Second part of introduction to Anime for the rest of us!
Topics covered include Japanese language, culture , movies and Anime Philosophy
Show Transcript lightly edited for length and clarity.
Welcome back to part 2 of our introduction to anime discussion, “beyond Anime 101”. Today, we’re delving into topics of anime that go beyond the basics. If you have not listened ,please check out the title : A slice of Anime life, for the first part of this episode.
According to Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini in an interview he did on the decoder podcast- Anime is animation that’s conceived and created in Japan. In today’s episode we are going to dive into how Anime and by extension the Japanese culture has had a significant influence on various aspects of global culture, including entertainment, art, fashion, and even technology.
What s your name? Christopher. Christopher the cookie man ! (Christopher was dressed up in a costume and was delivering cookies to visitors in the cabins we were staying . We struck up a conversation about anime and Japanese culture in general)
That’s the voice of Christopher. He actually grew up watching anime and lived in Japan for a while. We had an interesting discussion on various aspects of anime and Japanese culture.
Do you speak Japanese? Ohh no. Usually when I was there I was like Sumimasen, me nihongo, gomidas, Which is my butchered way of saying pardon me. “Sumimasen” my Japanese is trash “Eigo” English. At the moment I just use my translator. I know basic words like “Gohan” which is rice. “Matcha”, which is tea. And some of the words I would say are hilariously translated because it’s using the Japanese syllabaries for English words. So if you wanted to pay with your card “ Kādo Kudasai”, that’s more or less rudimentary , that’s not precise. You also have like, if I wanted chicken, you can just say chickin, .
Everyone knows chicken! And you would just say like Ekusutorakurisupīchikin Kudasai .
What does that mean? Extra crispy Chicken!. Like if i am at a 7-11, cause all the convenience stores are open in Tokyo like 24/7, say like Ekusutorakurisupīchikin Kudasai .Arigato. Matane.
Language and Culture: Anime has introduced people around the world to Japanese language and culture, including traditional customs, foods, and values. Many fans learn basic Japanese phrases from watching anime. As we heard in the first episode, translation of Japanese anime was one way that students would practice their Japanese. Japanese is on of the major languages studied at the high school and college level with many colleges offering it as either a stand alone program or part of East Asian studies. Some of the colleges even offer study abroad programs and Youth exchange programs where students get to visit japan and get immersed in the culture. There are even manga books specifically written to teach the Japanese language in a fun interactive way. The Gaijin refers a foreigner who want to learn about the Japanese culture.
And you said in Japan, there was it electrical city? in Japan there is Akihabara which is Electric town. That’s where for the longest time you can get statuettes, they have huge multistory arcades. They also have like a lot of stuff related to anime. That’s where a lot of the people that like anime that are into the Otaku Culture, that geek nerd culture go to Akihabara.
Tourism: Anime has also led to a large tourism industry in japan and other countries. Many anime fans express an interest in visiting japan to see the real-life locations featured in their favorite anime series. Cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, and Akihabara are popular. There are also anime conventions like the Anime Expo in Los Angeles and Comiket in Tokyo, attract fans from all over the world who gather to celebrate anime, manga, and Japanese pop culture. The term Otaku refers to people who show their love for anime and manga by creating costumes, fan fiction , music videos figures and art.
Anime is influential in terms of western media, like for the directors and a lot of the stuff you see you may notice some of the scenes from an anime. Directors like Guillermo del Toro , Quentin Tarantino, People behind the matrix were heavily influenced by anime even the movie inception. The one thing like growing up my father he grew up in like the 80s but he watched a lot of Speed Racer which is an anime. The anime has been kind of hinting out over here over decades but really got more immersed as soon as it become available online.
Movies and Films: In the movies writers and directors have been influenced by anime and have integrated some of the techniques used in Anime in western movies. The popular movie the matrix was released in 1999 and the directors the Wachowskis have acknowledged that they were big fans and were influenced by anime when making the movie. In particular Anime influences include the action sequences and special effects. The Matrix explores existential questions about reality, identity, and the nature of existence, themes often found in anime. This philosophical depth is reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell and other thought-provoking anime. Studio (Ghibli )Jiburi one of the largest studios in the animation industry has been nominated and won numerous awards in Japan as well as in Europe and the United states. On Anime forums like animation, the top topics discussed includes Fan art and fiction.
So why did you not that much into anime? I mean, I enjoy it, but its not the only thing I enjoy. I also enjoy other Japanese films by Akira Kurosawa. I like films by Yasujiro Ozu, who is a famous movie director. He is known for filming his films with his camera only one or two feet from the ground. I also enjo video games like Nintendo and PlayStation. I also enjoy Japanese literature, To me it’s like, that’s one area that’s I enjoy, but it’s not just the only area.
On anime forums like animenation the top topics discussed includes fan art and fiction
Art and Animation: Anime’s distinctive style and storytelling have influenced animators and artists around the world. The use of bold lines, vibrant colors, and exaggerated expressions can be seen in other forms of animation.
Fashion: Anime has inspired fashion trends, including the popularity of “kawaii”fashion and Harajuku street style which includes adding multiple layers of accessories to an outfit, the fashion trend tends to have a childlike appearance. It also includes toys and multi color clothes. Characters’ outfits often set trends in clothing and accessories. Anime characters and series have become iconic worldwide, inspiring cosplay (costume play) where fans dress up as in outfits inspired by their favorite anime characters.
Music: Anime soundtracks and theme songs are often hits in their own right, with many artists gaining international fame through their work on anime. J-pop and K-pop music have been closely tied to the anime industry.
Video Games: Many anime series have been adapted into video games, and vice versa. The cross-pollination between the anime and gaming industries is evident in the visual styles and story lines of many games.
Technology and Innovation: Anime often portrays futuristic worlds and advanced technologies, which can inspire real-world innovation. For example, the concept of virtual reality (VR) was popularized by anime such as Sword Art Online.
Food– . Did you know that there’s anime inspired coffee shops, restaurants, bars and menus that are based on your favorite anime stories? Some of the themes include ramen noodle shops and bars and some different kinds of food, drinks and offer experiences inspired by anime and anime community. Anime inspired menus include ramens from Naruto, oden soup from one piece and coffee Jelly from the disastrous Life of Saiki. McDonald’s has even introduced a limited edition anime inspired menu is a limited edition limited time McDonald’s specials that are based on a fictional restaurant in the anime world called WcDonalds which is based on the real place of McDonald’s. Offerings include a new sauce, packaging, and even animated series.
Here is going to be like a hot take from me. So we had the comics here in united States censored and altered which changed the trajectory of which we have comics we now know and enjoy. That’s the big reason why the superhero comic genre became so common .I think if it wasn’t for the censorship we would have seen different kinds of comic books becoming more and more prominent throughout the 60s, seventies, 80s and 90s. In Japan it wasn’t as censored the same way so they have a much more broader range and different types of genres, different types of age brackets that require more thought process.
So if it wasn’t for the censorship, we think that the creativity would have been much broader ?
Yes and and we would see that in the cartoons? originally you had adult cartoons and you had the kids cartoons, but the animation process was so expensive originally that it was thought that the kids would be able to tolerate poor animation so we’re going to gear cartoons towards kids and then later on, of course, as you getting closer to the nineties 2000s, they started making more and more stuff for older people. Like you even saw the the late 80s with like Bevis and Butthead. it’s kind of the same thought process, but in Japan they already had that. So like in the 80s they had like a really gruesome anime that you wouldn’t want to necessarily show to your younger kids. just like you wouldn’t want to show a horror film to younger kids.
Philosophy: According to the authors Joseph Steiff and Tristan Tamplin, there are deeper philosophical themes woven into your favorite anime series. In their book Anime and Philosophy anime stories are about monsters, witches robots children and spirits who grapple with questions of society violence, ethics , morality justice, heroism identity and the soul. In the cultural sub-verse worlds of anime manga anything is possible. Our imagination determines the boundaries and we approach each new world with a different philosophical slant.
What’s your take on anime? Do you? Think it’s good for society, bad for society, indifferent. I think it’s to broad to say if it’s good or bad. I just think it’s just an artistic expression that people have. Sometimes people might get too focused on let’s say like on Otaku and they don’t want to do anything else that could be bad. It Just depends on how everything broader society is operating at that point. Right now, Japan’s been trying to be more stable because they’re having a shrinking population. So they’re trying to through their anime and through all their different things. They’re trying to make sure they have love interests, they have children. There’s a big emphasis on the because Japan population is shrinking, shrinking, shrinking. Sometimes in anime and manga you can have pro Japan points of views. That is kind of like, I don’t necessarily think that’s exactly what happened, but OK, yeah.
So what do you think about anime? . So what do I think about anime? If you remember, we used to have cellphone called BlackBerry. And BlackBerry was one of the most secure phones and it’s selling point was actually that it had a physical keyboard and you could type on it. And they are the other ones like pagers and people would be like typing on them and stuff like that. So anyway, yeah. So yeah. So BlackBerry, the two CEO’s. when Apple came out with the touch screen, they were like. Why would you have a touch screen? Everybody wants a keyboard. And so they just basically got stuck on the keyboard , while everybody else, after their frustration with the touch screen, they figured it out and you know, eventually you’re like, well, you know, I can actually like a wider screen and the keyboard is in my way. So how do I feel about anime? It’s like this whole generation that’s caught up with it, and it’s like whether you like it or not, the tide is there. So it’s good to know about it. The little ones that’s probably what they are gonna be talking about. .You have got to know something about it!.
Overall, anime’s influence extends far beyond entertainment, shaping cultural, artistic, and technological landscapes around the world. Anime is expected to grow over the next few years. According to Crunchy roll president, there are an estimated 800 million people that are anime aware, anime interested, and watching anime outside of China and Japan. It has crossed language barriers around the world and is becoming more mainstream and is expected to grow.
Beyond the possibilities of learning the Japanese language to cater to this ever growing market, Stocks in the Anime ecosystem include Sony group which owns cruncyroll and Netflix the largest streaming service. Other areas of interest are Speech to text AI generation software companies.
And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Please like subscribe and share this podcast with someone today.
Thank you!
Anime and Philosophy;Joseph Steiff and Tristan Tamplin