What's Japanese in Japanese Animation?

What's Japanese in Japanese Animation? In the same fashion that gods and demons are clumped together in anime, heroes and villains also appear to come from the same mold. "The Japanese hero is defined by motivation. The ideal Japanese hero is not only brave and self sacrificing, but selfless and unconcerned with personal gain or survival. The cause is not important." (Levi 68). In anime, even the villains can act heroic. In Record of Lodoss War, the heroics of the dark knight Ashram matches those of the main character, Parn. Even though Ashram wants to destroy all of Lodoss, he still has the characteristics of any good hero. Ashram was willing to kill himself in order to save his king (Record of Lodoss War ep 7). He also died willingly along side his love, Pirotess, even though he could have easily escaped (Record of Lodoss War ep 10). He sold his soul to the evil witch Karla in order to prevent Ward from resurrecting the goddess of destruction (Record of Lodoss War ep 12). He may be the enemy, but because of Ashram’s altruistic nature and admirable strength, he arises a hero in the end. "He’s just a hero on the other side." (Levi 70). This is in stark contrast to the usual view of an American hero, who must not only be brave, altruistic, and powerful, but must also fight for truth, justice, and the American way; generally, they survive and win the battle. In anime, such criteria is overlooked. Characters also have a tendency to switch sides in the middle of the story. "Most anime heroes are only heroes some of the time. The same is true of many of the villains. Moreover, since character development and change is a major feature of anime series, it’s not unknown for heroes to become villains and vice versa." (Levi 69). In Dragonball Z, the villain often becomes the hero as time goes on. When first introduced, the character Vegeta has plans to steal the dragonballs and destroy the Earth, but he ends up marrying Bulma and working to protect the Earth (Dragonball Z ep 74). Also, in the renowned RPG Chrono Trigger, one of the major bosses, Magus, can be used later in the game as part of the main party (Chrono Trigger, Squaresoft).
This theme of heroism did not just come out of nowhere. "The most common heroic ideal found in anime is drawn from the samurai ideal set down in the seventeenth century by samurai authors..." (Levi 71). Most people have learned about samurai, the ancient warriors of Japan that follow the code of bushido. The word samurai literally means "one who serves" (Poitras 110). Samurai are repeatedly used in anime. The warriors in the series Ronin Warriors wear samurai-like armor. Ronin is actually a term which refers to a samurai without a master (Poitras 106). Their armor’s attributes even follow the code of bushido; they wear armors of virtue, wisdom, justice, courtesy, filial piety, loyalty, etc. In the American version of the series, however, the attribute of Kale’s armor switched from filial piety to just plain piety, and Sage’s courtesy replaced by wisdom. Rowen, originally attributed with wisdom, was changed to life force.