Anime Tourism
A Brief History of Anime
Anime is a Japanese word that comes from the English word ‘animation’. It is different from manga in that anime is a film, while manga is still drawing.
The earliest anime film was first screened in 1917. It was a 2-minute clip of a samurai humorously trying to test his sword on a victim but failing.
Early pioneers of anime included Shimokawa Oten, Jun'ichi Kouchi, and Seitar? Kitayama. They used simple cutout animation. In the 1930s Japanese anime making techniques became more sophisticated as the government sponsored the genre partly with an eye on its propaganda potential.
The first feature length Japanese anime with sound was Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors directed by Mitsuyo Seo in 1945. It was partly sponsored by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified Walt Disney techniques in order to push Japanese anime forward, and to cut costs.
In the 1970s there was a wave of international interest in Japanese manga. This allowed for many comics to be made into cartoons and for certain genres in Japanese anime and manga to emerge. One of these was the robot genre, perhaps the most famous example of which is Gundam.
Anime Today
Today Japanese anime and manga is famous all over the world. Anime tourists flock to the spiritual home of anime, Akihabara in Tokyo in order to buy anime goods ranging from DVDs, to manga, to costumes, to other branded products. There is no end to the different anime items that can be bought by anime fanatics that in Japan are often called otaku.
Anime, Sex, Society
It is no accident that Akihabara is also a place full of discount computer shops, maid cafes and places of ill-repute. It seems that all these things go together in the Japanese psyche.
There is a strong sense of escapism and dark wish fulfillment in Japanese anime. Many anime movies are adult-only. They often feature school girls with massive eyes and gravity-defying massive breasts that are often raped but come to love the sex act. Several foreign commentators have commented upon the pedophile nature of anime. The theme of underage sex is never tired of. And it is no surprise that Akihabara does very well from middle aged ‘salary men’ paying to be in the presence of big-breasted and very young looking pop stars and pseudo sex workers. The present fascination with the number 1 band AKB 47 (Akihabara 47) bears witness to this lewd side of Japanese culture. The fact that young pre-pubescent girls look up to the members of AKB 47 (one of whom went on to have a career in porn movies) and want to be sex objects like their idols reveals a sick and paternalistic side of Japan that most Japanese cannot grasp intellectually.
Thus industry of sex, anime and titillation is naturally partly driven by the internet. This is the computer tie-in. After all, over 40% of all searches on the internet are related to pornography.
The girls in anime and manga are the visible embodiment of male fantasies. And now Japanese girls seek to emulate these fantasies. They wear false eye lashes of extraordinary length, padded bras, tiny skirts and walk in a pigeon-toed moronic fashion, and affect a demeanour that is meant to be ‘cute’ but really is infantile in its desire to use only a handful of adjectives and to be an airhead on every topic except for handbags, pop stars, and of course, anime.
Here anime becomes perfect for society building in Japan. The domestic market in Japan for consumer goods is one of the biggest in the world. One way that consumerism is sold to the masses is through anime. It is attractive to be stupid and shallow. The surface is everything, the idea nothing.
This is ironic as there is considerable merit to many anime movies. Most notably Hayao Miyazaki who won an Oscar for Spirited Away makes movies that explore themes of nature and man, perception and isolation. It is no surprise that many of his films are more admired and understood outside of Japan. In Japan his most loved movie is the childish (but psychologically brilliant) Totoro.
Another irony of anime culture is that the Japanese are an aged society with very ‘conservative’ and family orientated values. It is a complete blind spot that the shelves of konbini (convenience stores) are covered in magazines with implicit or explicit sexual and demeaning-to-women material. Parents see nothing wrong in letting their children spend hours consuming this propaganda.
This brings us full circle. Anime was developed in Japan with the help of government money with an eye on its propaganda value. Without anyone knowing how it happened that is what it has become. From an anime tourist perspective this is fascinating.
We always have been seeing animation and sometimes we will take it for granted. Say we have to stop and think about it, our explanation of it would be simply something that moves. A couple of us would usually think it to cartoon characters. To clarify everything, we are talking about 3D animation as this becomes popular nowadays. We are already aware that the characters here are no humans but only computer characters that are moved through computer works. The frames are then presented moving quickly from one to the next. To create this effect by hand or as we relate to the 3D was painstakingly consuming. The artist will have to draw a new image every time the object moved in whatsoever way. Then all of these pictures would be put together consecutively. These are also known as cell animation and hand drawn animation. Although it’s detailed and a good deal of work, it is well respected by the true animator and received with pleasure by the viewer. One of the main companies in 3D animations and Anime is the Danish company Billig Online which creates both 2D and 3D animation pictures of all kinds. You can read more about it here at Online Penge and also see some of their examples, like for instance the trailer for their latest movie called bank lån which is about a duck and based on the famous writte H.C Andersens story the ugly duckling.
Cartoons have been based on 2Dimensional art for years. With the inception of the computer not long after came the capabilities for 3D. This does not mean that 2D still doesn’t have its place of importance. Nor does it mean there is no skill involved. Say one thinks that, someone that who has zero artistic basis could sit down and do 3D animation just by learning the software. To create 3D animation it needs the use of complex software. Each of the characters is designed by way of the computer and hand drawing is not a consideration. It would progress through a series of steps before the project would be done. Someone who’s liable for this project got to have a thorough understanding of each and every step in order to attain the desired results.
Another company like Online Penge is the one called Online Lå which you can find here at Online Lån. Online Lån only does 3D work and in quite their own style which is pretty different from most of the other companies way of doing it.
There are various standard software programs that are utilized for 3D animation. There are several on the market. They all vary as to capabilities and complexity. If you’ve a real interest in this type of art, then you can start with a genuinely basic program, as you master the one move on up to the level. Bear in mind though this doesn’t replace the artistic eye. You need to be able to distinguish that the character looks perfect during each step of the way when getting to finish. Say you are not able to review your very own work then you’re not going to get great results. If you appear to have a hang for drawing but have had no training you would want to consider taking a few art classes and at least reading the basics before you do 3D animation or watch some of the free tutorials from sites like Online Lån and Online Penge where you can learn of lot of the special tricks used in Anime and 3D animations.
Ultimately, you should be aware that it’s not simply a matter of mastering the software. Fantastic production organizations have had their very own software designed specifically for those who want to know this. Say you approach these companies for a job then you will most certainly needs the basics as they have just outlined.
Anime may not have originated in the west, but that doesn’t mean that it’s popularity isn’t soaring there. If you were born into western culture you become aware of how many trends originate in the west only to become even more popular (in a great number of cases) in the east. Anime is just the opposite – it originated in eastern culture but has seen a quite a resurgence in popularity due in large part to the success it has had in the west, and in particular the United States. The anime theme of inspiration seems to contribute in part to its success.
I am always intrigued when I visit the west. As consumer based societies continue to prosper as such, savvy consumers of anime have become smarter and more demanding of the less commercial and harder to find anime titles. What started out as a passing fad sparked by an interest in Voltron has given way to a very active market for titles like Buttobi and Video Girl AI. If you happen to be one of those individuals who has acquired a taste for the classics so to speak, your best bet is the convention scene. It’s estimated by Animecons.com that California’s Anime Expo is set to draw almost 70,000 fans in 2012. Those would be record attendance numbers, and these shoppers will be some of the most sophisticated of the lot.
It’s always interesting to see the evolution of the typical westerner’s buying patterns. Comparison shopping is a huge deal in the United States yet pricing for rare anime finds is on a steep uptrend. The same folks that find themselves nitpicking over things like Blendtec vs Vitamix blender shopping won’t bat an eye over paying a premium for Robot Carnival dvd vs VHS tapes. Tezuka would be very proud.
The larger conventions in the United States don’t always produce the best results mind you. You can find some very rare titles at the smaller conventions with lesser known dealers. While not always the most reliable, you can also try Goodwill or even the Salvation Army as the people that donate here don’t always have the strongest grasp on the worth of the things they donate.
When I think about stories like Kaleido Star, I can’t help but get the feeling of never giving up hope on my dreams. Sora is the type of character that westerners can really relate to. She always gives one hundred percent and always handles others with style and grace. She ’s easy to root for.
Onizuka is another more rare but super popular title because he is such an incredible teacher to others. His ability to get the most and the best out of people is quintessential in eastern culture teachings. His promise of hope is a western culture favorite. I could go on and on, but these two stories came to mind first.
As a traveling anime enthusiast, it doesn’t surprise me that the popularity is reaching a fever peak, even in multiple cultures. There are so many life parallels one can draw from the stories that anime becomes easy to relate to and fun to love. The west may be catching on, but the genre has so much more growing to experience. I would love to turn the clock forward a decade and se it on the forefront of major motion pictures in western cultures. My guess is that those days may be coming sooner than later.
It is always good to be safe, to err even on the side of caution. These are words of advice that we can all understand. The Japanese are famous in business for not committing to a position. They first go away and ponder, and will often come back to the table with nothing more firm than a willingness to listen some more. They are cautious by nature. It is partly due to the top-down style of management that makes it hard for people to show initiative. In this context it is perhaps easy to see the dynamism and readiness for action displayed by anime characters as perhaps the Japanese alter-ego, or wish fulfillment. As is often the case, fiction allows us to live out our fantasies.
My company could have done with a bit of caution recently. We make generators and air-conditioners. They are two highly competitive markets where pricing is important. We secured a contract for a lot of air-con units for a hotel chain. We thought at the time that the air-con units wouldn’t be used so much since they were in situ in a country with a mild climate. So, to save money we didn’t put in bearing protectors.
What we didn’t factor in was a heat wave. Rooms that were south facing had a lot of solar gain from the windows. Thus, guests in the hotels used the air-con units more than would be expected. I think there was a static problem as well. Anyway, 4 of our units broke in just 1 week. The company that bought the units were very angry and cancelled all future orders.
I wish I had decided to take a lower profit and send out the air-con units with bearing protectors. Oh well, you live and learn. Perhaps I’ve seen too much anime and need to think more like a Japanese business man – caution.
Smoking in Japan, is according to Japans Ministry of Health, declining and at an all time low. Despite this the smoking rate amongst men, although declining, is still way above that of the United States. Smoking amongst young women however did increase from approximately 10% in 1980 to the 2010 rate of 21.5%.
Despite all this, smoking in TV programs is still widespread and is also seen featured in Anime with many characters smoking.
Smoking Anime Characters
Ginko
Ginko is a character in series Mushi-Shi. He attracts Mushi, which are a capable of causing problems for humans. Ginko cannot stay in any place for too long because he can attract too many Mushi, this is why he takes it on himself to travel around helping people with problems caused by Mushi.
One way he keeps Mushi away from him is by smoking constantly.
Nobue Itou
Nobue features in Japanese Manga series Strawberry Marshmallow which is about 4 school girls and main character Nobue, who is older than the others and acts as the main authority.
The character is also constantly trying to get enough money together to buy cigarettes, she does this by borrowing of her little sister and trying to find a part time job.
Those are just two anime characters that smoke but there are many others such as Revy from Black Lagoon, Soubi from Loveless and Badou from Dogs.
I suppose the question is, does this influence youngsters in Japan to take up the habit themselves? Many would argue that anime makes smoking look cool and therefore does have an influence, others say that Japan have a higher legal smoking age (20) and this higher than many other developed nations.
There are anti smoking campaigns in Japan as well as restrictions being put into place on where you can and cannot light up a cigarette. This has opened the door to alternatives such as the e cig and with prices generally lower with along with special offers like the recent Green Smoke discount campaign then there is an alternative for those that smoke tobacco to try something else.
Whatever happens Japan seems to be moving in the right direction as a whole and should continue to see the statistics for people smoking decrease year on year.