“Whatever is happening now, it always has to do with something from the past.”
The anime’s story is remarkably vast, yes, and it will take me hundreds of pages to write a chapter on it. It could, but it will take me a year or more to compile. My main focus is not to present a chronological dissertation of anime history in its broad sense, since it is, as I said, broad. But it is part of my cause to present to you, the readers, a simplified presentation of the anime’s history. So, in this article, my cause is to give a simplified but revealing insight for us Christians about anime and its history. Of course, knowing history will not make us ignorant of today’s sophistication. Also, as Christians, it is important for us to know or trace the roots before falling into temptations of any kind.
For starters, the word “anime” is mostly based on the original Japanese pronunciation of the American word “animation.” It is the animation style in Japan. The urban dictionary defines it stereotypically as: anime style is characters with proportionally large eyes and hairstyles and colors that are very colorful and exotic. The plots range from very immature (things for children), going through an adolescent level, to mature (violence, content and thick plot). It is also important to note that American cartoons and Japanese anime are different. The plot of an anime is more complex, while that of a cartoon is simpler. While cartoons are meant for children, anime, on the other hand, is more meant for adult viewers.
Although the creation of anime was basically due to the influence of Western countries that began in the early 20th century (when Japanese filmmakers experimented with animation techniques being explored in the West), it was also inspired by the production of manga (comic ) which was already present in Japan even before the production of the anime.
Around the beginning of the 13th century, there were already images of the afterlife and animals appearing on the walls of temples in Japan (most of them are similar to modern manga). In the early 1600s, images were no longer drawn in temples but on wooden blocks, known as Edo. The themes of Edo arts were less religious and often geographically erotic. Noticing this no doubt gave me this idea:
“The explicit introductions to manga, which would later influence the anime industry, were already in existence in the 13th century. That was hundreds of years before anime came into view!”
Now that shouldn’t be too surprising, right? There are many manga (aka comics) these days that are too vulgar and explicit and if not, there will be at least one character in their flashy appearance. I’m not saying that all manga are full of nudity, if that’s what you’re thinking now. But rather, this exploitation of eroticism (or at least a hint of amorousness) in manga isn’t really new. They already existed even before the First and Second World War. They, however, moved on to something else. Manga, to a large extent, is a factor in how and why anime came into existence. In fact, most anime and live action are adaptations of manga or comics.
Japanese cartoonists already experimented with different styles of animation as early as 1914, but anime’s glorious growth began shortly after World War II, where Kitayama Seitaro, Oten Shimokawa, and Osamu Tezuka pioneered as notable Japanese animators. Among the pioneering animators during that time, it was Osamu Tezuka who got the most credits and was later known as “the god of comics”.
Osamu Tezuka was best known in his work “Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atomu)”, the first robot boy with an atomic heart who had wished to be a real boy. His works were remarkable and his animation style contributed a lot to the production of Japanese anime, such as the large and rounded eyes. Tezuka’s works were not only focused on entertaining young viewers, but he also conceived and initiated the creation of animerama. It is a series of thematically related adult anime feature films made at his Mushi Production studio from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. Animerama is a trilogy consisting of three films: The Arabian Nights, Cleopatra, and Belladonna. The first, Arabian Nights, was the first erotic animated film designed by Osamu Tezuka, the god of comics
Although anime made its way, it was only in the 1980s that anime was fully accepted into the mainstream of Japan. Since then, more and more genres have emerged. From slices of life, drama, mecha, tragic, adventure, sci-fi, romance, ecchi, shounen-ai, shoujo and many more genres. While most anime shows have shifted from more superhero-oriented fantasy plots to somewhat more realistic space operas with increasingly complex plots and more confusing definitions of right and wrong; In short, anime in its broadest sense is just complicated.
Also, later during the Japanese animation boom, a new medium for anime was developed: the OVA (Original Video Animation). These OVAs were direct-to-home video series or movies that targeted much smaller audiences. The OVA was also responsible for enabling the first full-blown anime pornography.
As Japanese animation gained more viewership and acceptance around the world, a subculture in Japan, later calling itself “otaku”, began to develop around animation magazines such as Animage or later NewType. These magazines became known in response to the overwhelming fandom that developed around shows like Yamato and Gundam in the late 1970s and early 1980s and during this period mecha genres were prominent.
It all started with ancient paintings, wood block arts, artistic representations of life, nature and animals from the 13th century. Until these, however, evolved into moving frames when different manga and animation experiments were done in the pre- and post-war era.
As early as the 13th century, woodblock manga, known as Edo, already existed not only for the sake of art, but I think they were there as a means of entertainment…a form of art and entertainment that would gradually evolve. . on time.
In conclusion, the story of the anime was broad in its sense and this article has not presented all of it. But the point is that we should know that anime itself has many genres and motives that may be more alarming than we can imagine.
As Christians, we should really consider the motives of the heart of the creators or animators. We should do a background check and if we’re convicted of not watching a certain anime, don’t take it for granted.