Two years ago, Nintendo released a Japanese video game in America called Pokémon, or pocket monsters. This came as no surprise, since most current RPGs, or role playing games, originate in Japan. However, this game had something special. It involved catching little monsters and battling them to win money and prestige. But the game also included a special feature. In order to catch all 150 monsters, the player must trade with another person via a link cable. Just as it was in Japan, the game became an instant success in America. Pokémon has since spawned a myriad of toys and dolls as well as a trading card game and cartoon show, also brought over from Japan. But, do the children who play this game realize that it was invented on the other side of the world? Surely they do, since Japanese versions of the trading cards have become a collector’s item; but are the children also aware of all the Japanese cultural references hidden behind Pikachu’s thundershock? Because the games and television shows brought over from Japan get translated into English, and often censored, they have begun to lose the essence of what they are: Japanese. So the question stands: What is Japanese in Japanese animation? In Japanese animation, all aspects of Japanese culture, including religion, history, home life and customs, have been incorporated.
Before answering the essential question of what is Japanese in Japanese animation, one must explore what Japanese animation itself is. Also referec to as Japanimation, or anime, Japanese animation is exactly what its name implies: Japanese cartoons. But these are not the average American cartoons in which a character falls off a cliff and gets hit with an anvil, although gag comedy is sometimes used. These "cartoons" have substance; they have story lines that continue from episode to episode, with character development, underlying themes, and all the other factors that might make a good novel. Some of them imitate soap operas, with love triangles and other romantic relationships.
Along with anime comes the obligatory manga, or comics. Many anime started as long running manga. Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon, the well known magical girl anime, began as a manga. Some anime also have manga spin offs, in which the original story line is put into comic book form. The controversial anime Neon Genesis Evangelion has both manga and graphic novel spin offs. Even the video games brought to America from Japan have anime influences. They often include anime scenes that play automatically when an event happens, and character designs have obvious anime influences.
Return to the Information page