Wait, you're how old?!

Something else I have seen a lot in anime is that characters sometimes look like WAY too young to be as old as they are: little girl and little boy appearance.

Sometimes it is every character in a show, like Lucky Star for example:

Or it is just one character, like Honey from Ouran High School Host Club:

Can you believe that all of these characters are in high school? They look like elementary school students!

Why are they drawn this way?

Well, for starters, it can sometimes be chalked up to the style of art the anime is drawn in. Take Lucky Star for example, all of the characters look very young and cute, even the adults to a degree. This is just the style of the art of the show. However, you have to think that there are still roots to the style and why it is drawn that way. Most of the shows drawn this way are very cutesy and the plot lines are very light and usually humorous. So, the art style matches along with the style of the story and what the characters are doing in the series. I certainly wouldn't want to see some muscled, mature women discussing how to eat a chocolate roll. That would just make it boring and awkward. But that same situation with super cute characters makes for a delight!

Then we look at shows where one or only a few characters are drawn with the appearance as little kids. This is done because the artist wants to exaggerate the characters characteristics and personality in a more obvious way. Or even have the characters look one way, but act completely different than expected. Take Honey for example, his “selling point” is his cuteness and his innocence. Later in the series you find out that he is actually a master martial artist and see some of his deathly serious side – which pretty much just adds to his overall charm. Totally surprised me, but after a bit I enjoyed it! (Couldn't help but still think it was kind of weird, though!)

Why is it popular? Why is it acceptable?

I think it definitely has something to with the kind of audience the show is trying to attract. As I said for Lucky Star, it is a very non-serious show dealing with silly daily life situations of high school. They're most likely aiming the show at high schoolers or middle schoolers, probably girls, and people that want to watch a casual show. And this audience of young kids in middle school and high school is a huge one.

However, I am all too aware of the “fetish” of young girls and boys in Japan. I'm not talking about a blatant pedophilia, here. Which is most likely what most Americans would view it (and guilty of it myself in the beginning). See, in Japan the age of consent is 13 (but in each area it is usually bumped up to 17 by local government, but it was not originally). You legally become an adult at 20. So it is legal for 13 – 19 year olds to have sex in some areas. And it has a history of being this way, so it is a much more common idea that younger looking characters are acting older than they are or acting in ways that older people would act in. However, it is not commonplace in Japan that these things happen, only common in anime and such. Japanese people have a clear distinction between what is socially acceptable, and pretty much anything is acceptable in anime (which is, well, everything) because it is defined to them as completely unreal and detached from real life. (Which can also explain a bit why this is very common to see in hentai or animated pornography.)

That being said, you'd be surprised how many anime are adapted from dating simulation games. In those games, the characters are given very exaggerated characteristics, sometimes tailored toward fetishes, and the characters usually keep those traits when translated into anime. Anime based of dating sims sounds very weird, right? Well, there it is nothing to be surprised about. We don't even really have dating simulators in America – the concept is lost on us.

Language corner!

高校 - こうこう – koukou

High School

Kanji breakdown!

学生 - がくせい – gakusei

Student

Kanji breakdown!

少年 - しょうねん – shounen

Young boy

Kani breakdown!

少女 - しょうじょ – shoujo

Young girl

Kanji breakdown!

Big eyes, small mouths, and crazy hair!

Let' step back and talk about a topic that is in every anime and provides a pretty big window into Japan: physical appearance of characters.

Here's a group of sisters from Minami ke:

And a group of friends from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya:

And a pair of brothers from Mawaru Penguindrum:

What do these (and other) characters have in common?

• Big eyes
• Small mouths when closed, big when open
• Hair shades of browns and blacks
• Light skin colors
• Less noticeable noses

Do anime characters represent the “standard of beauty?”

Anime characters do tend to have very exaggerated characteristics (huge eyes, for example), like any drawing or cartoon might. The aspect of big eyes is indeed a characteristic that Asian cultures tend to find favorable, as well as lighter skin, and they do indeed tend to have less pronounced noses than many other ethnicities in the world, however, I don't think that they really represent what the Japanese “standard of attractiveness” is. In America, almost all of the people on TV and any sort of media are only those that our society has deemed “beautiful”. There is a huge pressure on our society that if we don't look like the models then we aren't beautiful. However, in Japan there is a different approach. There is not a big push to look like the supermodels. Instead, the goal is to look put-together and have a more natural beauty. They focus on fixing themselves up and being healthy (like having clear and smooth skin, long silky hair, etc), instead of focusing on whether or not their hips are too big or their knees too knobby.

A big question that I sometimes get when Americans see anime for the first time is “Why do the characters look white?” And it has baffled me too, once I started to really think about it. However, in trying to figure it out the answer was actually insanely simple. We just couldn't see it until we thought about it from another point of view. Say I draw a stick figure. What race and gender do you assume it is? I'm guessing most Americans would say a white male. How about a stick figure with an afro and a bow? A black girl, right? For most Americans the “standard” is white. Once an aspect is added is it obvious it is something else. That is the same way for anime characters. Since they are drawn by Japanese people, they are drawn like a “standard” Japanese person. There, everyone just assumes them to be Japanese. Not until a big nose, blonde hair, and blue eyes are added will they be seen as a white person. (See my post on foreigners!) How they act and their surroundings are really the driving factor that they are indeed Japanese, though (if anyone is in need of the persuasion). While a character may have green hair, yellow eyes, and white skin they can still be identified as Japanese by the way they take their shoes off when entering a house or by reading a Japanese newspaper.

Language corner!

美人 - びじん – bijin

Beautiful person (usually a woman)

Kanji breakdown!

日本人 – にほんじん – nihonjin

Japanese person

Kanji breakdown!

容姿 - ようし – youshi

(physical) appearance (of a person); one's face and figure

Kanji breakdown!

Violent and bloody…little girls?

So. There are quite a few anime that blend super cute, young, happy, or even beautiful characters…with an unexpected amount of bloody gore (usually with some psychological twists and turns – totally screwing with the viewers head). I’d classify it as over-the-top and unexpected gore.

JUST AS A WARNING: These clips really do contain a mass amount of gore and death. (I had a bit of trouble watching tons of these in order to find ones!)

Here is a completely surprising clip from Another, you won’t see the death coming:

And one from a Higurashi no nakukoroni (When The Cicadas Cry):

Now I’m just going to start off saying that I have avoided watching both of these series myself. I started both, got a few episodes in, and just couldn’t watch any more. Even looking through the videos on youtube I had to skip some because I was not ready to watch nails getting ripped off or needles getting stuck everywhere. I definitely don’t have a stomach for torture. But I was very interested in why such twisted, bloody, and fucked up things were being produced – and why they are popular in Japan.

Why do people like it?

Japan can be seen as a high pressure environment in my eyes. Their culture is very focused on pride, social image, and secrecy. I think there are quite a few people that feel the pressure and tend to become more introverted. This introversion leads to more time alone, possible social anxiety, and maybe even dislike of social interaction. There is a very prominent aspect in Japanese cultures of Hikikomori, Otaku, and shut-ins. To quote Eric Aloha off a surprisingly good answer to a Yahoo! question, “People from cultures that are more introverted and demand more personal space tend to be much more fascinated with gore than people from highly emotional, expressive, and interactive cultures… That's because the former have an easier time removing themselves emotionally from the gorey images, but they want to feel closer to things that are real and physical and affecting because they don't get as much that kind of real physical contact in life.” I found this very intriguing. The thought that people who are more introverted (or, to the extreme, shut-ins) can more easily disconnect their emotions from things, allowing them to find fascination where others might find disgust. Take the emotions out of death and you can find art.

They are also much more open about gore, sex, and other things in media. Porn manga and gore anime are sold not usually in the back of shops covered with a black curtain, but openly on the racks. (I even accidently bought a porn comic in a convenience store trying to find something to read on the plane home!) The censorship laws are a different in Japan as well as what they allow on TV and in the shops. Desensitizing could play a part in why it is less shocking to see there. I would still say that it is not the majority of viewers that are interested in the gore, though. In regard to censorship, something like this gets lots and lots of cuts and edits when being brought over and released in America. I think it is mostly because here, anime is seen as a thing for children by most. However, I’m hoping that while reading this entry you have come to realize that it certainly is not.

Language corner!

血 - ち – chi

Blood

Kanji breakdown!  

死 - し – shi

Death

Kanji breakdown!

殺人 - さつじん – satsujin

Murder

Kanjibreakdown!

自殺 - じさつ – jisatsu

Suicide

Kanjibreakdown!

引きこもり - ひきこもり – hikikomori

Social withdrawal; shunning other people

Kanji breakdown!

Baka Gaijin!

So, I was always surprised when this topic came up in anime: foreigners in Japan!

How do the Japanese view us foreigners? What do we look like when we show up in their pop culture? Let’s take a look!

Here’s a pair of clips from Azumanga Daioh:

Or maybe take a look at this guy from Yu Gi Oh:

Here’s a pair of foreigners from Hayate no Gotoku!:

Now, in America we certainly have plenty of stereotypes that we pass out to tons of different people without really thinking about it. But what happens when that is flipped and we are being stereotyped?

Here’s a small list of some stereotypes that are often given to foreigners in anime:

• Blonde Hair

• White

• Blue eyes

• Tall

• Men: big and scary

• Women: big boobs and arrogant

• Clueless or ignorant

• Don’t speak a word of Japanese

• Actions very attention catching

• Greet each other with kisses

• Dirty habits and rude

• Crazy hard to pronounce names

• Horny or super casual about relationships

I was certainly surprised when I first started seeing these things pop up. When I started to put the picture together that they were stereotyping foreigners I was actually a bit perplexed thinking “Hey! We don’t do that!” However, once I started to think about it (and compare it to how much stereotyping and much worse things I have seen in some of the TV shows in the US) I realized it was nothing to get all uppity about. Actually I started to find it very hilarious! Looking at the crazy stereotypes of your own people – weird, right?

So why are we seen as such crazy people?

I’m going to start with the historical aspect. I’m pretty sure everyone knows (from high school history classes) that Japan started off as an isolated country. They weren’t open to trade with other countries and they didn’t want other people to come into theirs. I’m going to say it is safe to assume that when they were finally forced to start to be social with the other countries they weren’t too happy about it. This probably led to some strong distaste for foreigners, especially ones coming into their own country.

I’m also going to contest that trying to talk to someone that doesn’t speak your language is SUPER intimidating. I mean, I still am intimidated to talk to Japanese people and I’ve been studying the language for years! But for Japanese people, who see foreigners as scary, big, and rude, I’m sure trying to talk to them is extra intimidating!

Not to mention the fact that all of those stereotypes are based off of real things that foreigners do. Granted, not to the same degree and possibly not in such a negative light, but they have valid bases. Americans especially are generally much more boisterous than the general reserved nature of the Japanese. To us, we aren’t being outlandish or super crazy in regard to the norm in America, but compared to the Japanese norm it is over the top.

My personal experiences being a stereotypical looking foreigner in Japan!

Being the tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed American girl that I am I was actually very pleasantly surprised with how I felt I was perceived when I was in Japan. Granted I am kind of oblivious of people when they are not right in my attention, so I could have been getting glares and I probably won’t notice. (Hey! Look! I fit some of the stereotypes depicted in anime!) I feel like every time I was just out and about talking to my friend in English someone would walk up (usually a gentleman around 30 or groups of teenagers) and try out their English on us! It was quite fun. We even encountered a class of probably second or third graders that were encouraged by their teacher to give us little origami pieces they had made and say “present for you” in their super cute little shy voices. (Afterward the teacher herself asked to take a picture with us because she was from a more rural area and didn’t get to see many foreigners!) So all in all, I felt like the group I went with and I weren’t treated with as many stereotypes as I had predicted.

Language corner!

外人 - がいじん – gaijin

Foreigner (sometimes with negative connotation)

Kanji breakdown!

米人 - べいじん – beijin

An American

Kanji breakdown!

馬鹿 - ばか – baka

Foolish; stupid; dull; absurd; ridiculous

Kanji breakdown! 

Girls? Boys? Girl-boys?

Let’s take a look at a very odd occurrence to us westerners: androgynous characters!

We’ll first take a look at Ed from Cowboy Bebop. Can you guess if Ed is a boy or a girl?

How about Haku from Naruto?

It’s pretty tough isn’t it? I even still get a bit confused when seeing some of these characters for the first time.

Ready for the answers?

Ed is a GIRL!

Haku is a BOY!

I don’t know about you, but when I first saw these two my thoughts were the exact opposite. I was sure Ed was a boy and Haku, a girl. When I found out that I was very wrong my mind had a hard time really wrapping my head around it. I thought to myself, “Okay. This is weird.”

In western culture we would never see characters like this. Our girls are feminine and our boys are masculine. While there are some variations on these, we can almost always tell what gender a character is without thinking too hard about it.

So where do these androgynous characters come from?

Personally, I immediately thought these characters were due to Japan’s visibly homogenous society. Along with this they actively encourage unity and conformity with strict uniforms for students up through high school (yes, even the public schools) and Japanese people (along with other Asian ethnicities) are known for having more subtle differences in appearance between males and females.

However, when I went digging for more information, I found that this had more of a historical background than I thought.

One possible root was that during the time of the samurai, they saw homosexual relationships as sometimes vital parts of a young warrior’s training. The elder samurai warrior would encourage a relationship between himself and the boy he was training, because they saw that the support of a loyal lover would often mean the difference between life and death in a battle. This lead to samurai literature being filled with beautiful young men who are also fierce warriors, blending femininity and masculinity together. These novels eventually helped influence anime, thus the “beautiful men” stereotype being born. This idea in itself was super weird to me at first read off of That Anime Project. After thinking it over and remembering that not all countries have the tendency toward homophobia, like the US does, it started to make a lot of sense. Emotion can lead to some amazing things out on the battlefield, whether it be for your cause, or your lover.

Another interesting piece of information I found while browsing The Anime Almanac was that in pre-WWII Japan girls weren’t really allowed to have boyfriends or even male friends in order to save themselves for marriage during their adolescent and teenage years. The only safe “relationship” they could have was with other girls. These friendships would be so close that that we would probably consider them to be lesbian by today’s standards, but back then it was completely acceptable because they were all female. These homo-gendered relationships became the source of the girl’s fictional stories and novels. They were comfortable with everything being the same (gender, uniform, looks, etc) and this became a familiar and ideal characteristic in relationships. Which lead to it being a popular aspect of anime. Again, weird to myself and different from the way I was brought up, but I can at least see how maybe it became a comfortable aspect for people of Japan. Who doesn’t feel comfortable with familiarity?

Language corner!

美少年 - びしょうねん – bishounen

handsome youth; pretty boy

Kanji breakdown!

侍 - さむらい – samurai

warrior; samurai

Kanji breakdown!

Crime of love?

So let’s start this off with a topic that is very popular in different genres of anime: love confessions.

First, a straight-forward love confession from a boy (Tomoya) to the girl he likes (Nagisa) taken from Clannad:

Next, a longer drawn out confession from a shy girl (Sawako) to the boy she likes (Kazehaya) taken from 君に届け (Kimi ni Todoke):

A few "weird" things to notice:

• Tomoya first brings up the confession facing away from Nagisa in the first scene, while Sawako puts a physical door in front of her while she confesses in the second scene.
• In the second scene there is no mention of dating or going out at all, while in the first scene Tomoya specifically asks Nagisa to date him.
• Nagisa cries after being confessed to and Sawako cries while confessing.
• Neither person confessed to actually says out loud that they feel the same way, they both show it by a simple action.

Why is it seen as such a big deal?

The word typically used for love confession is kokuhaku. This word has a few other meanings as well like confession, acknowledgement, and coming clean. It can be used to confess a crime or profess your love. Many find it interesting that professing your love is sort of equated to confessing a crime in this sense. However, it isn’t that Japanese people think of love as a crime, it is that during a confession one is sort of putting everything on the line and waiting to hear what the consequences will be. In that sense I can see the similarities of the situations and begin to understand why kokuhaku developed to have the meaning of love confession. I’m assuming this is the reason that confessions are not to be used casually. In America, when we like someone we pretty much just ask them out on a date or ask them to be our girlfriend/boyfriend. If rejected, it usually isn’t that big of a deal. Might be sad for a while, but there isn’t too much repercussion (in my opinion and experience). I guess we have a general philosophy of there being plenty of other people out there or that we’ll find someone better (or at least that’s how we convince ourselves to ignore the rejection and move on). In Japan however, it seems like being rejected is seen as a much more negative thing – hence the act making people very nervous and it being a big deal.


How does it translate into dating culture?
I would like to make the point that most of the scenes of confession in anime take place for younger people, in high school or middle school. This does play a factor in confession. As people get older I do feel like dating becomes more of a getting to know someone, then making levels of commitment sort of thing instead of a black and white “do you like me or don’t you?” or “are we together or aren't we?” deal. In reading a few blogs and forums I did find that the “confession” aspect still does play a role in adult Japanese dating culture. Most people still wait for that confession of strong feelings to really consider them and their counterpart to “be together” or feel comfortable enough to be physical (not just sex, kissing and holding hands included). Japanese women, I feel, also expect a sort of confession after an amount of dating to really know if the relationship is going anywhere.

How is Japanese dating culture different from American dating culture?

In the Japanese dating culture, the relationships are often more conservative to our American standards. In anime, characters often don’t end up having their first kiss until a few episodes after they confess, or there are some series where it doesn’t happen until the very last episode, if at all. For all ages, it is generally less acceptable to show public displays of affection or other such intimate things. There is a lingering idea that doing things so publicly is almost shameful, and people that do should be embarrassed. I have had a few classmates who have done various projects and papers on this subject. They all found that Japanese people are less likely to say “I like you” or “I love you”, or if they do they use it much less frequently than Americans. The courtship timeline also seems to be longer in Japan, going on more dates and social outings before actually considering it a relationship.


Want more information on the Japanese dating culture?
Here is a link to a blog post that goes into more detail about adult dating culture in Japan: Back to Japan
This post is written in a way that is explaining the Japanese dating culture to a Western foreigner, so I found it particularly helpful and easy to understand.

Here’s a link to a guy’s blog post giving his opinion on the tendency of Japanese people and their confessions: The Ransom Foreign Guy in Japan

I feel like this gives some good insight of how an American male might view (and respond to) Japanese women and the aspect of confession. Granted, it is pretty clear he is not really looking for a serious relationship, but I felt like it might give an extreme example.

Language Corner!

告白 - こくはく- kokuhaku

1: confession; acknowledgement
2: profession of love

Kanji breakdown!

好きです。or 好き。 - すきです。/ すき。 - sukidesu./suki.

I like you. – portraying romantic feelings

(can be used to describe liking many other things, but in use with a confession this is the meaning)

Kanji breakdown!


恋人 - こいびと - koibito
lover; sweetheart
Kanji breakdown!


彼女 - かのじょ - kanojyo
1: she; her;
2: girlfriend; sweetheart
Kanji breakdown!


彼氏 - かれし - kareshi
boyfriend
Kanji breakdown!

Exaggerated Anime

I want to start off this blog with a sort of disclaimer. While anime can give us some insight to Japanese culture, it does not mean that anime is an accurate portrayal of every day life there. We have to realize that things that happen on TV are often exaggerated and overdone so that they are interesting and exciting enough to draw attention and keep the viewers watching. To quote David Laurence from a forum on RPG.net, "Anime : Accurate Representations of Japanese Culture :: American TV Shows : Accurate Representations of American Culture." In this way, we wouldn't look at Degrassi and believe that all high schoolers have STI's, sleep with all of their friends, sneak out to do drugs in the woods, and have terrible parents. Yes, there might be some high schoolers that do these things, but it is certainly not the majority and a normal thing for most students here. The scale and frequency of these acts are exaggerated so that they seem much more interesting. So, like any other TV show, that is simply what anime can be simplified into: a TV show.