DoOdZ, Why does the new BUBBLEGUM CRISIS suck? Priss isn't cool anymore! —The Replicant As this is a highly subjective sort of thing I'm not even going to answer that. "Cool", "good", "bad", "excellent", "suck" and "kicks butt" are all purely opinion thus entirely in the mind of the individual viewer. If you don't like the new designs then you don't like the new designs—the designs do not "suck". Perhaps you live in a place where people tell you that you suck because of the shirt you are wearing on that day but please attempt to act in a civilized manner in the real world. Don't send mail like this unless you're into being ignored. Dear Mr. TV Safety, Can an American make anime? Respectfully, —Aspiring Animator A few issues ago, Chad wrote an article about definitions of anime and influences and it got me to thinking (yes, I'm very slow) "So can a westerner actually do anime?" After careful deliberation I came up with two answers, one of them a question: "No" and "Why would they want to?" At first glance these will seem mean-spirited and cynical but let me explain. I don't think an average Westerner can create anime. He/she can work in an anime-influenced art style, make music that sounds like an anime show, try to write in (what could be considered to be) an anime-esque style and even move to Japan and get a job in the animation industry and still there will be a difference between what s/he creates and what a Japanese artist would. This difference should be celebrated and taken advantage of though! The Japanese animation industry is always looking for something new and interesting and this is an excellent opportunity to do so. What I consider "Anime" is peculiarly Japanese. "Anime" to me is animation produced by Japanese creators primarily for the local Japanese market. This encompasses pretty much everything made in Japan from AA! MEGAMI-SAMA to GUNDAM ZZ. The artistic vision for it comes from deep in the Japanese psyche and is only completely comprehensible through Japanese eyes. This does not in any way diminish its viability as artistic expression to an international audience. Like Wayang Kulit (Indonesian shadow puppetry), Kabuki, Chinese Xie Yi style painting, Balinese music (gamelan and tembang) and French cinema it is something that can be done by others but only achieves its highest form when done by a highly skilled practitioner from that culture. The same thing done by "foreigners" is not the same and as long as the traditional ways are followed will never be even equal much less better. I think that the greatest thing that a person studying and working in a specific style can do is take control and take it to a new place that nobody has ever been before. Sticking purely to tradition is for fools. With that in mind I think that it is good to study the masters of anime (or at least those that the artist has an interest in) and to try and understand how they created what they did, but then to start on an individual journey. That's exactly what happened with the masters of anime and most other animation and comics/manga as well. I see drawings, paintings and animation done by Americans in an anime style. While it's sometimes quite nice I find that the artists are often held back by trying to work in an anime style. In many cases it would be much better if the artist in question had not seen EVANGELION or MACROSS or whatever it is that gets them stuck in a rut for awhile. I always hope that it is just a phase that they will emerge from stronger with a new tool but sometimes they come out even worse than before. In many cases the artist just can't get away from the crutch of anime and do something totally original. Although it can be a lovely art form, there is no magic that exists in anime that can't exist in other animation. It mostly that it's presented in such a way and focuses on ideas and subjects and characters that are very attractive to certain people. Too many people think that there is some sublime element that anime has that makes it what it is and if someone could somehow study it enough they could capture its magic. There is no ineffable secret to anime. It is a combination of a lot of different elements that come together to form what we see. In that respect, animation—anime or otherwise—and live action film as well are like food. Hundreds of elements combine together to create a wonderful meal. It's not as easy as just going down to the supermarket and buying some spices and tossing something together and that's all there is. Look deeper and you find that there are so many small factors—the freshness of the meat, the age of the bread and the temperature at which it was baked, the location and time of year the marjoram in that jar was picked, the distance from sea level and the present humidity of the kitchen. All these elements combine to make dinner. Just as there is no single universal ultimate expression of Chicken Parmigiana there is no ultimate form of an animated film. The chef or director can only present their personal expression of the concept to the consumer. Some control more of the elements than others, but there is only so much that you can do. Each chef/director has a different twist too, and that's what makes it interesting. Most of the USA animation companies I talked to wanted to have some anime influence but they didn't like the character design or the story flow. In fact, they never clearly defined just what it was they wanted. It was a lot like saying, "Well, we want to have your Chicken Pamigiana but without the breading and the spices." Sometimes looking at American anime fan art is like ordering a hamburger from room service in a hotel in Bangkok: it will probably look kind of like a hamburger, but the experience is going to be pretty different and there is a good chance that it will be unpleasant, and the poorer experiences will leave a bad taste in your mouth and scare you away for some time. (I've seen a couple sites on the Web that affected me like botulism—nausea, vomiting, disturbed vision, muscular weakness, and fatigue.) Rather than resorting to room service, you could go out and sample the local cuisine (highly recommended in Bangkok), or you could go to McDonald's and get an imported and only slightly modified version of the original, or you could go to one of the two or three restaurants that have really great burgers which are made by talented local chefs who put their own twist on them. So what I'm trying to say here is go and do something original whether it's drawing something new on your own without looking at GUNSMITH CATS, or to put a dash of green curry and Tabasco on your burger tonight. (Now I'm hungry...) Someday someone will come along and make something that surpasses anime in the public eye and that's perfectly fine with me. (It would be even better if it was me who did it!)