Spotlight: Marathon Studios and Nirvana/DiC

The production of anime-inspired shows doesn't seem limited to America, it seems. Some of the most well-known (and despised) shows of this genre aren't even American in origin...though lesser informed viewers tend to think so. Not everything attempting to "copy" anime originates from the United States.

A major instance of this confusion happening is with the infamous Marathon Studio shows Totally Spies and Martin Mystery. Many haters of Americanime tend to blame these two French cartoons for starting the "trend;" thus, they tend to attract a lot of heat. Make no mistake--these shows are by no means "good." But they are targeted at young children and make use of societal stereotypes to appeal to them (glamourous "valley girls" and a Scooby-Doo-type detective team respectively). Most importantly, they're marketable. At least, I know Totally Spies is. I saw dolls of the lead characters during my forays in Toys R Us, much to my surprise.

Many other foreign fauxanime shows go back to the conundrum introduced in Christopher Macdonald's ANN editorial “Is It Animé?” I've referenced this article before, but it's still relevant to this topic. If you'll recall, he listed several situations in which the lines between Japanese and foreign animation are blurred:

1. A TV series made for an American company where the animation is subcontracted to a Japanese studio.


2. A TV series made for Japanese viewing, where the animation is subcontracted to a Korean Studio.


3. A TV series animated in North America by a group of Japanese animators from Japan.


4. A TV series animated in Japan by a group of Americans who have been working in Japan.

The first category can include childhood favorites like Transformers--which was actually inspired by a line of action figures--and Inspector Gadget, a show that almost everyone knows. Inspector Gadget was conceived by an American, a French, and an Italian for DiC and Nirvana Inc., but most of the animation was contracted out to a Japanese studio. According to many, anime is any animation that was animated in Japan. So is Inspector Gadget anime even though the property didn't originate there?

Ehh...this is iffy. This may anger the anime purists, but I think it kinda is. Of course, my saying "kinda" doesn't help matters much, but if anime is strictly limited to shows conceived, produced, and marketed in Japan, then no. However, many "Japanese" anime have animation subcontracted to Korean (DR Movie is a major one) and Taiwanese studios. So then that would make those anime...not actually anime. They'd be Korean/Taiwanese anime-style cartoons. Quite the brain teaser, isn't it?

Shows conceptualized in Japan but contracted to Korea. Shows conceptualized in the Americas but contracted to Japan. It appears that the country of origin is determined not by the place of animation but the place where the idea/story was created. Problem solved. Or is it? What about John Oppliger's point of view?