that does not necessarily hold true for some of you who just so happened to click on some obscure link that ended up bringing you to where you are now. So, for the benefit of the few, I shall tell you what this blog is about, and what this blog is not.

This blog is NOT about your local pharmacy where you can get those cheap blue pills that every second email in your inbox promises.

This blog is also NOT about that Russia blonde who is so ready to be in your bed right now that every third email in your inbox promises.

This blog is definitely NOT about that cheap gold watch you can get for half the price of the real thing that every fourth email in your inbox promises.

Although I have a million (mostly bad) things to say about some / any / all of the above topics, I shall keep this blog only on anime, and anything related to it. This blog is about my views on anime, places that I've been that is related to anime, and basically a place where I can rant about anime.

What is anime? You asked. Well to give you a very brief lowdown of what anime is, it's basically a Japanese word for animation. Still don't know what an anime is? Go bother someone else, like that professor at your university / college / school / kindergarten. I bet he doesn't know what anime is either.

If you ask me ten years ago if anime would be a relatively successful phenomenon like what it is today, I would probably smack you silly for asking such a dumb question. For one, it has always been a phenomenon, it's just that you weren't there to see it. In the other half of the world where English is the official (spoken) language, anime is a relatively new thing to the mainstream population (and by mainstream, I mean, watching anime as much as you would watching a movie).

Fifteen years ago, the only way to watch anime was to get a tape off your friend's friend's friend's friend's friend's friend who happened to rent / steal / dub it from the one and only specilised anime video shop somewhere in the neigbourhood. By the time the tape reached you, it would probably have gone through 20+ dubbings and redubbings. The picture quality was passable at best. At least you could make out a person's face. Those are called fansubs. Their legality is still very much in the very grey area, almost black, actually.

With a very limited amount of licensed titles that actually made it to the shores of the English speaking world, they enjoyed little success. The main problem (I reckon) was the dubbing. They sucked (with a few exceptions). I will have you known that I dislike dubs very much even to this day, but that's another story for another time (I'm sure I'll get around to it one day).

And don't even think about Japanese anime being shown on TV. The only animation you would see on TV was a smartass rabbit, some talking ducks, mice getting chased by cats, birds getting chased by other cats, cats getting chased by dogs, and that bear that loves honey. They are called cartoons. While on the surface, cartoon and anime looks the same (and probably technically is the same), I'd like to separate the term cartoon and anime (more on that later). For those lucky few who live in places like Hong Kong, they enjoy some of the popular anime on TV.

In 1995, a girl by the name of Tsukino Usagi suddenly landed in America (and other non-English speaking countries) and almost single-handedly took the anime tornado with her. I bet you are asking who is Tsukino Usagi? You didn't? well, pretend that you did. Anyway, she is better known in the English speaking world as Serena. And if you don't know who Serena is, you have either been living under a very heavy rock the whole time, or you're an adult. That's right, she is Sailor Moon. All of a sudden, there was an interest in Japanese anime. While Akira (1987) had enjoy some success in the previous decade (how it did it with a wacky story line is still beyond me), it was, I believe, Sailor Moon that brought anime to the mainstream population. Toys, games, dolls, cards all got snapped up by young fans (mostly girls, but there are boys as well). Unfortunately, as far as I know, she never got a chance to finish off what she started (the series ended after the second season [out of five]).

One of the reasons was probably because the next best thing has arrived. It's yellow, small, lives in a capsule, doesn't speak human language and it gives out electricity (and in one episode, literally made everyone sick). It was Pikachu in the game-made-anime Pokemon. Again, it was aimed at little kids, and again, it was a great success (reads money milking machine) for TV stations / toy makers / Nintendo (it was Nintendo's game).

Then it was that Son Goku (thank God they kept the name) and sons. Many others followed. The anime world took off without looking back.

Somewhere along the way, those companies that license the anime from Japan cut / rearrange / destroy / re-translate less and less of their latest acquisition. Although you still see things like Ninja Scroll has some... umm... tasty scenes cut out, it never went to the extend of Sailor Moon and those idiots at DiC who pretty much destroyed half of what they showed to fit their own (or the government's) evil agenda (I often wondered what would happened if DiC had kept going, how many more female characters would have to live with being a male?). The English dialogue and plot more or less retains the same meaning as their original Japanese counterpart.

With the introduction of DVDs, you finally get to see some real original Japanese anime in its original undub, uncut glory (well, as far as I know, it's uncut). It satisfies fans who listen to nothing else but English and those who like it in its original flavor. And it no longer aims at kids. There are more and more that aims at anyone else. Hentai anime (equivalent of adults only) is making into the scene, along with some very bloody and very violent anime.

And this is why I want to separate cartoon and anime. In anyone's mind, cartoon generally refers to animations that are suitable for children, for example, the not so Beauty and that ugly Beast. When it comes to anime, it is very different. Anime captures a wide range of viewers, and covers a wide spectrum of subjects, from fighting monsters, to fighting humans, to love, to high school, to homosexuality, to tentacle rape, any subject is possible on anime. While anime is generally suitable for children, many are not. And to say that anime is a cartoon is really a misrepresentation of the true meaning of anime.

So there you have it, the simple guide to what is anime. While I don't claim to be an expert on anime (lot more people have seen a lot more anime than I have), I just want to give a general idea on how anime became what it is today in the English speaking world.

DISCLAIMER:

As far as I am concerned, all information on this blog (this and other subsequent entries) is correct. If, for any reasons, you believe that the information is just plain wrong, or that I'm being really annoying to anyone, please direct any complain to:

Major Katsuragi Misato
Public Relation Office (Complaint Unit)
NERV Headquarter, GeoFront
Tokyo-3
Japan
Email: pr@nerv.or.jp
Phone: internal use only
Fax: what's a fax?

If you wish to submit the complain in person, please catch the "NERV only" train at any JR station. Prices vary from station to station. Unless otherwise stated, a NERV-approved ID card must be carried at all time within NERV premises. It may be obtained from the front entrance. Anyone found with an active AT Field will be executed immediately.

The opinions expressed in this blog is solely the view of the author. If you disagree with what I said, print it out and burn it. It won't make this blog disappear, but it will make you feel better.