From: conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (OtakuRoach)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation,rec.arts.anime
Subject: Re: Anime, and He May Not
Date: 4 Sep 92 23:36:08 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

In article <Bu0xB4.7o1@CAM.ORG>, emru@CAM.ORG (Emru Townsend) writes:
> This is the aforementioned article on Japanese animation by Marc Elias.
							      ^^^^^^^^^^

First of all, I want to thank Emru for acceding to my request to post Mr.
Elias' article in USENET.

> Any replies I get may end up printed in the magazine's lettercol, so if
> you definitely don't want your comments printed, please let me know.

Given this, I shall direct my answers to Mr. Elias.

> Anime, And He May Not (or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And
> Love My Big Purple Battle Suit)
>  
> by Marc Elias
>  
[Marc is told to review BUBBLEGUM CRISIS and rediscovers Sturgeon's Law
 (90% of everything is CRAP).]

> But mostly he wanted to annoy people, which often has the
> same effect, and is a lot more fun.

Yet another person who recognizes the power of shock journalism.  :-)
Your article has incited strong reactions, true, but it has also made
people think and express their thoughts, which is always a good thing.

> The occasional maverick genius will always do what he or she wants to,
> and it will be so full of good ideas that it becomes an excuse for a
> torrent of subsequent mediocrity and regressiveness from the rest
> of the genre.

Obligatory Miyazaki reference.  :-)

> The North Americans may be funnier, the Eastern Europeans may be
> more socially conscious, the Italians may be more authentically
> lascivious.

Agreed on the first two points (I haven't seen enough Italian animation :-)).
There is some funny anime, true, but I still have to hear about an
anime with the sheer lunacy of a Tex Avery short.  And the Eastern Europeans
consistenly use animation to make political and social points (see the latest
TOURNEE OF ANIMATION for examples).

> anime, and the manga comic style that inspired it, has a network
> of intricate templates, traditions and rules that are adhered to
> more or less faithfully by every animator in Japan who isn't
> working for an American producer, and most of those who are.

Ah, the dreaded "cookie-cutter", most noticeable in the character designs,
still Tezuka-derivative after all these years.  True, some designers are
moving away from that (like whoever does the designs for Studio Mad House),
but for now those are the exceptions.

[more examples of cliches deleted]

Ok, these problems exist, true.  But what can we do about it, or are you just
speaking out of sheer frustration?  (More on this later.)

> In fact, it seems that the same disease that has affected the
> motion-picture industry has infected the world of anime. Bad
> writing.

That's a problem in any narrative medium.

> this is the same disease that enables one of
> the biggest movie studios in the States to take a superb body of
> imagination called ALIEN and completely rape and disrespect it to
> make a thoroughly unnecessary sequel.

Now here I disagree with you.  ALIENS is a very different film than
ALIEN, but it is a very good film in its own way.

> In my view, it is up to the fans, the partisans, the experts, the
> people who know and love anime, who spend their money on it so
> that it can flourish; it is up to these people to politely ask
> those with the energy and talent to produce the animation to
> please, even if it costs more and takes longer, please hire
> someone who can write coherent, imaginative meaningful ideas for
> their animators to bring to life.

Methinks you're preaching to the wrong audience.  American anime fans have
virtually no input as to what kinds of anime are made, the American market
for anime is just too small compared to the Japanese market.

And besides, if you're into the business for the money (as most of these
companies are), you're going to produce for the lowest common denominator.
Let's face it, folks, most people out there would rather see yet another
bimbo with a big gun than something ORIGINAL.


Postmortem:

Marc has made some VERY good points in his article.  The Japanese animators
have discovered that animation is not just for infantile stories, yet the
vast majority of their work doesn't seem to reach past the juvenile/adventure
stage.  Where is their Woody Allen, their Peter Greenway, their Hitchcock?
Miyazaki would be their Spielberg (and theirs is much better than ours ^_^).

Here's a little experiment for any long-time anime fans reading this:
- Make a list of all the anime you have watched.
- Make a list of all the anime you consider thoughtful, innovative, AND
  intelligent.  Here's a free clue: AKIRA isn't one, not by a long shot.

You'll end up having one long list and one short list.  The more anime
you watch, the longer the long list gets, but the short list doesn't
seem to get any longer.  Now why is that?
-- 
			    E n r i q u e  C o n t y
			The Incredible Man-with-no-Life
			      jester@ihlpl.att.com
		    Disclaimer: You're not dealing with AT&T
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation