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Anime Myths

Something that's become noticeable with the rise of Japanese pop culture in America is the tendency for mainstream news sources to go to bizarre places when reporting about anime. Chances are good that if you're reading an article about anime or manga in your local paper, you should be prepared for random, barely-formed facts to be pulled out of the air.

For the most part, this is just an issue of fan perspective versus the somewhat shallower perspective of a non-fan; research is dandy, but nothing beats experience and insight. Last summer, Wired published an extensive look at Japan's troubled manga industry. Though the article offers tonnes of information and statistics, several fans complained that the author left a lot of important information behind that someone bred within the fandom would not have missed. A few criticisms can be found in the comments section.

It goes to show that you should take everything you read with a grain of salt (Yes!--This too! For I might be an alien with an ulterior motive). Even something as basic as a word count or layout limitations can mean cut information. Something else to consider is that some writers—particularly columnists--have their minds made up on a topic and are paid to get people riled up about it.

Anime is still treated like a bemusing mystery in most mainstream American publications. Most writers are generally disinterested on the topic and often confused by what their kids (if applicable) see in Pikachu. This has given rise to rumours about the medium that are mostly harmless, but can get twisted over time by news sources that do thrive on scare tactics. Some of those rumours include:

“What's acceptable on Japanese children's television would be considered pornographic in America.” Not really. What's considered pornographic in America is pornographic in Japan, too. It's true that Japan's a little more liberal than America with certain content on kids' shows: Some character might cross dress (you know, like Bugs Bunny used to?) and there will almost definitely be poop and fart jokes that are a little more gratuitous than what we're used to. A female character might have her boobies grabbed through her clothes.

Japan is undeniably well-known for its, er, erotic cartoons, but those are hardly considered appropriate for children. Not to say dad's stash always remains undiscovered.

Magazines and newspapers are also fond of proclaiming that manga and anime has swear words steaming on every page. That's a little trickier to determine, since Japanese is a funny language where the speaker's tone counts more than the words he chooses. “Kuso” is a common curse that translates roughly as “Damn,” and things rarely get worse than that. In fact, Japanese is an interesting language with disappointingly bland curses. Look them up someday.

“Anime fans refer to themselves as 'otaku.'” Er, some do. Most regularly the fans who have no idea what's behind the word. In Japan, “otaku” carries a very negative meaning: It refers to an obsessed loser who may or may not be homocidial. American anime fans use the word to (attempt to) refer to themselves in a less negative way. Overall opinion of the world's usage depends on whom you're talking to.

“Anime is all big-eyes, small-mouth.” Anime and manga has enough genres to put America's comic industry to shame, and the art varies greatly in between each. Shonen (boy-oriented action manga) and shojo (girl-oriented action manga) are two of the most common genres, and not surprisingly it's shonen that Americans are most familiar with: Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Pokemon, Digimon, and even going as far back as Voltron and Speed Racer. Shonen and shojo most definitely employ the big-eyes and small-mouth style, but lately Americans have seen what else Japan has to offer. Seinen series such as Death Note and Mushishi are made for adult audiences and offer character designs that are far less glittery than what we're used to.

Anime and manga has branched off and grown a lot since it gained its massive popularity in the 1940s. It's a pretty fascinating learning experience. You could definitely do worse for study material.