Anime Genre Meshing

[Miss Muffet]

What would happen if anime was intermingled with dark art or american comics or any other type of art to create one solid storyline and style of art? Can it be done effectively? Has it been done? Don't get me wrong: I love anime. But what sort of reaction do you think this experiment would elicit if tried (Or what did it get if it's already been done)? Do you think most anime fans would be attracted or disgusted?

Just innocently musing, I swear. ;) Your ideas would be greatly appreciated! Haff an amazing day! CIAO!!!

[Zen]

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I think we've seen the result of this in the form of Teen Titans and Tottally Spies. Which TT is great, or atleast in my eyes, and TS sucks hard. And it has happened in Manga too, where the writer of "Dark Angel" and "Silent Mobius" did a translation on Star Wars Episode One and The first Star Wars. It really depends on who the creator is and their dedication to it.

With Star Wars, it turned out great because 1. the creator was a japanese manga artist and 2. he knows what the recipe for success is. Teen Titans is good, but some people dislike it. I love it, but some see it as using manga style art to add to popularity. While Tottally Spies is just... I don't know how to put it. Too random and it doesn't make much since.

But I would't mind seeing maybe a japanese company taking a shot at Hellboy or the X-Men. Might turn out good. [/color][/size]

[densuke]

Anime simply means "cartoons" in Japanese. Anime is originally derived from Western animation, and it will always have a certain amount of Western influence. Many manga artists can name specific cartoonists and comics artists as influences. Even the "big eyes" look which seems so characteristic of anime or manga was derived from "Felix the Cat" and other American cartoons.

I found Kiddy Grade and the two ROD series interesting because they adopted a "comic-book" style of storytelling. The main characters in these series were basically superheroes. They possessed certain powers and didn't have to "level up" or anything during the series. I think this made a nice change from the Japanese style of hero, because it is more logical and understandable.

The big problem with American animation is that was degraded due to budget constraints as it began to be made for TV. The low-budget look was developed by Hanna-Barbera back in the 60s. I don't think a cosmetic upgrade will solve this problem or the American cultural taboos which add up to make American TV content so bland.

[Zen]

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One note, if you look into Kiddy Grade the right way, it highly, HIGHLY resembles Star Wars Episode One if you look at it the right way. Or atleast, the first episode highly resembles it. Another American influence.

And Cowboy Bebop uses alot of American culture, and little, if any japanese culture. The music, the style of the character (only one is japanese), the settings, the way that language is translated, the American Signs and Logos threw out, all of it is highly American, preferably pointing towards 70's culture. Much like the "Mushroom Samba", "Stray Dog Strut", and "Asteroid Blues". I truely love that show and its creators for making something American's can relate too.


(PS- Look at this:
Jet is pretty much Shaft from the '70's show and Spike is Bruce Lee, the late and famous '70's movie star. Cool, huh?)[/color][/size]

[r2vq]

A mix between Japanese and American animation isn't as uncommon as you'd think.

The examples given above were great examples and explanations. Other western series' you can take into account usually have a main artist who is a fan of eastern styles, or an executive who sees money making ideas.

Totally spies, I agree, is apparently an example of the latter. It takes Japanese-style anime art and places it in a western 'cartoon' storyline. A horrible show if you ask me.

There are also series that have started in the western world and been adapted in Japan. There are Manga for Batman in Japan, and even Spiderman! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers were American ideas initially but have series' done in Japan (It might be the other way around?).

In fact, the original Anime itself, Astro Boy was created as a copy of western cartoons. The large eyes, disporportionate heads and simplistic style apparently originated from Disney cartoons copied and altered.

This is an interesting topic, which probably surprises most.

-ArV

[Semjaza]

There's also American comic series that have been redone in some form by Japanese artists and released here in America. Wolverine, for example, appeared in a short run known as Snikt! that was done by a Japanese manga artist whose name escapes me. There's a weird looking manga-ish Punisher series that I've seen around as well.

You also have Sandman... A novel of that had all of its art done by Yoshitaka Amano, mostly famous for doing the art for the Final Fantasy and Vampire Hunter D series. It's obviously not really in either the comic or manga styles, but it's a nice meshing of various styles and cultural backgrounds into one.

[Omar Harris]

Kia Asimiya of Silent Mobius fame did 5 issues of Uncanny X-Men, and provided covers for Iron Man,the X-Men Evolution comic, and did a Batman manga called Child of Dreams (which I have among my collections). And Marvel did the manga thing four times, with a Spider-Man manga, X-Men manga, Marvel Mangaverse (in which the entire Marvel Universe became a manga universe with manga-like ideas), and Tsunami, a short lived line of comics done in a manga-esque style.

Personally, I don't care whether the creators use anime/manga style or not so long as the content is good to read and/or look at. Every body gets influences from somewhere and if Americans want to use manga or Japanese want to use American style, then that's fine.

[Miss Muffet]

Thank you, everyone, for your comments. I was surprised that the idea of mixing styles was so popular. And, r2vq, the fact that anime was begun as a result of Western cartoons really intrigues me. Live long and prosper, all!

[DeathBug]

[color=indigo][size=1][font=comic sans ms]Most anime took its early roots from "Snow White and the SEven Dwarfs"< oddly enough. Disney was huge in Japan, but I don't know if it is anymore.

I think that crossing genres and styles is okay, and can usually produce quality results, assuming you have quality creators. However, there are two ways to look at domestic use of Japanese styles, IMO: you can either work with them in an artistic manner, or you can ape it as a shallow excuse to cash in.

Example: the Marvel Mangaverse was a huge waste of trees, a group of manga stereotypes that translated into a huge pile of garbage. However, the aforementioned Sknit! was a decent story with some very nice art. It's a little arbitrary, but it's obvious a lot more thought went into that latter project.

(Interestingly, Ultimate Spider-Man is the most manga-style title Marvel produces; they just don't know it.)

That works both ways, historically. In the seventies, the Japanes take on Spider-Man floundered when they just tryed to repackage the American villains and themes. When they began to use the American style as a guide, instead of forcing themselves into an arbitrary type of storytelling they weren't adjusted to, the comic prospered.[/color][/size][/font]

[0ber0n the Neko]

*looks around* who, me?

Hmm... Quite frankly, one of my favorite animes is one of these. Excel Saga tries to combine every aspect of every type of genre possible. Many of these have much Western influence.

You can find it in many of the popular animes out there. I feel that it is ok to a point. I personally dislike superhero comics and superhero animes. But the best types of anime have many things to do with western comics. I respect this, and am glad that we puny westerners can be included in this awesome entertainment!!!

Ciao!

"You can tell someone is crazy when there is more than three exclamation points after any one thing he or she says."
-Terry Pratchett