Big eyes, small mouth, triangular heads--those cartoon people just don’t look quite right. And the names sometimes make no kind of sense: Evangelion? Full Metal Alchemist? Ghost in the Shell? Cowboy Bebop? Dragon Ball Z? BLEACH? Huh? So why do millions of people of all ages, all over the world, watch Japanese animation with cultist fascination?
Most of the time, animé has a decidedly science fiction, fantasy, or horror twist. But unlike neat, clean genres, we often find genre-blending in animé: future vampires, magi-tech and giant flying samurai robots. “Transformers” would not have existed without animé. Oh, and if you like cleavage, sign on up!
Animé is short for the Japanese version of the word “Animation” – and while it may have originated in the early part of the 20th Century, it didn’t really get its distinctive style until a manga – that’s the comic book, still life version of animé – artist by the name of Osamu Tezuka came along and changed everything. Astro Boy, just recently released as a full-length motion picture, was one of the first animé series of note. Another very early animé series was Marine Boy, which I actually remember seeing as a dubbed version in the early ‘70s. There were a few more series in the ‘70s. A notable example is Star Blazers, a series about a space ship that looked like an ocean-ship. With a spinal-mount gun that looks like a big hole in the bow.
The ‘80s saw some great movies, with an extreme nod to Akira (1988). There were more, and the torrent just kept coming into the ‘90s. More giant robots. And the first of the card games emerged: Pokémon. These brilliant bits of marketing took the emerging trend of Collectible Card Games and applied them to animé. What resulted were captivating 22-minute pieces of animations that served up cards as part of the plot. They were, and are (Yu-Gi-Yoh, anyone?) infomercials with a plot.
Here in the metroplex, there are two full-scale conventions geared just for fans of animé and manga. A-KON (a-kon.com) occurs in the first part of June (this year it was June 10-12) and AniméFest (animéfest.com) which will be happening Labor Day Weekend. Now I know you’re asking yourself why a red-blooded “American Man,” should go to an animé convention? Well, if you are not already a fan of the art form, there is no better way to do field research. Animé cons are chock-full of furious, non-stop, eye-popping weirdness. All of the characters, including the barely-dressed female characters, find their ways into the halls and ballrooms as people who enjoy costume-play, or cosplay.
In between conventions, you can buy animé stuff, including Japanese snacks and drinks, and even rent animé videos from Animé Pop (animépopshop.com), located on the north-west corner of Belt Line and Midway in Addison. The amazing and knowledgeable staff, or even the regular customers, will be happy to answer questions about their hobby.
The current, almost-uncontested genius in animé right now is Hayao Miyazaki. He has won numerous awards in both Japan and the United States, making him an international super-star as an animation auteur. A few of Miyazaki’s titles you might recognize are: Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, and the phenomenal films Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. More recently (2008), he released Ponyo. Many of his films are older-kid friendly – it depends on the film – but it’s all amazing. If someone asked me where to start with animé, I would tell them: Miyazaki.
