It's junk made for profit by underpaid animators and mostly sold to China.
For a lot of people in Japan "working" is sitting around doing nothing for hours and giving the appearance of working hard to trick the boss. I'm guessing you probably don't get a lot of satire of corporate culture in anime though...
Minecraft, Call of Duty, Fortnite etc are huge in Japan. I'm not sure who you were talking to who said they don't play western video games. It's comparable to Mario and Animal Crossing being big in the west. This also applies to other media, there are loads of Marvel and Star Wars spergs there. Unless you're talking about the tiny subcultures of people who never leave their rooms they're not insular at all.
To tack onto
@Syaoran Li's post into the future, I am one of those older fans who grew up in that time frame and the geographical area he was talking about, and to summarize everything I've said to
@Longcat, to witness that era first hand was inspirational. That was the time when Hollywood and the entertainment industry had to deal with the situation when comics, animation, and video games had just as equal, if not more sway and public appeal on par with TV shows and movies, and fucked with all the censors because the moral watchdogs couldn't touch them because of the money and public appeal for doing things that weren't regulated to be
bastardized "kid safe and family friendly".
To lay myself bare for a bit, I am an artist. I enjoy art. I work with art. I enjoy learning about the history of art. I also don't agree entirely with everything society thinks, because much of the time, there's always something hypocritical and absurd going on that runs contrary to where they claim they put their money where their mouths are. I like anime, because I've seen more art and skill applied to it and spread to the world in application than any of the ass sniffing artsy fartsy hoity toity "art makes me special and better" exceptional dipshits who are crying in woe about how the world doesn't appreciate art, but never does anything to tackle this dilemma that is only exacerbated by their own absurd ignorance. Yes, nothing is perfect; I know all about Japan's economic and business culture, from its highs to its lows; I know about series whose staff are so uninspired that don't really fucking care about what they put out, and I am well aware of corporate soullessness and its corruptive greed and malign influences. I honestly don't care though, because nothing is entirely certain or perfect in the world, and life is what you make it. I've also never been to Japan yet, but I guess for all of life's mysteries and blessings, I'll take it that I'm probably better for it until the opportunity comes.
I am also a video game hobbyist who plays a lot of more "obscure" video games, and I grew up way more with Japanese made games; nothing personal, but aside from splitting hairs and explaining myself, that's where I get my anime experience from too. Again, I am old- I grew up in that age before the minecrafts and the fortnites and the call of duties, and have been out of the mainstream for a while. I grew up "retro" or whatever. Played arcade games and emulators and burnt out around 2010-ish.
And if you were wondering, no, I don't like anime simply because it's Japanese. And I honestly don't get where people think that anime is specifically Japanese. I dunno. I'm probably too tired of people not using their brains and not thinking hard enough about our constitutional rights and what that means for our human condition. We're also on a thread that is talking about anime, so I don't need to explain anything more.
So oi, life is all about perspective, mate.
That then raises the age-old question: does it still count as anime if it was produced outside of Japan? I remember Tokyopop when they were still around would occasionally publish OEL (Original English Language) manga, which I wasn’t interested in as a preteen at the peak of my weeb phase, as I didn’t believe it was “real manga”. There’s also the grey area when it comes to manhwa (Korean)/manhua (Chinese), they all derive from the same word, but I find it interesting that there’s a distinction based on what country they originate from. And as far as anime goes, the most famous example I can think of that was produced in the west is Avatar, but mostly I’ve seen that referred to as inspired by anime but still ultimately a western cartoon. I guess it just comes down to whether you define it as a particular art style and maybe a few specific tropes/reoccurring themes, or as animation specifically produced in Japan.
And I can completely understand why a Japanese creator would want to make something that’s culturally relevant to their audience - it’s much easier to get into a work of fiction if there’s something in it that connects to your experience of reality, as someone who writes as a hobby this is something I understand well. But my preferred genre is high fantasy, with settings that deviate from reality quite a bit, and I’ve found very few anime that has the same feel as my favourite works of western fiction - more often than not it’s isekai and I’d rather see a pure fantasy setting than “Japanese teenager gets magically transported to fantasy world”. My ex showed me the first few episodes of DanMachi and while I appreciated the setting and the mythology references, there was still a common anime trope that I disliked - the gratuitous fanservice. There probably is a series or two that is just a sword and sorcery adventure with little to no fanservice, I just haven’t been actively looking, due to the negative baggage with my past weeb phase.
Again, not trying to hate on anime as a whole - just my take as a disillusioned former hardcore fan.
Yes. Yes it does. Not the hipster wojak fuckery of "lol anything animated is anime", but if it's in the style and spirit, it kinda is. Most attempts tend to miss out on the latter though.
Again, it's not wrong for anywhere else to create their own anime, but I can't guarantee that copy and pasting sitcoms or primetimes and prettying them up with an anime veneer is a sure fire way for success. Anime already has its own cultural impressions and baggage wherever it goes, and what works with fans and what the fans have built up in expectation and enjoyment in the fan community is what thrives. I believe understanding that as a foundation and building off of that is the only way that thrives, but I'm just speculating.
No matter the reason, toning down the fanservice would make it easier for a lot of people to get into anime imho - random underwear shots and huge bouncing titties can certainly ruin one’s enjoyment of a series, and I don’t mean this in a feminist “hurr durr sexy women bad” way, but rather that it can ruin a good story when something sexually suggestive is thrown in just because. Normies who only have a vague idea of what anime is do often seem to think the sexual stuff is representative of the entire medium, and while there are certainly plenty of series that lack it (be they aimed at a younger audience, or focused around a plot that doesn’t lend itself well to fanservice, or simply created by someone who doesn’t like it), they’re not entirely wrong as when the pervy stuff does come up, it certainly stands out and sticks in your memory as the usual fanservice tropes are pretty much unique to Japanese media.
And it’s not just the fanservice aimed at a male audience either - sparkly bishies aren’t exactly my cup of tea either. Obviously each to their own, but again, it’s something I think could certainly be improved on if anime/manga creators want to bring in more fans from the west.
I've always felt that problem was a western thing. You know, the whole intellectuallism versus physical stoicism thing, western society's emphasis on being "real", the whole expected life cycle where you're supposed to have a nuclear family thing and you're supposed to lose your virginity by 18, etc. Not to say for all of them, but most Japanese people tend to not give a shit by general value of sex is natural and they also know how to keep that under wraps, and as long as you're not being a neet or otaku you can be into anime. Not that the whole "lol virgin" thing doesn't exist out there, but that kind of stuff is more ingrained with greater divides in specifically what you enjoy than how you enjoy it, and the whole interests hierarchy out west.
You're right in that it shouldn't be in everything, but at the same time, I don't trust the idea that things should be toned down simply to garner more appeal.
Walt Disney was the Vince McMahon of animation, and to pretend anything else is laughable.
Really? I heard that after he aired Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, his tune changed when the Oscars gave him a special kid's award despite Snow White moving people to tears.
