Kenneth DeRivera
Media Theory and Design 2
12-20-2010
Anime Influences U.S. cartoons
I am a fan of anime, also known as Japanimation, which is from Japan. Anime is the term used for the Japanese style of animation that is based on the “Manga” (comic book) style. Many popular anime shows come from manga. Over the years as anime has become more popular, I have noticed that it seems to have had an Influence on some of the cartoons that we see in the U.S. The difference between anime and cartoons is that anime has always been, in recent history, better drawn, had better presentation, and has gradually developed to capture an audience of all ages. Cartoons have always been, about 90%, simple, one directional, light hearted presentation's geared to children and preteen audiences.
First of all, anime usually has a very wide variety of colors in it whereas cartoons often only have bright colors in it. Second, while cartoons have characters that look somewhat human but often only have three fingers on each hand and three toes on each foot. Anime is drawn differently, the characters look more human. Third, is the story or plot of anime and cartoons. Anime usually have well written sometimes seemingly completely unique plots that are usually executed very well. Cartoons on the other hand, often have a main goal for the characters, but they have the characters doing something different in order to reach that goal in every episode. Fourth, anime has music that helps convey the mood of a scene. Cartoons often have background music that is kind of just some sound effect repeated and altered in a way that gives it rhythm. These are just a few of the differences between anime and cartoons. I will go further into the ways that anime has influenced cartoons in the U.S. Anime has gradually seeped into American cartoons influencing them in a number of ways. To Point this out I have reviewed below three examples of that influence.
This series features the adventures of the Dark Knight of Gotham City as he battles the evil that inhabits the city with occasional help of Robin and Batgirl in stories that are faithful to the comics in spirit and tone. According to "batmantas.com" the story of batman goes like this. As a boy, Bruce Wayne witnessed his parents' gruesome murder by an unknown gunman and vowed revenge against all who broke the law. As a young adult, he worked to fulfill this vow by traveling the world to learn from masters of various defense disciplines. Eventually he became an exceptional escape artist, master of martial arts, acrobatics, science, technology, boxing, disguises, and criminology and detective skills. Having perfected his skills, Bruce Wayne is prepared to embark on his mission. But one thing eludes him -- the ability to strike fear in the hearts of the criminals he will confront while protecting his true identity.
One night, in his father's study, Bruce Wayne relives the horror of his parents' death. Suddenly, in a terrifying flash of blackness, the window is shattered by the striking image of a black bat. In that moment, Bruce Wayne's destiny is determined. He would become the night... he would become the Batman. Bound by his personal code of justice, Batman resolves to never kill an enemy. Instead, he relies on his physical prowess and mental superiority to bring his enemies to justice.
During the day, Bruce Wayne is CEO of Wayne Enterprises and maintains the public image of a millionaire playboy. In fact, Bruce goes to great lengths convincing others that the self-centered socialite is his true self. Bruce Wayne is the disguise, Batman is the true personality.
The Animated Series finds Gotham City in urban chaos, dark and gloomy as the criminals who inhabit it. The city cries out for justice -- not the kind that comes from the police, but from a man who wears a mask. Batman is Gotham City's "Dark Knight" and will stop at nothing to restore order to the city and protect its citizens.
Another of the differences between anime and cartoons is the animation. In cartoons when a character reacts to something like surprise, the character will move in an almost freakish way. The hair on their head will stick up, their body will get taller and thin and their eyes will get really big. So basically, their body becomes much distorted. In anime, when a character is surprised, or does any kind of facial expression, they usually have a reaction that looks more realistic and human then in cartoons. For example, a character’s eyes will quickly widen when surprised and then go back to normal, just like how a real person might react to being surprised. Well in the case of Batman: The Animated Series, the animation was done very well. Characters moved life like. Their faces followed rules when expressing emotions. Rather than distorting their faces in some freakish way, they actually react in such a way that looks almost completely human.
The most successful of the "Dark Deco" animated series in the U.S. of the 1990's was Warner Bros. "Batman: The Animated Series”. The dynamic series spawned a new technique in animation using black backgrounds that would eventually be dubbed "Dark Deco." Dark Deco gave every scene within Gotham an extraordinary look, redefining the image of the city. Batman: The Animated Series was one cartoon in particular that definitely broke away from using a majority of bright colors.
Batman: The Animated Series is a cartoon that used music to set the mood, convey emotions and had an opening theme song that was so cinematic that it made you feel like you were watching the cartoon from inside of a movie theater. For the people that watched Batman the animated series, if someone were to bring up the subject of the music in it, most people will think of the opening. It is very captivating.
In keeping with anime influence, character development rang true throughout the series as we see in the review that follows. This is an excellent example of anime style drawing in U.S. cartoons. The series had all the usual characters and even created some new ones. The most obvious change was that of the Dick Grayson/Robin character in the "new" 90's costume, becoming a hipper more adult representation which the character has never seen. This is the Robin that I grew up watching on Batman: The Animated Series.
While a great deal of Dick's past remained the same, his Robin costume was updated to a more modern look of the 1990s (with short sleeves and long pants), exactly like Tim Drake's original Robin outfit. In addition, Dick was given a more mature personality to match the darkness of the series. The episode Batgirl Returns establishes that Dick and Barbara Gordon attend the same college and that they have a fairly mutual romantic attraction to each other, but neither one knows that the other is secretly Robin and/or Batgirl, respectively (despite having collaborated in Shadow of the Bat, albeit without getting along), and their relationship is one of the plot elements of Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero.
Another significant change was the transformation of the many villains. From the ever-popular Joker to the more obscure Clock King, the series displayed each villain's unique personality to perfection and introduced new characters, including the popular Ms. Harley Quinn. Although she wasn't born into the Batman universe until the seventh episode of the series, Harley quickly overshadowed such long time favorites as Catwoman and Poison Ivy.
New villains such as Red Claw, Kyodai Ken, Tygrus, and the Sewer King were invented for the series, but too little acclaim. On the other hand, Joker's accomplice Harley Quinn, Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya, and the sociopathic vigilante Lock-Up achieved such popularity that they became characters in the comics. Older villains that were lesser known from the comics, such as Count Vertigo, the Mirror Man, and the Clock King, were adapted for the series in both the way they looked and acted.
Aside from creating characters that crossed over into the main line of DC Comics, several of the series' reinterpretations were carried over as well. Mr. Freeze was redone to emulate the series' tragic story, the success of which actually compelled DC to bring the character back after "killing" him off some years earlier; Clayface was revised to be much more similar in appearance to his animated counterpart; Poison Ivy took on the slightly inhuman, green skin color she received in later episodes of the series; and Two-Face's double sided, black and white suit has become a common appearance for the character.
All characters received an update in The New Batman Adventures, having costumes, voices, mannerisms, and overall looks modified. The artwork and colors became sharper and somewhat more cartoonish.
In nearly all other media, including the comics, TV shows, and films, Bruce deliberately plays up his image as a vacuous, self-absorbed, and not-too-bright billionaire playboy. In the animated series, his character is instead treated more seriously. With attributes such as being assertive, intelligent, and actively involved in the management of Wayne Enterprises, without jeopardizing his secret identity, Bruce's personality builds upon the show's overall darker edge. For an example, in the episode "Eternal Youth", Bruce is shown angrily ordering one of his directors to cancel a secret deal with a timber company in the Amazon rainforest ("Shut it down, or you're gone!"). In addition, during the episode "Night of the Ninja", he revealed to reporter Summer Gleeson that he has some martial arts training, as the reporter previously researched that he once lived in Japan, though he later throws a fight with the ninja Kyodai Ken in front of Gleeson to disguise his prowess.
In the series, Batman used a variety of scientific items to pursue, subdue, and strike fear in the criminal element of Gotham City. I liked how all of Batman's gear doesn't seem too far into the realm of science-fiction. Instead it feels as though it were possible to obtain or create one of His gadgets if you had the right resources and money like he does.
Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world that is home to humans, fantastic animals, and spirits, and is the next cartoon that I am going to talk about. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has its own natural element, on which it bases its society. Furthermore, people known as Benders have the power and ability to control and manipulate the eponymous element of their nation using the physical motions of martial arts. The show’s creators based each Bending style on a style of real-world martial art, leading to visual differences in the techniques used by Waterbenders (tai chi chuan), Earthbenders (Hung Ga kung fu, for the most part), Firebenders (Northern Shaolin kung fu) and Airbenders (baguazhang). Each country is also associated with a season: autumn for the Air Nomads, winter for the Water Tribe, spring for the Earth Kingdom and summer for the Fire Nation.
At any given time, there is only one person alive in the world of Avatar who is capable of bending all four elements: the show's eponymous Avatar, the spiritual entity of the planet manifested in human form. When an Avatar dies, he or she is reincarnated into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle, in the order of the seasons. Legend holds the Avatar must master each bending art in seasonal order as well, starting with their native element. For the Avatar, learning to bend their opposite element can be extremely difficult; the example shown in the series is Aang's inability to stand his ground head-on while Earthbending, his Airbender training having placed emphasis on circling, approaching from new angles and adapting on the fly.
The Avatar possesses a unique power and ability called the Avatar State, which endows the Avatar with all the knowledge and abilities of all past Avatars and acts as a self-triggering defense mechanism, although it can be made subject to the will of the user through various methods, such as extensive trial and training. If an Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken, and the Avatar will cease to exist. Through the ages, countless incarnations of Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony, and maintain world order. The Avatar serves as the bridge between the physical world and the Spirit World, allowing him or her to solve problems that normal benders cannot.
It is closer to the realistic then cartoonish. Often times, people would mistake Avatar: The Last Airbender for anime, when in reality it is in fact U.S. made cartoon. When my sister first saw Avatar: the Last Airbender she also thought it was an anime, most people have to be told that to figure that out. The color usage here is very expansive. The shades range from very dark to very bright and utilize a range of shades in between. Like Batman: The Animated Series, Avatar: The Last Airbender was very cinematic, with music that drew you ever closer to the excitement. Here we have an interesting blend of anime type detail and the almost cartoonish.
Aang is the 12 year old fun-loving protagonist of the series who had been frozen in ice with his flying bison, Appa, for about 100 years. He is freed by a young Waterbender named Katara who later becomes his love interest. He is the current incarnation of the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. Aang is a reluctant hero trying to return balance to the world. Aang also has arrow tattoos on his forehead and limbs, something that was part of Airbender culture before they were wiped out. According to the show's creators in DVD extras the tattoos mark Aang as an airbending master and he is the youngest airbender in history to earn them. As the Avatar, Aang controls the elements and is tasked with keeping the Four Nations at peace. The show follows Aang's journeys to complete this task.
Just as there are anime that are inspired by manga, so too are there cartoons that are inspired by comic books, enter the animated series, "Teen Titans." The series in turn was influenced by anime in its presentation. Teen Titans was one of the first really popular cartoons in the U.S. that had many styles in it that were from taken from anime.
Another cartoon that has been influenced by anime is “Teen Titans.” Like anime, Teen Titans had an opening theme, although it is usually played in English. Teen Titans had another version of the opening song that was sung in Japanese that they would occasionally play instead of the English version. Also, occasionally during the series, there would be some kind of silly case sequence during which J-pop (Japanese pop music) or music very similar sounding would be played in the background. On different episodes, the series' theme song's lyrics alternate between English and Japanese, sung by the J-pop duo Puffy (called "Puffy AmiYumi" in the United States).
Teen Titan's animation style was greatly influenced by anime. Although more realistic then cartoons, many anime use somewhat cartoonish facial expressions for some characters when they are for example; shocked by something or get kind of mad. Often times when this happens, a certain amount of the detail to the character's face will be removed and then the character will make a face, like an exaggerated pout, or if they are mad, their head may swell up a little and turn red. This is what Teen Titans did.
Some fans of the comic book actually criticized the series for having a "childish nature". The Teen Titans were based on their DC Comic iterations, but the animation was primarily of a Japanese style.
The Teen Titans animated series had become very popular and even had several characters created specifically for the show. Some heroes like Mas Y Menos are a pair of hyper-active high-speed twins. When connected by holding hands, the Spanish-speaking heroes can reach super-sonic speeds! But knock them apart, and they are just normal teenage boys. "Mas Y Menos" - which translates as "more and less" - is an apt description for the super-speedy siblings. Next, the group of Timmy Tantrum, Teether and Melvin along with their mysterious 'imaginary' friend named Bobby. Bad guys such as XL Terrestrial an extra-terrestrial with an extra-large appetite for villainy! The size-changing XL Terrestrial studied at the sinister Hive Academy under the tutelage of Brother Blood - where he met other students who shared his taste for treachery. Then there is Billy Numerous who is able to create numerous copies of himself. There were several allies for the Titans that they created only for the show as well, like Red-X: Red X was actually Robin in disguise; He assumed the identity of Red X in an attempt to learn more about his arch-foe, Slade. But the plan backfired, and Robin almost lost the trust of his friends. Later, Red X mysteriously resurfaced. Someone had stolen the super-suit from Robin's safekeeping. Red X sought Xenothium - the rare dangerous chemical that powers the suit. The series got a few allies for the Titans created for it such as; The True Master: When Robin was defeated by the malicious martial artist Katarou, he embarked on a difficult quest to seek a mysterious, legendary teacher known only as ... The True Master. Traveling to Asia, Robin began his spiritual journey to the top of a mountain with a kindly old woman as a mysterious guide. Unknown to Robin, he was being followed by the sneaky Katarou as well. "There is an easy way up the mountain... and the right way." Whereas Robin chose the right way - besting the bear, snake and monkey - Katarou chose the easy way by following the boy wonder. Once atop the mountain, Robin defeated Katarou with the lessons he learned in his journey. Upon learning this, Robin deduced the kindly old woman as the True Master. And his training began in earnest. There were even a few characters they based on character that were in the comic books, but not the comic book characters themselves such as Hotspot. He's a human flame-thrower with a fiery temper to match! Hot Spot is based on the Teen Titan known as Joto in the comic book series.
In conclusion, anime has influenced cartoons made in the U.S. quite a bit. As anime has become more popular in the U.S. so has its style. In these many pages I have done my best to explain how anime or Japanimation has influenced U.S. cartoons and therefore cause some cartoons to become similar to anime and sometimes even be mistaken for anime. A prime example of these cartoons I have discussed here, they are; Batman: The Animated Series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Teen Titans.
Final Bibliography
Books:
Napier, Susan Jolliffe. Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Print.
Ledoux, Trish. Anime Interviews: the First Five Years of Animerica, Anime & Manga Monthly (1992-97). San Francisco, CA: Cadence, 1997. Print.
Ledoux, Trish, Doug Ranney, and Fred Patten. The Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation Film Directory & Resource Guide. Issaquah, WA: Tiger Mountain, 1997. Print.
Websites:
"Art and Culture Japanese Animation and Its Influences on American Culture - Amazines.com Article Search Engine." Free Articles at Amazines.Com - Author Publishing and Free Article Database. Web. 08 Dec. 2010. .
"Anime-influenced Animation." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Dec. 2010.
"Anime@Everything2.com." Welcome to Everything@Everything2.com. Web. 15 Dec. 2010.
Batman The Animated Series. Web. 15 Dec. 2010.
"Batman: The Animated Series." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Dec. 2010.
"The Difference between Japanese Animation and American Cartoon_百度知道." 百度知道――全球最大中文互动问答平台. Web. 15 Dec. 2010.
"Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cartoon | Nicktoons.com." Nickelodeon Cartoons | Cartoon Games & Cartoon Videos | Nicktoons. Web. 18 Dec. 2010.
"Avatar: The Last Airbender." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Dec. 2010.
"Batman: The Animated Series on TV.com." TV.com - Free Full Episodes & Clips, Show Info and TV Listings Guide. Web. 19 Dec. 2010.
Batman The Animated Series. Web. 18 Dec. 2010.
"Batman: The Animated Series." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Dec. 2010.
"Teen Titans (TV Series)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Dec. 2010.
"Titanstower.com: Teen Titans Animated Home." Titanstower.com. Web. 18 Dec. 2010.
"Batman (TV Series 1992–1995) - IMDb." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 19 Dec. 2010.
Article:
Redmond, Dennis. "Anime and East Asian Culture: Neon Genesis Evangelion." Quarterly Review of Film and Video 24.2 (2007): 183-88. Print.
Napier, Susan J. "The wonderful world of anime; Susan J. Napier comments on the American experience of contemporary Japanese animation." Look Japan Oct. 2003: 31. General OneFile. Web. 15 Dec. 2010.
