Anime studies should be offered in American high schools

Go easy? My debate avatar is Hajime Saito from the anime Rurouni Kenshin. In that sword-era anime, Kenshin is approached by the Minister of Defense to take on a mission. Kenshin's girlfriend asks Kenshin, "How do you know the Minister is honest?" Kenshin replies, "Because Saito works for him, and the Minister is still alive." Saito was a decisive guy. :)1. The themes are well-suitable to high school studentsIn Japan, anime is followed by general audiences, while outside of Japan the audience is younger. The reason that the audience is broader in Japan is that older people have a much greater interest in the shaping of youth culture. People remain interested in the problems of youth. Beyond that, there is a general interest in adapting traditional ideas to modern times. The result of the broad Japanese interest in anime is that plots are more mature and more substantial. The long serial formation allows for complex plots. A story arc is likely to go for twenty or more episodes. That's a good length for class study. It's tractable within a high school course. No one is going to have a problem looking at an hour or two of anime each week and taking notes on it. Anime is fun to watch, which makes for more interested students.Here are a few anime themes: How should a young person deal with an elder they are obligated to respect and who is brilliant in some respects, but wildly eccentric and even disreputable in others? What does respect demand? In the comedy series Ranma 1/2, the wizen old grandpa in the clan is a marshal arts master and smart enough to often trick people into doing what he wants, often selfish. sometimes benevolent. The old man has a hobby of sneaking around at night in ninja costume and stealing women's underwear off of clothes lines. The family must control the geezer while remaining respect. The theme of resolving conflict between respect and disagreement appears repeatedly in anime.Another common theme has to do with treating evil people who believe they are acting morally. The most vile of villains often provide philosophical rationalizations for their behavior. The virtues of villains include clarity of purpose, decisiveness, and loyalty. The story often evolves that they need killing, and are dispatched accordingly, but that's no reason why their positive qualities should not be recognized. The Rouruni Kenshin plot is a good example.Conflicts between family loyalty and love interests --the Romeo and Juliet theme-- are played out in anime, but the importance of the family connection is more believable than in Western use of the theme. Ai Yori Aoshi http://en.wikipedia.org... is a good example. In the anime, much effort goes into winning the consent of the two families, which ultimately resolves the conflict. 2. Modern ThemesFor all the merits of Shakespeare, he doesn't say much about relationships with robots. That's a common theme in anime, with Chobits http://en.wikipedia.org..., Mahoromatic http://en.wikipedia.org..., and Solty Rei http://en.wikipedia.org... among many examples. The robot theme explores questions of "What is it that makes a human human?" and "What odd limitations and defects are tolerable in a relationship?" Multi-sided plots are common. Mahoromatic has evil aliens invading earth, but also a sort of mediating alien force and a rebel faction in the mediating organization.3. Treatment of Religious TopicsIt's virtually impossible to discuss Christianity, Islam, or Judaism in American schools without worries over being politically correct. Avoiding cultural land mines means keeps philosophical questions to recitations of history, descriptions of cultural practices, or statements of belief rather than discussion of basic beliefs. Buddhism and especially Shinto are not so constrained. There are very few places in America where a completely frank discussion of Shinto cannot be undertaken without fear; yet the philosophical questions addressed have a great deal of overlap with Western religion. Kamichu! http://en.wikipedia.org...! is a version of the teen goddess theme in anime. Yurie, a middle school girl, awakes with god powers. Shinto has thousands of kami (spirits), each with limited powers and a role in the world. There is a kami for poverty, who has a lot of angst over his job, kami for nostalgia, and even spirits that move trash in the wind. Yurie must figure out how to act as a kami and what her role is. The spirits are organized and give training seminars. The role of the local shrine in the village and the foibles of promoters and precaution's are played out. Few modern Japanese believe the kami actually exist, but, I think, the series shows the merits of treating the world as if they do exist. It explores what it takes to be a god.Haibane Renmei http://en.wikipedia.org... is concerned with the concept of redemption. the notion is that redemption lies in resolving inner conflicts. The Third http://en.wikipedia.org...! has a religious theme that is originally concealed and builds through clues. 4. MulticulturalismAll anime references Japanese culture. It is interesting because of obvious differences from Western culture, but it deals successfully with common issues of all societies. While something can be learned from study of any dissimilar culture, the Japanese are technological advanced and have a sophisticated society. It is monocultural. Americans are taught the virtues of multiculturalism, and those virtues are true, but monoculturalism has strong advantages as well. By measures of crime rates and education, Japanese society does much better than American society. In other areas, not so well.Making Space in the CurriculumShakespeare is awesome. So is Twain. Melville has some good stuff. There is great literature worthy of core study in high school.However, it's not all well-suited to high school. Ronald Reagan said of Jimmy Carter, "Anyone who says they like to get up early and take a cold shower will lie to you about other things as well." A similar sentiment applies to the morbid vain of classic literature. Studying Thomas Hardy, most of Dickens, and all of Chaucer are among my picks for deletion. Tess of the d'Urbervilles starts with Tess's horse being gored and proceeds downhill for 300 pages to her horrible demise. Imposing that stuff on high school students is tantamount to abuse. Trimming it will in non-core courses will make room for anime.Vapid attempts at multiculturalism fail as well. Playing out similar themes in different cultural contexts is not real multiculturalism; it is just different recitations of conventional thinking. Japan provides genuine diversity in culture.A valid reason for studying classic literature is cultural literacy. If everyone is familiar with Shakespeare, a simple reference to Romeo and Juliet saves much explaining of the theme. Shakespeare is an example of world cultural literature. the stories and themes are known to educated people around the world. Anime has a substantial following around the world, so it offers a modern avenue of world cultural literacy. "While anime had entered markets beyond Japan in the 1960s, it grew as a major cultural export during its market expansion during the 1980s and 1990s. The anime market for the United States alone is "worth approximately $4.35 billion,... Anime has also had commercial success in Asia, Europe and Latin America, where anime has become more mainstream than in the United States. " http://en.wikipedia.org...Anime has influenced American television (The Simpsons), animated features (Pixar), andmovie making (e.g. Avatar http://avatar.wikia.com...).Anime has provided valuable innovations in artistic style, including character design, animation style, and the strong integration of music with content.It's well-worth studying.