Niche into Mainstream 1

Niche into Mainstream:

How 90’s Anime was changed by Agenda-Setting Theory

Malik Watson

Agnes Scott College Niche into Mainstream 2

Abstract

Media transforms minor topics into mainstream, and their perception changes over time. I’m going to examine American people’s perception towards anime and define the significance of the medium and how far it has come in America. I’m going to pay particular attention to Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon is a manga created by Naoko Takeuchi with the premise of an ordinary junior high student destined to fight evil. It was popular enough in Japan to warrant an anime series which spread to other western countries especially America. This case will show how the media affects two ways: on itself (anime) and people

(fans). Niche into Mainstream 3

Part 1

“What is Anime?”

Chances are, they watched anime before but didn’t realize it. The medium has a historical and cultural significance in the United States, which influences animation and has become a profitable industry in the country. Many Americans have tried to control it, yet this genre of art is too big to be handled and it’s still growing. Before I get too far, I need to explain anime’s meaning. Anime is Japanese for animation. To be clear, anime is the shortened form for animation. In Japan, Animation (anime-shon) is represented in katakana, a set of writing characters in the Japanese language, as アニメーション . The

-tion (-shon ーション) suffix is removed leaving the prefix Anime (アニメ). In the country, the term is utilized to refer to all forms of animation. From other parts of the world, the term has become recognized as animation in the Japanese region. This meaning is justified, especially when Anime originated from classic western animation (Disney, Betty Boop, etc).

Anime owes its style from manga, specifically that of Osamu Tezuka. Manga is a term originating from Japan, yet is compared to comics and graphic novels in western society. Osamu Tezuka, the Father of Manga, got his inspiration from watching Disney and Fleischer cartoons (Pattern 270). To replicate the same feel, he detailed his characters with big eyes. His design choice affected following manga artists, but it did not stop there. He had a hand in implementing the first Anime television series, Astro Boy, an adaption of one of his works. The anime “Astro Boy” was a huge success in his home country and eventually reached America, as it was one of the first anime to air in that country. This popularity would foretell anime’s eventual popularity in the country.

“Anime into America”

Anime first appeared in America in the early Sixties. It was the period of civil unrest in the country. African Americans and other minorities were setting their own place in a society which viewed them as “second-class citizens”, only to be seen as stereotypes and not heard for their plights as regular Niche into Mainstream 4 people. The first staples of anime immersed in America were Astro Boy, 8th Man, Gigantor, Prince

Planet, Kimba the White Lion, Marine Boy, The Amazing 3, and Speed Racer, respectively (Patten 97).

These shows featured topics relevant in the decade such as identity, acceptance, and change. Though the product which left Japan did not arrive the same in America. Such as were the stories, which were adapted to fit the American child demographic. Characters were switched from Japanese into American.

Fred Ladd, one of the first to introduce Anime to America, adapted the storylines. He was working for NBC Enterprises in 1963. He received a call to watch a screening of a Japanese cartoon, called Tetsuwan Atom, recommended by an NBC respondent in Japan. Ladd watched three episodes of the cartoon and gave his opinion. To him, the title character (Atom) resembled Pinocchio in his personality and thought children could get interested in the program. Ladd with his experience adapting foreign programs into popular American shows like Cartoon Classics, a show made from reels of European cartoons, was given the pilot to adapt and dub. The character named Atom was changed to Astro and

Astro Boy was born. The anime’s cultural origins weren’t discussed in order to avoid potential trouble of airing Japanese content as tensions among the US and Japan remained after World War II.

Since its airing, Astro Boy and other anime achieved popularity in the United States. At the time, children of the Sixties viewed anime like any American cartoon, it had the limited animation that was reminiscent of Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Though, their intricate storylines set them apart from other children’s programming. In the case of Astro Boy, its concept was structured in American culture with slang like “S’all Right” to cater to American tastes, but it was still Tetsuwan Atom, a program that originated from Japan. NBC Enterprises understood the cultural flair coming from presenting a show from a country who once was an enemy in World War II. They also feared the reception towards foreign animation. It was a common opinion in the US to think any foreign project was subpar or shoddy. In order to prevent negative reception to the program, NBC and other distributors kept anime’s Japanese origins a secret; NBC wouldn’t deny the truth if someone brought it up. A major contributor in adapting anime, Niche into Mainstream 5

Fred Ladd was okay with this process. In, his own words, “My aim was not to dub the show, it was to

American-ize it.” His work on Astro Boy would lead him to adapt Kimba the White Lion and Gigantor and be a creative consultant on the 90’s adaption of Sailor Moon (Ladd 18).

“Agenda-setting Theory”

Structured by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, agenda-setting theory is defined as “the mass media having the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda.” In other words, the news media with its agenda can make the public concerned about whatever topic they present and make it part of the public agenda. Media agenda represents the pattern of news coverage across major print and broadcast media as measured by the prominence and lengths of stories.

Public Agenda represents the most important public issues as measured by public opinion surveys. It has happened to anime, especially Pokemon. With the title “Pokemania”, MSNBC News did a report on

Pokemon, its spread of merchandise, and effect on children. Many news outlets like New York Times and

Times Magazine followed the pattern of news coverage for the franchise (Media Agenda). As a result, it has alarmed people about the influence of Pokemon on their kids’ behavior (Public Agenda). Because of the coverage, people without any familiarity to the anime had a low need for orientation and were puzzled about their objective towards anime. Need for Orientation (NFO or Index of curiosity) is a measure of the extent to which individuals’ need for orientation motivates them to let the media shape their views. Need for Orientation is affected by relevance and uncertainty. Relevance refers to the quality or state of being closely connected or appropriate. Uncertainty is the state of being uncertain. Another example, a basketball fanatic will have a high NFO if the news features a story on Michael Jordan golfing. Since Michael Jordan is one of the most famous basketball players, it will peak the fanatic’s relevance. Their uncertainty will be high since the viewer knows little to none information about golf.

Framing also plays a key part in gaining an audience’s attention. Framing is the selection of a restricted number of thematically related attributes for inclusion on the media agenda when a particular object or Niche into Mainstream 6 issue is discussed. This meaning, many news outlets can give their interpretation on the same subject each fixed on a different attribute. For instance, Dateline focused on anime from a positive perspective in terms of giving children role models in the case of Sailor Moon. There are also two levels of agenda setting. The first level is the transfer of salience of an attitude object in the mass media’s pictures of the world to a prominent place among the pictures in our head. Compare it to transfering an image of the group to a person. The second level of agenda setting is the transfer of salience of a dominant set of attributes that media associate with an attitude object to the specific features of the image projected on the walls of our minds (McCombs, 1997, p.32). This causes viewers to associate an object with an act. As McCombs and

Shaw put it: media may not only tell us what to think about, they also may tell us how and what to think about it, and perhaps even what to do about it (McCombs, 1997, p.48). With that in mind, the media can also motivate people to buy anime through publicity. This thought process would be valuable to licensors who’re deciding what anime to bring overseas.

“License to Anime”

As Justin Sevakis, creator of Anime News Network, explains licensing begins through simple interaction such as meetings and phone calls. If an anime is considered to be shown overseas, either a licensor or distributor has to instigate a connection. A licensor could “cold-call” or “cold-e-mail” companies if they’re interested in viewing their show. This task requires decent English skill. A sales agent might be needed if the task is too much for a producer. Sales agents prepare screener copies, flyers promoting new shows, and catalogs of old shows that might still be available.

There are also trade shows, where licensors and distributors meet. These trade shows are big for their semi-formal meetings at booths (complete with info packets, screeners, and business cards) during the day and socializing by night. These trade shows are necessary for getting into the content business. It’s Niche into Mainstream 7 a place where professionals can network and establish relationships which could lead to long business relationships. Also, it can ruin potential business relationships if anyone gets out of line (2012).

Once a distributor and licensing company decide to collaborate, they need to make an agreement on paper. Every detail on the way the participating companies are going to work together needs to be documented, agreed upon, and then signed off on by a senior executive at the company (and the creator's agent, and possibly the production committee). Afterward, a contract between 15 and 20 pages needs to be constructed. An experienced company will have a working draft of an agreement with everything necessary outlined and to their liking. The contract will include terms of the deal, logistics, and legal clauses.

The logistics cover materials, approvals, copyright, and reports. The terms of the deal include the fees, length of the deal, and territories in which the program will be distributed. The fees include licensing fee ranging from $20,000 to $500,000 depending on the format (film/tv) and popularity of the series. The length of the deal goes over how long the anime will be licensed to the distributor. Usually, the agreement can last up to seven years but it can be renewed if both companies still want to engage. The territories refer to where the anime will be distributed. There are materials for which the licensor has to give the distributor. The distributor has to make sure they detail every material needed for the anime’s release.

Once the contract is signed, licensors are not obligated to fulfill further needs. It becomes important especially when some contracts require only the materials given by the licensor to be utilized. Approvals from the licensors are mandatory for any aspect of adapting an anime. They have a set amount to voice their concerns on the distribution. The copyright information has to be put on the product. A distributor must give monthly reports on the anime’s sales, revenue, and costs of production. If the licensor suspects any false information, there’s a provision stating they can send an auditor to go over expenses. Niche into Mainstream 8

The legal clauses include Force Majeure, Bankruptcy and Insolvency, Attorney-In-Fact-Privilege,

Non-disclosure, and Arbitration. The Force Majeure (trans. superior force) gives one or both parties a pass if they’re affected by any disaster (i.e. riots, earthquakes, etc.) and unable to perform their obligations. Bankruptcy and Insolvency clause goes over if the publisher goes out of business or declares bankruptcy, the contract is null & void, and the rights go back to the licensor. If a publisher finds themselves in financial trouble, the publisher cannot take advantage of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization out of risk from losing all of their rights and never being able to sell anything again, compared to committing financial suicide. Attorney-In-Fact Privilege allows the publisher to protect the show they're licensing by legal means. It depends on the licensor if they want another company to sue in their name. Some licensors are okay with this action, others don't want to surrender the power to sue in their name to another company. A non-disclosure agreement is a promise to keep the contents of the agreement secret (i.e. payments, costs). Information concerning how a company paid for a show could be really negative, or cause problems with other agreements. The arbitration clause pledges to use an arbitrator to resolve legal disputes, instead of going straight for the jugular with a potential lawsuit. It’s akin to having a single neutral third party acting as a mediator (Sevakis, 2012). For a licensor, this process is tedious to get through. Once negotiations are settled and rights are given, the licensor has to find a way to make an anime marketable in the United States. Kid shows like Pokemon and Sailor Moon are marketable, yet require censorship to air on American stations because of cultural differences.

Part 2

“Censorship in the Agenda”

Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable or a threat to security. This plays true for foreign works, especially anime. Anime features concepts and topics which are common amongst Japanese culture, yet unrelatable in American culture. When anime is licensed in America, the distributor has to make a Niche into Mainstream 9 decision regarding Japanese themes featured in the content. The content is going to be translated for

American audiences. If certain themes go against current American standards, the distributor has to decide whether to acknowledge the content and stay accurate to the source or ignore and present it as if it never existed in the anime through censorship. It was amazing since anime could get affected before arriving in the United States. This was a common issue especially in the 90s Anime Boom for America.

News could affect the medium’s perception by mentioning controversial topics involving anime. Pokemon being a prime example. Before it aired in America, Pokémon (or Pocket Monsters in Japan) in its original airing of episode thirty-eight (Dennō Senshi Porygon, trans. Cyber Soldier Porygon), there were a surge of flashes that caused near 700 seizures in Japanese viewers. This created controversy which crossed over to American media sources. The anime had to be put on hiatus and the offending episode was removed from rotation. When Pokemon aired in America, the episode was skipped as if it never occurred. It can work in the opposite way, too. Sailor Moon was given extra segments to educate children called Sailor

Says. It was a form of censorship since it replaced part of the series deemed unsuitable for children (Close

2017). This creative censorship would typically affect 90s anime to make them marketable for children.

As highlighted by Time Magazine, Anime was categorized into two categories: cute like Pokémon

& Sailor Moon and action-packed like Ninja Scroll & DragonBall Z. It was more hard to find anime outside those categories in the country as American distributors searched for cute and action anime for their high marketability. At the time, Pokémon represented the pinnacle of anime hype. It had a high marketability with over 4 million units in main game units sold, over $225 million in card sales, endorsement deals with Burger King, General Mills, and Quaker Cereals, and aired six days per week on the WB (Chua-Eoan 1999). It also mentioned the franchise’s effect on children akin to addiction. It was framed as unhealthy activity causing children to act immoral by fighting. However, it did not stop the success of the franchise. It might’ve increased its popularity due to the free press. This owing to Niche into Mainstream 10

McCombs & Shaw’s Agenda-setting theory: media controls what to think about. American viewers were focused on the anime’s influence on children as it related to the public agenda.

This can be said of the 90s adaption of Sailor Moon by DIC. The company was known for its time for its cartoons, Inspector Gadget and “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”, both animation produced in Japan though not considered anime. Hearing of the massive popularity the franchise received in Japan and Europe, it was eager to grab on the action especially on its premise being similar to already established Power Rangers, another Japanese export Americanized. Despite its cute appearance, Sailor

Moon was emphasized for its marketability instead of its aesthetics. It was heavily edited to fit North

American television. Fred Ladd, the creative consultant for the localization, saw the potential in the magical girl anime. He saw characters as whom American girls could relate with. However, he didn’t see the characters for themselves as demonstrated with his significance for the title character’s name. Ladd believed the reason Sailor Moon got its name was because of the character sailing to Earth from the Moon

(Ladd 2009). In actuality, Sailor Moon’s name came from its outfit: sailor fuku. Sailor fuku are school uniforms designated for girls in Japan. Each time Sailor Moon powered up, her sailor fuku school uniform would be replaced by her costume. Though, the costume and any significance steeped in Japanese culture were removed to become more appealing to American children. It would be the makings of a success, yet it played out differently for the anime’s first arrival in America. It wasn’t able to garner the ratings anticipated, a fact owing towards it airing in syndication during weekday mornings. Children weren’t able to view the program due to its earliness in the day or time slot during school hours. The show was canceled after sixty-five episodes. Sailor Moon would get another chance at television during the late

Nineties on Cartoon Network. It aired on the network during weekday afternoons on the Toonami block.

Toonami showcased action-oriented cartoons, it featured many anime that would become classics in the

West. The exposure from the block got Sailor Moon into the mainstream albeit its newfound popularity seemed to stem from its intentional whitewashing. At the time, DIC’s adaption of the anime was airing on Niche into Mainstream 11

Toonami. This version would become more well-known among American fans. Sadly, this meant the censorship was also getting exposure which to the young, impressionable fans, who couldn’t understand the differences, were being exposed to white racial framing (Hunt 2019). They would accept Serena as the blue-eyed, blond hero who represented white superiority. Her status as the leader of the Sailor Scouts and

Moon Princess combined with her white appearance reflected the caste system of Jim Crow, biased equality to appear fair. The rewritten script for the dub added insult to injury. Serena spoke Valley Girl which sometimes resurfaced in her alter ego, making her sound incompetent. At the end of each battle, it was luck which saved her instead of her growing endurance in the Japanese version. This dub couldn’t ruin the original work’s reputation anymore if it tried. Thankfully, DIC’s license for the series wasn’t renewed. It would be picked up again by Pioneer in the early 21st century. Pioneer, an anime licensing company in America, had experience and success adapting anime while keeping true to its Japanese contexts. Though, their adaption was equally marred with censorship.

Pioneer, picking up where DIC ended, licensed the third and fourth seasons of Sailor Moon. It had the difficulty of staying true to the original Japanese contexts and the original fans of the DIC adaption. The English names remained to encourage old fans to reconnect with the series. Though, this was countered by ensuring the series remained uncut. It was an equal balance, but it became noticeable that scenes were getting censored if not visually. This made it hard to approach the third season’s key characters: Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. Both characters represented the maturity in the series as the upperclassmen had more experience than Sailor Moon in life and fighting evil. It made them outstanding characters, but their relationship as lesbians proved difficult to air on American television. Pioneer, trying to tone this down, presented the couple as cousins to explain their intimacy. This tactic couldn’t save the series since their romantic vibe between them was noticeable. It did more harm, causing the Sailor Moon fandom to react negatively at act of incest. This would be Sailor Moon’s last appearance in America until its resurgence in the late 2000s. Niche into Mainstream 12

Part 3

“In the Name of the Moon”

Before streaming became the definite way to watch anime, there was television in the Nineties. At the time, television was in the middle of a rebirth specifically for cartoons. It was christened the

Animation Renaissance for bringing cartoons up to par with original 40s-50s cartoons in quality. Disney leaving the Eighties on a good note with The Little Mermaid, had found a formula to once again captivate audiences: princesses. The young, yet rowdy tv network Fox, owned by 20th Century Fox, was garnering ratings for their primetime shows, especially a cartoon called The Simpsons. It reintroduced the notion of cartoons aimed for more than children. Warner Brothers welcomed back their toon lineage and introduced upcoming legends on Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Pinky & the Brain. It seemed like these companies could not profit more from animation. It couldn’t be more of a surprise or welcome when anime entered the scene as it saw a resurgence of popularity in the mid-late Nineties. Anime was in vogue, with it being cheaper to air than original cartoons, it captured young audiences and claimed deals.

It was a goldmine for tv networks, each one trying to “Catch ‘Em All” with various degrees of success. In this television period, there were three top anime: Dragonball Z, Pokemon, and Sailor Moon. Of those three, Sailor Moon was the most influential.

In the Nineties, there was another revolution hitting America. It was a sexual revolution including increased interest in gay pride, sexually-transmitted diseases, abstinence, and protection. It was also popularized by celebrities like Madonna and Prince. Celebrities helped combat the national fear of the topic by inserting it in music, films, and television which changed the scope. Female celebrities like

Madonna not only made it a ratable; they demonstrated a woman’s control over it. This would ignite a female revolution in America. It could be seen in television and films starring women in leading roles showing independence. When Sailor Moon came to America in the mid-Nineties, it helped prove anime Niche into Mainstream 13 could appeal to more than one demographic. Girls could see a strong female fight evil. Boys could see action in the Sailor Scouts’ attacks. This formula of a show aimed at girls and boys would prove popular when The Powerpuff Girls aired on Cartoon Network.

Conclusion

Before the 2000s, anime and cartoons were thought to be one and the same in the western market.

The only difference was one medium appeared to have multiple sounds matched to uneven mouth flaps.

Both mediums could be watched on television and the background mirrored the American lifestyle. As a kid, I watched Sailor Moon. Back then, it wasn’t shown as unedited as the lead character Usagi Tsukino was changed into Serena for American audiences. This represents the Americanization of Anime by editing cultural norms to affect the western method of thinking. This is nonetheless, agenda-setting theory through giving the audience a view to think about.

Growing up, I’ve thought of Sailor Moon similar to Wonder Woman and Sabrina the Teenage

Witch, a woman endowed with powers engaging in adventures. In a sense, they’re not different though that belittles Sailor Moon’s complex story. A coming of age tale from a young girl who must battle for her personal worth in a society where a female is valued solely as a homemaker. Sailor Moon not only expanded anime in Japan, but it also helped anime expand as a genre in America. Though it had a rocky start, it would become beloved and encourage fans to get involved in anime especially through fansubbing, translating foreign content, for western fan’s enjoyment (Schules 2014). Its fandom would eventually reach mainstream animation as displayed with shows like Steven Universe and Star vs. the

Forces of Evil (Dailot-Bul 2014). It’s a franchise which never stops influencing people. Niche into Mainstream 14

Sources

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