"Anime isn't deep. It's just entertainment."
Posted by Martin on Fri, 03 Aug 2007. View the original post at The End of the World
It’s the typical retort to the old chestnut “Why are you watching those, um, cartoons?”. You take a bold stance, look *intelligent* and declare: “Because this stuff’s deep.” I mean, what better way to beat down those non-fans than to claim that they don’t ‘get’ it? The biggest hurdle (in my experience anyway) of getting people to actually sit down and appreciate an anime show is to prove that it’s mature, intelligent and fun to watch. Now, the ‘fun’ part isn’t the one that’s hard to prove…giant robots blowing stuff up, samurai and ninja fighting it out with breathtaking, poetic choreography…the likes of Appleseed and Ninja Scroll provide all the action and adventure of a Hollywood movie, they do it well and there’s no harm in that.
In the realms of fandom though, we don’t see mere entertainment as enough somehow. I include myself in this: many of us look beyond the explosions, the swordplay or even the everyday drama or comedy to view certain movies and series above the normal fare you see when you visit the cinema or switch on the TV; the character interactions, the social commentary, the philosophy, you name it. My core argument is this: SOME anime (note the capitals, people) matches the classics of cinema and television in highlighting issues that are scattered along the full spectrum from home truths of the everyday to questioning our place in the universe. Some, but not all, is mature and intelligent. In the same way that Battle Vixens or Legend of the Overfiend can scupper your argument that not all anime is all sex and violence, certain selected titles can prove that Japanese animation can, and does, say a lot about how and why the world is the way it is.
There is no reason, none at all, why anime cannot provide more than entertainment in the same way that any other art form can. Let’s face it, when moving images convey an idea or feeling they fall under the definition of ‘art’ by default. Take a frame from a Shinkai movie and you can hang it on your living room wall; yet anime can be more than just pretty pictures. Shinkai’s movies provide an insight into how humans feel and interact at an emotional level but there are other, very different, examples, of anime that fall into the broad category of ‘deep’, providing the expected, ’surface-level’ for the casual audience but including more complex issues for viewers who wish to look for them.
The adaptations of Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell combine taught, impressive-looking action sequences but also revisit the musings of Philip K Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and Isaac Asimov (I, Robot) - sadly, some viewers are so engrossed in the Major jumping off buildings half-naked and blasting the heads off terrorists with an assault rifle to notice that Mamoru Oshii is suggesting how A.I. and the exponentially-rising power of computers could affect our lives in the future. Many anime shows address social issues too: Satoshi Kon is (in)famous for his cynical views of the media, fame and the superficial nature of popular culture and historical events such as WWII are brought painfully and eloquently to life by Grave of the Fireflies and Barefoot Gen.
An additional problem with justifying anime’s ‘depth’ is that some viewers search for meanings in some shows that aren’t there in the first place. After several rewatches, much discussion and reading around, I see the notorious phenomenon of Evangelion as deep - admittedly, the ‘depth’ hides behind fan service, cool mecha designs and technobabble. It’s not deep because of the pseudo-science or freudian philosophy that some claim to divulge from it though; it’s because it gives a very important and profound observation of human nature. That is, facing your responsibilities in life head-on rather than running away from them is less painful and is a sign of emotional maturity. Simple, huh?
The sad fact is, for every anime show or film that has something worthwhile to say, there are countless pieces with less lofty ambitions; those that are designed to look cool and while away a little of your spare time (not to mention help you part with your spare cash) in the same way that ‘mainstream’ film and television does. I’m not saying that this sort of thing has no place on our shelves and screens; my point is, although it is relatively rare (going by numbers of features and franchises available to us as viewers, at any rate) anime can, and sometimes is, more than this. Rare as these are, sit an assorted load of them together and you have yourself a strong case…just don’t blame me if your parents or the guy you’re sitting next to in the pub look at you funny afterwards. I’m an opinionated and pretentious git but most people don’t believe that this level of analysis is healthy outside of a classroom. They maybe right on that one but hey, everyone needs a hobby!