- Improve quality of stories: Make characters develop and have real depth. American anime is often clumped together with a stigma of thin storylines, cliché characters, and low-quality production. (For that reason, many fans believe Avatar: The Last Airbender is a step in the "right direction." Unlike most anime-style shows, Avatar has "cross-over appeal" to different demographics due to its evolving storyline and multi-dimensional characters--something most kids' shows lack.)
- Improve animation quality: No Saturday morning cartoon choppiness though we have thankfully passed beyond that point already.
- Wider audience range: Not just for kids. Teens and adults, too! Though mature American manga exists, mature American anime has yet to find a niche in TV in and movies. (Adaptations of American franchises don't count, like The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight.)
- TV Show structure: This may be more difficult to accomplish, due to the standards set by American television stations and time constraints. But we need Eyecatches. Opening/Ending sequences. Advancing storylines may be the biggest problem. Too many fillers, no real plot development...until the season finale. If it ever comes. (To be fair, many Japanese anime suffer from the filler problem, too. Cough, Naruto, cough.) It needs to feel familiar to get otaku's attention.
- At the same time, be careful about reliance on Japanese aesthetic: Teen Titans was criticized in the webcomic VGCats for overreliance on "overused anime expressions" like the sweatdrop, the pulsing vein, and many of anime's unique facial expressions. Even I cringed a bit when Avatar aired those cheesy shorts. Observe:
It didn't feel like Avatar; it felt like the creators (Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) were basking in their fame and giving themselves a bit of leeway to "sell out" to the anime fans. It felt like watching a fanart/fanfic in action. Careful. That may please the younger fans, but it may have turned off older, disillusioned ones who once praised Avatar for not relying too heavily on anime clichés. In a way, it loses some of Avatar's "credibility" for daring to be different.
Statement of Purpose
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
"Improving" American Anime: A Word of Caution
Perhaps to appeal to the older, more serious fans, the otaku of America (and probably other countries as well), American anime-style cartoons should stick more closely to the format of Japanese anime (if possible). I believe this is actually what otaku are looking for. For instance:
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1 comments:
I love Avatar and Teen Titans! And I totally get what you're saying. Now, I don't watch a whole lot of anime, but these two are practically my favorite tv shows ever!
One of the reasons I love them so much is the fact that they're not just for the kids. Yeah, the kids can get into them with the fights, and the good vs. evil, but there's more to them than that. Avatar is really good with subplots, and yet you never forget what the overall plot line is. Zuko has to be my favoirte character; I guess I'm just drawn to the tortured soul. There's more to him than just being the villian, especially once his sister comes on the scene. You're just on the edge of your seat waiting to find out if he's good or he's evil. I really hope they have another season of Avatar; it's such a good show.
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