ANIME EXPLOSION!

By: Chris Wyatt
Review Date: Friday, November 15, 2002

In the introduction to his new book of criticism, called ANIME EXPLOSION! astute author Patrick Drazen address the question of why he felt he needed to write his book. "Why have guide [to anime] at all?" he asks rhetorically. "Shouldn't art be allowed to stand or fall on its own ability to speak cross-culturally? The problem with this view is that, while a culture may be a living entity, the manifestations of that culture are not...Just because this material [anime] wasn't intended for export, doesn't mean we can't learn from it."

In these statements Drazen makes jumps of logic that effect his entire book. First of all, while it's true that, as Drazen points out, "art" is enhanced by criticism, "entertainment" is not. If interested students were to attend a lecture on Grecian sculpture, they would likely learn to appreciate the field even more. However, if entertainment-seeking television viewers were to attend a lecture on TV shows, they would likely get bored off their asses.

In other words, Drazen pre-supposes, as academics are want to do, that his field of entertainment-based anthropology will be instantly recognized by his readers as an art form.

This is a mistake, because not all anime fans are looking for a "learn from" SPEED RACER.

While it's undoubted that AKIRA, JIN-ROH, SPIRITED AWAY and even COWBOY BEBOP can be counted as works of cinematic art, Drazen approaches SAILOR MOON, POKEMON and other juvenile mass market programming with the same tools of artistic interpretation.


Drazen could have possibly found a way to establish that such shows were art, but he doesn't even bother trying. He spends no time laying the ground work. He doesn't explain to the readers why he has chosen his methods of artistic criticism, nor does he establish why the book should take anime as seriously as it does. He merely explains that "...[anime] was not intended for non-Japanese eyes. [Therefore] some sort of guide is necessary." [Emphasis added].

One marvels at Drazen's use of the term "necessary". Do non-Japanese-eyed ten-year-olds need a guide in order to enjoy CARDCAPTORS? Or is, perhaps, the author overestimating the importance of his volume?

The other jump of logic in the above-sited lines is that Drazen has written a "guide". In point of fact, he has not.

Guides methodically address topics and thoroughly explore content. ANIME EXPLOSION! is not a guide. It's a book of criticism. Drazen covers only a handful of directors and studios. And he only examines issues that he finds fundamentally interesting to himself academically. No attempt at all is made at approaching his material in a comprehensive "guide-like" way.

Describing this book as a guide is going to prove a mistake. Casual anime viewers (i.e. the "uninitiated" that Drazen says the guide was written for) who are interested in a simple overview will find the deep criticism and intense cultural analysis off-putting.

Conversely, deeply interested anime fans (people who would be interested in Drazen's magnified minutia) are very likely going to want to skip the volume because of the garish cover, marketing over-friendly title, and statements proclaiming the book as a beginner's introduction.

But, once one has correctly identified Drazen's book for what it is, and gotten into a critical mindset, EXPLOSION can finally be of value.

Drazen proves to have a very, very sharp mind for criticism. Chapters like "Faith-Based: Christianity, Shinto, and Other Religions in Anime" and "'A Very Pure Thing': Gay and Psuedo-Gay Themes in Amine" offer invaluable insight into the non-western attitudes displayed in anime. Separate chapters on nature and war themes make solid connections that would be of interest not only to fans of anime itself but also to those interested in Japanese culture.

Drazen's knowledgebase cannot be doubted. He clearly knows his subject matter well, and all of his claims, without notable exception, are thoroughly referenced to source material. The book is studded with sidebars and footnotes that enhance the content. Also, the well chosen illustrations enhance the presentation.

While ANIME EXPLOSION! is NOT the necessity for the uninitiated, as it claims to be. It IS a valuable, insightful book for anime veterans who wish to dig deeper.

But please, Mr. Drazen, the next time you write such an intelligent book, don't let the marketing guys put an exclamation mark in the title...that just looks silly.

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