S.O.S. Anime Presents:
Anime and the cross
over between Japanese and American cultures
I.
Anime
0.
What is anime?
A. Anime is a style of animation made popular in Japan that emphasizes facial expressions and economy of form. It covers every possible genre and age group.
1.
What is Manga?
A. Manga is black and white line art style of comic. It is descended from the black and white comics in the news paper, and like anime covers all genres and age groups.
2.
Contrast
A. Comedy and Drama
i. American animation often is based solely on comedy with little plot setup. For example there is no good reason for the coyote to chase the roadrunner he just does.
ii. Japanese animation always has a serious (although some times tongue firmly planted in cheek) plot driving the story.
B. Kids and Kids
i. American Kids shows are not necessarily based in reality. For example Sponge Bob lives in a pineapple under the sea
ii. Japanese Kids shows have fantastical elements but are based in reality.
C. Shonen and Shojo
i. Shonen is Japanese for boys. It is characterized by sharp angles, speed lines, and themes of trust and fraternity.
ii. Shojo is Japanese for girls. It is characterized by flowery backgrounds, themes of love, and very deep plot development.
D. Western and Japanese
i. Western style animation is characterized by images of people that are fairly realistic. There is no extra emphasis on facial expressions and all body parts tend to be proportionally correct. The animation tends to be a little rough, with a somewhat mass produced feel to it. The exception is Disney which takes great care in its animation elevating western style to an art form.
ii. Japanese style animation is characterized by images of people that are not very realistic, but very expressive. The bodies of characters tend to have disproportionaly large heads, although large eyes tend to be reserved for protagonists and innocents. Antagonists and anti-heros tend to have small eyes, emphasizing their lack of emotion.
E. Continuous and Non-Continuous
i. American animated series are not always continuous. For example in the old Looney Toons cartoons, nothing that happened to Bugs Bunny in one episode never carried over to another episode.
ii. Japanese animated series always carry over plot elements from previous episodes. Japanese series tend to tell stories that cannot be summed up in one episode.
F. Non real
i. Non real elements in American animation tend to be very unusual. They don’t necessarily have any cultural basis and are very fantastical, although still anthropomorphic.
ii. Non real elements in Japanese series tend to be very believable in context. They usual have a cultural basis, and range from the truly fantastical to the almost mundane.
3.
Compare
A. Action and Action
i. Action is action. Whether the protagonist is attacking with a weapon or the mind action changes very little, only the setting varies.
B. Family and Family
i. Family values are fairly universal. Families care for each other, are there for each other, live learn and love together.
C. Proto and Proto
i. Early animation styles that can be traced back to as originators of the form, even if current styles are vastly different.
D. Kids and Kids
i. Kids style of animation emphasizes fantastical elements. It has characters and backgrounds that are not necessarily very realistic, but appeal to a young audience.
II.
History of Anime
0.
Astro Boy (1963)
1.
Speed Racer (1967)
2.
Lupin III (1971)
3.
Starblazers “Spaceship Yamato” (1974)
4.
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)
5.
Voltron (1981)
6.
Robotech “Macross Saga” (1985)
7.
Dragonball (1986)
8.
Akira (1988)
9.
Tenchi (1992)
10.
Sailor Moon (1992)
11.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)
12.
Pokemon (1997)
13.
Cowboy Bebop (1998)
14.
Yu-Gi-Oh! (1998)
15.
Spirited Away (2001)
16.
Fruits Basket (2001)
17.
RahXephon (2002)
18.
.Hack (2002)
19.
The ADV Channel
A. The ADV Channel is just starting to come online with most major cable providers.
III.
Fandom
0. Getting
actively involved with something you like.
A. Can include the reading of comics/manga
B. Watching anime with friends
C. Going to Conventions with family/friends
D. Creating Fan Art; comics, zines, music videos, websites
1. Define
Otaku?
A. Japanese definition of an enthusiast of any specific hobby.
B. The American definition typically involves the interest of Japanese Animation and Culture.
2. What are
Anime Conventions?
A. The social gathering of anime fans
i. Involves watching Anime; typically fansubs: which are anime series not commercially available in the US, where the shows are subtitled into English
ii. Involves Art Workshops: that take you through the drawing process of the anime/manga style of drawing
iii. Involves watching Anime Music Videos: where fans put their favorite anime shows to music; also known as: AMVs
iv. Involves Costume Dressing: as your favorite anime characters; also known as: Cosplay
v. Has a dealer’s room: which is a big market of dealers who sell Anime, and other products like plushies of anime characters and other such toys and memorabilia.
vi. Involves Contests: like the best Cosplay costume, the best AMV and so on…
vii. Also involves other culturally relevant events.
3. What are
Fansubs?
A. Fansubs are when someone has an anime show that is not currently available in the US, and translate it or have it translated into English or their language of choice, and then add the subtitles to the anime.
i. People typically watch fansubs with friends, in clubs, in college, and at conventions; like Otakon, which started from a college anime club.
ii. Prior to being released on DVDs or VHS tapes in the US; fansubs were one of the early and only ways to see anime.
iii. Today something called a “dub” is also available, and that is when a US Anime company brings the Anime into the US and replaces and sometimes re-writes the story to appeal more to a US audience. This process involves replacing the audio track with English speaking soundtrack. Where fansubs retain the Japanese soundtrack and add fan translated subtitles.
4. Anime Music
Videos?
A. Anime Music Videos (AMVs), are when someone edits together various or specific anime to music and creates their own Music Video. In the past years AMVs have really evolved into their own type of entertainment. Most conventions have contests where the fans vote for their favorite AMVs. This is one of the bigger events at conventions.
5. What is
Cosplaying?
A. The act of dressing up as a favorite inspired Japanese personality; anime characters, gaming characters, Japanese modern cultural icons; musicians and such.
i. Part of the fun of Cosplaying contests, is they put of skits, and role-play as their character.
ii. A lot of fans Cosplay a personal hobby and has cultivated it’s own social atmosphere at the conventions.
iii. Anime as a fandom is very vibrant and Cosplay is an aspect of fandom that is very vital to the convention experience. Many convention-neers range from babies to adults.
6. What are
Anime Clubs?
A. Groups & gatherings of friends and people who get together to watch anime and sometimes engage in social events.
B. You often find anime clubs in high schools and colleges (sometimes for educational purposes). Occasionally clubs are created outside of academic institutions. As an example of the SOS Club, in which we meet couple times a month.
C. It also offers a social mechanism to share and learn more about the common interests of the club.
D. Often within colleges Anime clubs share cultural events and activities with Japanese or Asian clubs.
7. Anime
Magazines and Fanzines
A. Newtype and Animerica are good examples of professional magazines that focus on anime as its central form of entertainment and content. Newtype is a Japanese magazine that is also now publishing an American version (Newtype USA), and Animerica is always been a US publication.
B. Fanzines, are publications that are put out and produced by fans. Sometimes these publications come from Fans or Clubs.
C. The major difference between a fanzine and a newsletter is that fanzines follow more of a magazine format and less of a newsletter format.
8. Fandom on
the Internet
A. Today, you can find AMVs, Cosplay, and fan-sites that are focused on anime, on the net. In today’s world these sites really are collective communities. AnimeMusicVideos.org is a popular website for AMV creators, Cosplay.com and FansView.com are popular web sites about Cosplaying. ...and AniPike.com was one of the first and is a good example of a website for finding anime related resources.
9. SOS the Club
A. All of us are members of an anime club, SOS. We meet the 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturday of every month. We also get together for other events like dinner and movie night, where we partially take over a local restaurant to watch anime movies for a few hours and eat Japanese cuisine.
B. If you want to know more, please visit our website: www.sos-anime.org.