The Many Faces of Internationalization in Japanese Anime Amy Shirong Lu
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169-187 091893 Lu (D - CMYK) 5/6/08 09:11 Page 169 article The Many Faces of Internationalization in Japanese Anime Amy Shirong Lu Abstract This article explores the internationalization of Japanese anime (animation) in an effort to help explain the cultural politics behind this popular cultural product. The inter- nationalization of anime includes the incorporation of de- Japanized elements into anime’s background, context, character design, and narrative organization. A theoretical framework for understanding anime’s internationalization is developed, proposing that there are at least three kinds of cultural politics working behind anime’s international success: one, de-politicized internationalization, which primarily serves as a commercial tactic to attract international audiences; two, Occidentalized inter- nationalization, which satiates a nationalistic sentiment; three, self-Orientalized internationalization, which reveals a cultural desire to establish Japan as an ersatz Western country in Asia. Keywords anime, cultural politics, de-Japanization , internationalization, Japanese animation, Occidentalism, Orientalism, self-Orientalization Anime, another name for Japanese animation,1 emerged in the 1910s (Fan, 2001: 115)2 and developed its current distinctive form in the 1960s (Mangels and Hamill, 2003: xvii).3 A fascinating characteristic of anime is that it usually does not seem Japanese. For example, today’s middle-aged Americans can ‘fondly remember watching Speed Racer (1967) after school on television, often without realizing its Japanese animation: an interdisciplinary journal (http://anm.sagepub.com) Copyright © 2008 SAGE (London, Los Angeles, New Delhi and Singapore) Vol 3(2): 169–187 [1746-8477(200807)]10.1177/1746847708091893 169-187 091893 Lu (D - CMYK) 5/6/08 09:11 Page 170 170 animation: an interdisciplinary journal 3(2) origin’ (Napier, 2000: 5). Although anime’s export began almost simul- taneously with its birth (Mangels and Hamill, 2003: xvii),4 it did not become an important cultural export until the 1990s.5 In 2003, anime and its related products6 accounted for almost one-third of revenue in the world media market (Nakamura, 2003). Organized anime fandom began in North America in 1977 (Leonard, 2004). By 2004, anime clubs existed on nearly every continent (Patten, 2004). Today, anime has been translated into more than 30 languages (Anime News Network, 2005) and the anime market continues to grow (Japan Consumer Marketing Research Institute, 2005). Critics have taken notice as anime’s popularity has increased. Most scholars focus on a particular genre instead of the form as a whole and their analyses usually come from a set of restricted cultural perspec- tives. Few studies have attempted to establish or work from an open framework on one of anime’s most distinctive features – international- ization (the incorporation of non-Japanese or ‘universal’ elements) and the multi-faceted cultural politics at work behind its international popularity. A theoretical framework for understanding the internationalization of commercial anime works produced after the 1960s is developed here. Following Bourdieu (1984), I go beyond the isolated and fixed textual analysis to discover the fecund network behind anime. I include a broad spectrum of more than 50 anime works produced between 1964 and 20077 and consider them collectively as codes of a language generated within the interplay of social, economic, and cultural forces. I assert that at least three kinds of cultural politics8 are at work behind anime’s internationalization: de-politicized inter- nationalization, which acts as a commercial tactic; occidentalized internationalization, which suggests a nationalistic practice; and self- orientalized internationalization, which reveals a cultural desire. The three cultural politics will be discussed after I elaborate on anime’s internationalization in general. The internationalization of anime Western animation exerted a strong influence on anime during its early development and may partly account for anime’s initial inclusion of international elements. In its budding years of the 1910s, anime was created by Japanese animators who were heavily influenced by such American and German artists as John R. Bray, the Fleischer brothers, and Lotte Reiniger (Patten, 2004). During the 1930s, due to the commercial success and international popularity of American anima- tion, most anime were drawn in the style of the Disney and Warner Brothers’ cartoons (Patten, 2004). This trend lasted till the end of the Second World War when Osamu Tezuka,9 much impressed by Disney animation’s success, borrowed many visual elements from the Disney 169-187 091893 Lu (D - CMYK) 5/6/08 09:11 Page 171 Lu The many faces of internationalization in Japanese anime 171 studios, created numerous anime works, and set up the ‘big-eye’ style of anime figures (Lewis, 2000; Natsume, 2000). He also developed many unique characteristics that went beyond Disney.10 Gradually, anime formulated its distinctive style, including moving the mouths only but not other facial features, the omnipresent black lines,11 the death of main characters, and the serious and mature themes. Inter- nationalization, in this sense, was initiated during anime’s early cultural dialogue with the West. As it developed, anime returned the animation world the favor with a profound update that has far surpassed the original crude mimicry. Since the 1960s, the ‘internationalization’ of anime can be seen in the background and context of its narratives and plots, character design, and narrative organization. As Sato (2003) points out, over the past decades, there has been a clear trend of incorporating ‘Nihonjin- banare’, or non-Japanese cultural elements, into anime. A good example of the trend appeared in the animated TV series The Rose of Versailles (1979–1980) that skillfully incorporated the history of the French Revolution into its narrative. Other examples include Cipher (1989), which tells the story of the life of a pair of identical twins in New York City; Count Cain (2001), which revolves around the young master of the House of Hargreaves in Victorian London; and Princess Tutu (2002), which is set in a small European town of indistinct nationality. The influence of Western literature is also commonly seen. For example, the Record of Lodoss War (1990) includes European-style Dungeons-and-Dragons elements. Anne of the Green Gables (1979) is the animated adaptation of the Canadian children’s literature classic by Lucy Maud Montgomery; Nadia – Secret of Blue Water (1990–1991) is loosely based on Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea; and The Knights of the Zodiac (1986–1989; 2002–2005) has many references to Greek and Roman mythology. Many anime feature Caucasian-looking characters either from the West, or Orientals with Western names. For example, in Lain (1998), Alice is a Japanese schoolgirl with no Western background. Two Japanese characters of Sailor Moon (1992–1993), Tsukino Usagi and Aino Minako, look like blondes. Quite a few anime characters come from America, France, Germany, and other Western countries. Asuka Langley in Neo Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996) hails from Germany. Moreover, there are many ‘fantasy’ characters whose nationalities are hard to distinguish, either from their appearance or background, but they are by no means Japanese. For example, Urd in Oh My Goddess (1993) has white hair, green eyes, and yellow skin. Hoshino Ruri in Yamato Nadeshiko (1996–1997) is a pale android girl with violet hair and golden eyes. The male protagonist in Rurouni Kenshin (1996–1998), a wandering samurai in the Meiji period, is a swordsman with coral hair and blue eyes. Further, not belonging to any race, many characters in animation have either an unrealistically high stature with 169-187 091893 Lu (D - CMYK) 5/6/08 09:11 Page 172 172 animation: an interdisciplinary journal 3(2) a perfect shape or a small, cute body with a round shape. It is also common for many characters to have big eyes, deep orbits, and a high nose bridge, all of which imply a certain exoticness. It is hard to detect any typical Japanese physiognomy from the characters – instead, a kind of hybrid global ‘look’ hovers on their faces and bodies. If occasionally there are some depictions of Japanese cultural traditions or Oriental rituals, they are highly simplified, arguably to the point of superficiality. Many anime series are more about a ‘universal’, or ‘everywhere nowhere’ narrative, void of cultural traits commonly coded Oriental. A character’s Chinese origin may be represented only by traditional Chinese clothes or hairstyle. Even when more traditional Oriental characters are employed, the drama focuses on universal themes of love, friendship, and death. For example, in the anime adaptation of the Chinese literary classic, Romance of Three Kingdoms (1991–1992), the original Chinese-ness embedded in the plot has been substituted with a more approachable universal romance. Another controversial adaptation of the book Ikki Tousen (2003) retains only the Chinese historical figures’ names and replaces the characters with exotic-looking Japanese high school students. Three kinds of cultural politics Scholars have puzzled over these trends in anime’s internationaliza- tion. Sato (2003) speculated that it is the result of ‘the Japanese people’s deeply entrenched sense of self-loathing, extending even to their own ethnic traits’. Contrarily, Jiaxin Xu (2001) argued that the imaginary boundary-less-ness of anime – internationalization