the impact of japanese animation

Spirited Away (2001)

How Anime is molding the entertainment industry. By Conor Brown

It’s Saturday morning. You’re 10 years old, waiting for your favourite show to come on. You have no mountains of schoolwork to do, no part time job and no worries about how the future will turn out. In those brief moments of time, you can enjoy something so profound that it stays with you. That precious memory is locked behind all our busy brains somewhere and remains a fond moment in time to remember.

That pure, childhood joy of enjoying a Saturday morning cartoon is what inspired me to pursue a career in Film and Television at Bond University. That feeling of enjoyment is hard to replicate but remains a dream of mine to share with others. So, as I grew older, I found myself navigating towards a form of media I found that same joy from – Japanese animation. Japanese animation (anime for short) is a style of animation originating in Japan that is characterized by colourful graphics, vibrant characters in action-filled plots. Often with fantastical or futuristic themes, anime has a wide range of genres including romance, sci-fi, horror, action and psychological.

What makes anime so unique is the mature stories it can tell. Unlike the classic Saturday morning cartoons aimed at children, anime can include numerous plots and characters that appeal to older audiences. Therefore, I naturally found myself gravitating towards this form of media. It seemed a perfect blend of familiarity and more mature narratives that still replicated that childhood joy.

As I continued to research, experience, and enjoy this form of entertainment, I found something interesting. There seemed to be a striking connection between anime and Hollywood films, borrowing visuals and plot lines that almost identically match the original anime source material.

Some filmmakers have given tribute to borrowing or copying elements and stories from anime. The Wachowski sisters (makers of the Matrix) have been vocal on how Ghost in the Shell has influenced their film both visually and narratively. However, various other filmmakers still deny the similarities between their works and the animated source material.

The purpose of highlighting the similarities between Hollywood films and Japanese animation shows how the entertainment industry is being moulded by anime. Little do we know that Hollywood is one step ahead of audiences and Japan, unknowingly borrowing features from anime to create “original” works for western audiences. Whether for monetary gain or artistic purposes, anime is clearly influencing media we watch.

Ghost In The Shell (1995)

However, anime is finally making its own rise to power. In the past decade, more people have flocked to anime for the same reasons Hollywood have – the interesting stories and creative visuals. The internet gave Japan the ability to add anime to streaming services. No longer was anime a hidden gem of creative media for Hollywood to borrow from.

The anime Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) released a movie in 2020 that smashed the box office. As of current, the Demon Slayer Movie has grossed a total box office income of $503 million USD. During Covid-19, the film managed to topple many Hollywood films including Wonder Woman 1984 ($166.8 Million USD) and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet ($363.7 Million USD). In addition, Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) has broken streaming services Crunchyroll and Funimation due to mass audience watches over new episode releasing every week. Curtesy of Towards Data Science, Attack on Titan was also announced as IMBD’s highest rated episode ever.*

Hoping on anime’s rise to success is streaming service giant Netflix. A simple search will show a whole section dedicated to anime media. Alongside this, Netflix has recently produced the live-action series of Cowboy Bebop and is currently in development to produce a live-action One Piece series.

Anime is slowly deserving the praise and reward it deserved. From financial success, audience popularity and streaming service collaboration, these recent achievements are the evidence of something new. No longer subjected to the sidelines, anime is can now shape and mould the industry in spotlight. Finally, anime is free to offer a new, alternate form of entertainment to enjoy.

* Ganiyu, M. (2019). What TV show has the best of the best episodes on IMDb? Towards Data Science.

UMA CHAGHAGHI