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An Essay
by Eri Izawa
The stereotype image of Japanese anime and manga has lately gotten worse.
Once upon a time, for those who knew, Japanese animation meant
KIMBA THE WHITE LION, or BATTLE
OF THE PLANETS, and SPEED RACER. It meant (to us
who were kids at the time) some of the best and most addictive shows on TV,
animated or otherwise. Once upon a time, a TV reporter would report on the
sales of transforming robot toys in Japan, and not even mention the animated
TV shows that spawned them.
Now, TV has picked up anime. Now, the WWW is filled with anime pages.
Now, reporters show us sensational footage of anime fans in anime-postered
seclusion, apparent victims of a new mental disease from Japan.
And what is the new stereotype of anime in this suddenly anime-aware
age? Things have gone beyond the "big-eyes and big-hair" stereotypes.
For today's pigeonhole, try the phrase "big-breasted women, mechs, and
lots of gore," and see if that doesn't sound familiar.
For example, look at CNN: "...the
standard for the cartoon genre in Japan ... usually involves a series of
blood-and-guts battle scenes in futuristic space settings." Battles in
space? Sure, some anime have thatbut the majority don't.
Even beyond big-chested women is the implication of sex. Take
a US mailorder catalog characterizing RANMA 1/2:
they called it a "sex comedy." Action adventure romance, yes.
Occasional nudity, yes. Sex? There wasn't a single sex scene in
the entire series. Our main characters don't even kiss each
otherexcept for once in a school play, where a layer of sticky
tape covered our hero's lips.
Perhaps the biggest irony is that the "big-chested women, mechs, and
lots of gore" stereotype seems to be largely a product of the US
market itself. The market drives most business decisions, and
perhaps the fact that every anime in the US seems to have lots of
large busts, mecha, and blood-n-guts may have something to do with the
demand (or the perceived demand) on this side of the Pacific. Before
anyone points a patronizing finger at Japan, perhaps a good look at
ourselves is warranted.
How True Are the Stereotypes?

First off the bat: Many series do contain some nudity and scenes of
some sort of sexually-tinged embarrassment (both male and female), but
with some exceptions, the incidences are occasional, and are generally
not central to the story. As for large-chested women: they are
probably just as ubiquitous in American superhero comics as in
Japanese manga. In fact, it might be argued that the American
stereotypical styleridiculously muscular men and ridiculously
curvaceous womenis one of the influences that increased anime
women's bust sizes (and anime mens' biceps).
What of the blood-n-guts and techie stereotype? Japan has had anime
for decades now, and a sampling of the shows might produce the follow:
a baseball anime, an anime for little girls about some friends with
magical powers, a plain old comedy anime, and yes, one techno fantasy
with guts and gore.
Let's look at a sampling of a weekly compiled
comic book for even one of the most violence-and-sex-fascinated group,
boys. Let's take a fairly recent (1997 issue 15) SHONEN
SUNDAY, one
of the more popular manga magazines in circulation. With a rough
analysis, and excluding the short-format gag cartoons (which are
usually not story based), we find two general themes present in most
stories: some sort of action/adventure or sports theme, and some sort
of character growth and/or romance theme.
Bluntly put,
action/adventure/sports doesn't necessarily mean blood-n-guts. Often,
it simply means tension at a crucial moment in a ballgame, or scenes
of our hero (or heroine) hitting a golf ball. These scenes have all the
gore of a tennis match.
Common Aspects of Anime and Manga Most People Don't See

The other category should give more pause. Romance as a category is
fairly understandable, but character growth? One might ask what that
really means.
Let's look at FUSHIGI YUUGI.
This manga and anime, whose target
audience appears to be junior high school girls, follows the
adventures of a normal schoolgirl named Miaka who winds up in a
magical version of ancient China. Sure, she has adventures, meets
deadly enemies, and even makes out with her boyfriend (quite a bit in
fact). But the climax of this series, as steeped in grandiose
good-evil battle action as it is, is one of the heart and soul. Our
heroine, once a student overwhelmed with school worries and fears, has
found more important things in life. She has found that caring for
others and being cared for by others are stronger than adversity. She
has found that she has the strength and ability to make a
differenceas long as she doesn't give up. These realizationsmore
convictions, reallyare what gives her the strength to conquer
evil and (yes) save the world.
Let's look at a boy's manga. One of the more popular manga currently
running in SHONEN SUNDAY is
ME GUMI NO DAIGO. Daigo is a young
firefighter who has an uncanny ability to find and rescue people who
are in trouble. While the series naturally has lots of action and
some nail-biting cliffhangers, there is no combat. There is blood,
but only on those injured in fires and accidents. There is no sexonly
a troubled, vague romance between Daigo and a teacher who thinks
he's putting himself in too much risk. There is no mecha or space
scenes; this is everyday Japan. There is no weird science fiction or
magical sorcery; the strangest it gets is Daigo's mysterious impulses,
which practically drag him into dangerous situations to rescue and
save lives. There is, however, plenty of internal emotional drama
within our hero, as he at first tries to exorcise the strange impulses
that pulls him to those in danger, and then later comes to understand
more and more about himself.
Finally, let's look at the 1997 much-trumpeted Sony Playstation
game, FINAL FANTASY VII. It contains our
stereotypical elements: action,
combat, mecha, yes, even large-chested women. Yet to just focus on
those elements would be an insult to the entire game. It would be
missing the point. The game's events revolve around the character of
the hero, Cloud, his relationships with others, and his thoughts,
desires, fearsand his growth. He starts off outwardly a cold,
almost heartless young manyet inwardly small and frightened. We
don't see it at first, but his worst failures are largely a result of
his own inner hypocrisy and fear. But with the progression of the
gamethrough the help of his friends and his help to themhe
grows into what he really wanted to be: a hero, able to selflessly
care for others, and with enough courage to look within himself and
admit to what is there and overcome it. He has to first conquer
himself, before he can truly succeed in his mission. That internal
growth is the pivot-point of FINAL FANTASY VII,
the inner flame that
gives meaning to the (yes, stereotypical) story about people trying to
save the world from evil. It is what makes the story real, the people
sympathetic, the attempt to save the world worthwhile.
Conclusion

Aren't these aspects of the universal story of human progression and
human personal growth? Most people, at some point or other, wonder
who they are. Some of us get lost sometimes, putting up masks of one
sort of other, covering up the most vulnerable feelings within. And
some of us forget the mask isn't us at all. We make mistakes, we hurt
others, we fail our own expectations. Yet throughout history, the
happiesttruly happyhave been those who have had the courage
to shed the mask and look within; they have tried to live true to the
vulnerable ideals from deep down; they strove to accept their mistakes
and learn from them. They dared to care, dared to strive, and dared to
never give up.
This story, this message, is hardly rare in the manga/anime world.
Look closelyyou'll see this story is repeated over and over and
over. So much so we can add this to our stereotype list: big eyes,
big hair, big busts, big machines, blood-n-gutsand deep,
personal, spiritual growth.
The other stereotypes are often there too, and yes, they can be
enjoyable and entertaining, or they can be overdone and irritating.
But to look only at thoseto talk about only those, to promote
only thoseis to cling to the shallow picture. For many who know
manga and anime beyond the stereotype, there is that common but
little-recognized element that draws us in too, something somehow
profound that reminds us of more important things.
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Image Credits:

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Myung © 1997 Big West / Bandai Visual |
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Debutante Detective Corps © Toho International
Co. Ltd. / Headroom / Marcus |
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Fushigi Yuugi © 1996 Watase Yuu / Shogakukan · TV Tokyo · Studio Pierrot |
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Cloud © 1997 Squaresoft |
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