Anime studies should be offered in American high schools

I'll link some video clips to illustrate the anime genre, but they are not essential to the debate. In the Rouruni Kenshin saga, the marshal arts master Saito appears to be discouraging Sanosuke, he's actually encouraging him. [1. http://www.youtube.com...] In Japan, heroes must work hard. In a harder-to-understand clip from Kamichu!, girls at a Shinto shrine are preparing for the Christmas holiday. [2. http://www.anime44.com...] The view of Christmas bears explanation. 1. Anime takes youth seriouslyIn Japan, anime is mainstream culture, with more than forty anime series running on television at any one time. Top talent goes into its production. Older people in Japan have a much greater interest in the shaping of youth than in the U.S. or most other cultures. Schools are faced with problems of too much parental involvement. Americans tend to idolize youth in a way that mimics the fads and sometimes irresponsible behaviors, but the Japanese fascination is much more with the problems to be solved. The challenges of youth endure throughout life, hence the continuing interest. Even though Romeo and Juliet is about young teenagers, the story has a universal interest. Anime has that type of appeal.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 ten or twenty episodes, tractable within a high school course. 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, [3. http://en.wikipedia.org...] the wizen old grandpa in the clan is a marshal arts master and smart enough to often trick people into doing what he wants. He is sometimes selfish and 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, an endless embarrassment to his grown son and teenage grandchildren. The family must control the geezer while remaining respectful. The theme of resolving conflict between respect and disagreement appears repeatedly in anime. (Incidentally, Ranma changes into a girl when splashed with cold water. Gender play is a recurring anime theme.)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 [4. 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. Anime deals with adapting to hypermodern societyFor all the merits of Shakespeare, he doesn't say much about relationships with robots. Japan is further along than the rest of the world in having a subculture that is more comfortable deal with machines, ranging from reclusive obsession with video games --and anime-- to talking cars and computers. Per capita, the Japanese consume twice as many electronic gadgets as Americans.Borderline human/robot beings common theme in anime, with Chobits [5. http://en.wikipedia.org......, Mahoromatic [6. http://en.wikipedia.org......], and Solty Rei [7. http://en.wikipedia.org......] are 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?" 3. Treatment of Religious TopicsDiscussing Western religion in schools is limited by political correctness. 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. In Kamichu! [8. http://en.wikipedia.org...!], 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, a 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 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 [9. http://en.wikipedia.org......] is concerned with the concept of redemption. The notion is that redemption lies in resolving inner conflicts. The Third [10. http://en.wikipedia.org......!] has a religious theme originally concealed that 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.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. " [11. http://en.wikipedia.org......]Making Space in the CurriculumShakespeare is awesome. So is Twain. There is great literature worthy of core study in high school. However, not all traditional literature is 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' 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 in non-core courses will make room for anime.Vapid attempts at multiculturalism fail as well. Get rid of them. They are mostly different recitations of conventional thinking. Japan provides genuine diversity in culture.Anime has provided valuable innovations in artistic style, including character design, animation style, and the strong integration of music with content.Anime is unique. It's well-worth studying.