In Anime: Frome Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle, Napier states that in
terms of writings on Japanese anime there is a
“significant contrast to American
writing on Western animation, which still tends to look at either the terms of
its visuality or its sociological role.
The reasons behind this difference are not hard to discover. Simply put,
the West does not have the wealth of animated texts to draw on that Japanese
scholars do” (2005, pp.18)
There is such a wide variety of
anime available and in Japan its popularity is so prominent, anime is seen to
be played throughout the day on television networks from kids shows in the
morning, to prime time and well into the night. Each variety caters to a
specific audience based on their ages and their social stances. Here are some
of the main types of anime.
Kodomo- These anime shows are aimed at young children and are
designed for a child’s short attention span. Usually they revolve around
stories which aim to teach children daily lessons.
Shōnen- This is usually aimed
at boys between the ages of 10 and 17 years. The stories are high action with
humorous plots and male characters
Shōjo- Aimed at girls between
the ages of 13 and 17 years, shōjo stories revolve around emotions and
relationships.
Seinen- This is the next demographic up for males, aimed at a male
audience of 18+. These shows incorporate a number of different elements;
action, drama, comedy, romance, which cater to this age group.
Josei- Josei animation is intended for females older that high
school age. The storylines are similar to shōjo but tend to be more
realistic because the audience is more mature.
Ecchi- Ecchi comes from the word meaning sexy or naughty. In anime
it refers to skimpy clothing or partial
nudity. Ecchi anime has a lot of fan service or nudity and is sometimes filled
with innuendo or sexual humour.
Hentai- Translated hentai in anime means perverted. Hantai is the anime
version of pornography. There is a lot of on screen sex. Some of the acts
performed in hentai would be physically impossible and the characters
themselves are sometimes impossible. They can include fairies, monsters, and
even new and strange creatures. Hentai can delve into aspects that are taboo
such as incest, rape and paedophilia.
With such a variety available, it
is not hard to see why anime has become such an integral part of Japanese society.
Anime has aimed to cater to very specific audience addressing their social
standing, issues and likes. And while the same can be said for a number of
television programmes and films in the west and even in Japan, the sheer volume
of anime and its uniqueness have meant that it has not had to compete much with
other forms of media, thus allowing its popularity to be maintained.
References
Audience. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2012, from http://anilistings.webs.com/typesofanime.htm
Napier. S.J. (2005). Anime and local/global identity. Anime: from akira to howl’s moving
castle, 16- 19. Retrieved from http://smile.solent.ac.uk/digidocs/live/Hines/Napier.pdf
This is a great survey, Kirsty. One of our interests is how Miyazaki presents gender roles in Princess Mononoke, dissenting from transitional stereotypes of Asian females as being submissive, domestic, passive etc. How do you view the character of San in PM?
ReplyDeleteI think the wide variety of anime is the reason why I don't understand when people say "I don't like anime."
ReplyDeleteThere are so many different kinds, about so many different things, that I often wonder if there must be an anime almost perfect for every person and what they like to watch, available for them to see.
Che, I think some people just can't get past the cartoon-like aspect of anime and who can only watch real actors.
ReplyDeleteKirsty, we're still wating for a reply to my question of Sept 18.
I just think it's interesting haha, because animation was originally created and shown only to adults
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