Written by Roman Chayka
(Originally published in Griffith University's publication 'Getamungstit' Magazine, in the 2015 "The Green Edition", #5)
As founder of Griffith Anime Society, and a life-long anime fan, I’ve taken part in more than my fair share of discussions, debates, and outright arguments about anime, and what defines it. Anime isn’t new to most people - everyone grew up watching Pokemon, or Dragonball Z, or Sailor Moon on the morning cartoon shows. But not everyone has a clear definition of anime in their head, and sometimes people end up with the wrong idea altogether. So, I want to talk about the things that make Japanese anime unique and distinct from Western animation.
There are, of course, many similarities between the two as well, and even a few examples that can credibly be argued to belong in both - but there are also some key differences, and aspects which are expressed more strongly in one or the other. Probably the best way to think of the two is as two styles, or artistic directions, within the same medium - animation - and this is what makes the differences so fascinating to discuss.
Genre Friction
You might have heard the distinction explained as “Western cartoons are for kids, but anime is targeted at teenagers and young adults”. It’s a very common and frequently-cited difference between the two, but in this day and age, and with the popularity of American shows like Simpsons, Family Guy, Metalocalypse, Futurama, South Park, and Rick and Morty, the old truism no longer holds much water.
That said, a key point of distcinction is that while animation has found traction among adult viewers in the West in the field of comedy, with the above examples and others, Japanese anime throughout its history has credible examples of virtually every genre. Horror, inspirational teacher stories, mystery, comedy (ranging from light-hearted and cute, through to black gallows humour), romance, sports drama, martial arts, dystopian sci-fi, coming-of-age stories, and over-the-top action all have excellent examples in the anime medium.
As well as dabbling in genres familiar to Western viewers, Japanese anime has, over the years, developed a few full-fledged genres of its own. Of note are Giant Robot sci-fi, making the transition to the West in the form of shows like Voltron, Robotech, and Evangelion, and Magical Girl fantasy, with a familiar to us example of Sailor Moon. Additionally, the Sentai/Team Heroes genre, also has many many examples in anime - but it didn’t originate there, but rather in live-action Japanese Tokusatsu TV, and made the transition to American and Australian TV as Power Rangers.
This greater variety of genres in anime is a hint that animation in the West has a lot of room to expand and grow, from the established foundation it has in comedy, to other genres. To do that, though, it will have to also develop how it tells its story, and the relationship it has with the viewer.
Show and tell
I’m going to stray a little bit into “film nerd” territory here for a moment, and point out that Japanese anime and Western anime also use different cinematic techniques. Of course both are influenced by over a century of both Western and Eastern cinema, and the principles of photography and design, but Japanese animation has an influence which strongly differs from its Western counterpart. I am talking, of course, about theatre,and the Japanese theatrical tradition vs. the Western.
A full discussion of the differences is a bit out of scope of this article, not to mention my expertise, but if I had to sum up the differences of presentation and storytelling, it would look like this: In Western theatrical tradition, characters express their emotions more directly, and the events that happen are typically seen through the characters’ perception and reaction, whereas in Eastern theatre, the characters’ expression is more oblique, and their emotions are interpreted through the events that transpire.
A strong scene in traditional Western theatre is a character expressing their emotion beautifully and poignantly (see any Shakespearean monologue, or, for older examples, the chorus in Greek plays), whereas in Japanese theatrical tradition, it is closer to a character remaining stoically silent, or even saying the opposite of what they feel, while the costumes, events, and effects on stage convey to the viewer what sort of turmoil is really going on in their heart.
This difference in tradition has carried through to cinematic technique and on to animation, which is storyboarded essentially the same way. While “show, don’t tell” is an axiom in all modern cinema, Japanese cinema, and anime, tends to be presented in a way that can be summed up as “imply, don’t show”. There is a lot of communication taking place with the viewer through visual metaphor and situational contrast. Cold wind blows during lonely moments, the sun rises, sets, and emerges from the clouds in time with character mood, distressing revelations coincide with the first drops of a sudden rainstorm, disturbed birds flee a character’s outburst in panic, the light in the window turns on to show that a character is home, the ground and buildings outside shakes from a impassioned blow… there’s a whole cinematic language at work, which you just don’t see to the same extent in Western animation.
And it’s not like this is unique to Japanese culture - we see this stuff all the time in Western live-action cinema, where the East-West cross-pollination happens much more readily (since at least the Chanbara-Western-Spaghetti days) - but much, much more rarely in Western animation. The best illustration of it, of course, is when Hollywood movies are influenced by an anime. Here are a couple of examples from popular films that you may not even have realised were influenced by anime.
(Originally published in Griffith University's publication 'Getamungstit' Magazine, in the 2015 "The Green Edition", #5)
As founder of Griffith Anime Society, and a life-long anime fan, I’ve taken part in more than my fair share of discussions, debates, and outright arguments about anime, and what defines it. Anime isn’t new to most people - everyone grew up watching Pokemon, or Dragonball Z, or Sailor Moon on the morning cartoon shows. But not everyone has a clear definition of anime in their head, and sometimes people end up with the wrong idea altogether. So, I want to talk about the things that make Japanese anime unique and distinct from Western animation.
There are, of course, many similarities between the two as well, and even a few examples that can credibly be argued to belong in both - but there are also some key differences, and aspects which are expressed more strongly in one or the other. Probably the best way to think of the two is as two styles, or artistic directions, within the same medium - animation - and this is what makes the differences so fascinating to discuss.
Genre Friction
You might have heard the distinction explained as “Western cartoons are for kids, but anime is targeted at teenagers and young adults”. It’s a very common and frequently-cited difference between the two, but in this day and age, and with the popularity of American shows like Simpsons, Family Guy, Metalocalypse, Futurama, South Park, and Rick and Morty, the old truism no longer holds much water.
That said, a key point of distcinction is that while animation has found traction among adult viewers in the West in the field of comedy, with the above examples and others, Japanese anime throughout its history has credible examples of virtually every genre. Horror, inspirational teacher stories, mystery, comedy (ranging from light-hearted and cute, through to black gallows humour), romance, sports drama, martial arts, dystopian sci-fi, coming-of-age stories, and over-the-top action all have excellent examples in the anime medium.
As well as dabbling in genres familiar to Western viewers, Japanese anime has, over the years, developed a few full-fledged genres of its own. Of note are Giant Robot sci-fi, making the transition to the West in the form of shows like Voltron, Robotech, and Evangelion, and Magical Girl fantasy, with a familiar to us example of Sailor Moon. Additionally, the Sentai/Team Heroes genre, also has many many examples in anime - but it didn’t originate there, but rather in live-action Japanese Tokusatsu TV, and made the transition to American and Australian TV as Power Rangers.
This greater variety of genres in anime is a hint that animation in the West has a lot of room to expand and grow, from the established foundation it has in comedy, to other genres. To do that, though, it will have to also develop how it tells its story, and the relationship it has with the viewer.
Show and tell
I’m going to stray a little bit into “film nerd” territory here for a moment, and point out that Japanese anime and Western anime also use different cinematic techniques. Of course both are influenced by over a century of both Western and Eastern cinema, and the principles of photography and design, but Japanese animation has an influence which strongly differs from its Western counterpart. I am talking, of course, about theatre,and the Japanese theatrical tradition vs. the Western.
A full discussion of the differences is a bit out of scope of this article, not to mention my expertise, but if I had to sum up the differences of presentation and storytelling, it would look like this: In Western theatrical tradition, characters express their emotions more directly, and the events that happen are typically seen through the characters’ perception and reaction, whereas in Eastern theatre, the characters’ expression is more oblique, and their emotions are interpreted through the events that transpire.
A strong scene in traditional Western theatre is a character expressing their emotion beautifully and poignantly (see any Shakespearean monologue, or, for older examples, the chorus in Greek plays), whereas in Japanese theatrical tradition, it is closer to a character remaining stoically silent, or even saying the opposite of what they feel, while the costumes, events, and effects on stage convey to the viewer what sort of turmoil is really going on in their heart.
This difference in tradition has carried through to cinematic technique and on to animation, which is storyboarded essentially the same way. While “show, don’t tell” is an axiom in all modern cinema, Japanese cinema, and anime, tends to be presented in a way that can be summed up as “imply, don’t show”. There is a lot of communication taking place with the viewer through visual metaphor and situational contrast. Cold wind blows during lonely moments, the sun rises, sets, and emerges from the clouds in time with character mood, distressing revelations coincide with the first drops of a sudden rainstorm, disturbed birds flee a character’s outburst in panic, the light in the window turns on to show that a character is home, the ground and buildings outside shakes from a impassioned blow… there’s a whole cinematic language at work, which you just don’t see to the same extent in Western animation.
And it’s not like this is unique to Japanese culture - we see this stuff all the time in Western live-action cinema, where the East-West cross-pollination happens much more readily (since at least the Chanbara-Western-Spaghetti days) - but much, much more rarely in Western animation. The best illustration of it, of course, is when Hollywood movies are influenced by an anime. Here are a couple of examples from popular films that you may not even have realised were influenced by anime.
The Matrix (Image Source: Village Roadshow Entertainment), a late 90s cultural milestone vs Ghost In the Shell (Image Source: Madman Entertainment), a mid-90s cyberpunk thriller.
Scenes from Perfect Blue (Image Source: Madman Entertainment) : a psychological thriller about a young pop singer and Black Swan (Image Source: Fox Searchlight Pictures): a psychological thriller about a young ballet dancer
GAS BLURB
Griffith Anime Society, founded in 2001, is a social club dedicated to showcasing and discussing all things anime, manga and games. They host weekly events, movie nights, marathons, and excursions. Find them on Facebook or visit www.griffithanimesociety.weebly.com for more details.
GAS BLURB
Griffith Anime Society, founded in 2001, is a social club dedicated to showcasing and discussing all things anime, manga and games. They host weekly events, movie nights, marathons, and excursions. Find them on Facebook or visit www.griffithanimesociety.weebly.com for more details.