Anime Explosion:
The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese
Animation
by Patrick Drazen
Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, CA, 2003
382 pp., illus. 100 b/w. Paper, $18.95
ISBN: 1-880656-72-8.
Reviewed by John F. Barber
School of Arts and Humanities, The University
of Texas at Dallas
jfbarber@eaze.net
The popular culture cachet of Japanese
animation, or "anime," both entertains
and confounds its audience and observers;
it is at once familiar and strange. Its
themes are both broad: war and peace,
love and death, the history of the past
and the potential of the far future; and
specific: history, horror, humor, reincarnation,
religion, sex, spirituality, sports, technology,
nature, advice to the lovelorn, respect
for the elderly, the way of the warrior,
and the way of the teenage girl.
As with each new addition of literature
or art form to popular culture, one is
inspired to ask questions. What are the
origins of anime? What does anime represent?
Why does anime look and feel so different
from our own animated films? And what
are we supposed to make of this social
expression that has, like a viral meme,
seemingly jumped from Japanese culture
to our own?
A new book by Patrick Drazen may help
provide answers to these questions. Anime
Explosion: The What? Why? & Wow! of
Japanese Animation is an authoritative
and engaging reference that can help fans,
viewers, and observers of anime sort out
the details and learn how anime effectively
reflects Japanese cultural life, both
historical and contemporary, on many levels.
At the outset, Drazen notes that anime,
as a visual narrative media, was inspired
by manga (Japanese comics) and other forms
of cartoon caricaturing dating back to
the 6th century as well as by the invention
and early development of movies and animation
in the United States in the 1930s and
1940s.
Anime is not, however, restricted by the
age and subject matter constraints often
imposed on Western animated stories. Additionally,
where the audience for Western animation
is primarily children, anime is viewed
and enjoyed by men and women of all ages.
Nor is anime dependent on Western animated
films for its look and feel. According
to Drazen, anime often reflects high creative
values, shows great attention to artistic
detail, utilizes the latest production
technology, and draws attention to itself
through its sophistication. In contrast,
until recently, familiar Western animations
have seemed similar to newspaper cartoons:
simplistic, lacking in details, childish.
As for what it represents, Drazen argues
that anime was developed and is still
utilized as a methodology for internal
cultural communication, a way to reinforce
Japanese cultural myths and preferred
modes of social behavior. The fact that
anime was never developed, originally,
for export adds now to the confusion suffered
over specific references and markers sharply
fixed in one culture being translated
to another.
Because of, or despite, these differences,
anime is both popular and lucrative outside
Japan, and Drazen posits anime as quite
capable of communicating essential truths
from the Japanese culture to other cultures.
Anime Explosion is, then, a primer
of these essential truths, providing,
as its title promises, the what, the why,
and the wow.
Drazen divides his book into two parts.
The first focuses on major Japanese cultural
themes portrayed in anime, and Drazen
examines each theme as a carefully balanced
combination of old and new Japanese culture.
The second part of the book examines several
classic anime: "Wings of Honneamise,"
"Sailor Moon," and "Ghost in the Shell."
In each of these examples, the notion
of "classic" is not based on popularity
but rather the extent to which the respective
anime reflects Japanese life and attitudes.
Drazen's discussion of the pertinent heroes,
monsters, storylines, and cultural insider
jokes provides background and context
for better understanding the translation
of these stories from one culture to another.
The reward of Anime Explosion is
three-fold. First, readers understand
that anime is a communications medium
or art form that intends to speak to an
audience about certain aspects of Japanese
culture. Second, rather than being a forecast
for massive change within Japanese culture,
it is more useful to say that anime serves
to reinforce Japanese cultural myths and
preferred modes of behavior. And third,
we can learn from the anime experience
as a viable form of popular culture because
it can provide insights regarding how
one can be guided along a path of socially
acceptable thought and action.
In the end, Anime Explosion is
both a timely and fascinating guide to
the world of anime. Drazen's book is an
essential reference for understanding
the landmarks, themes, and history contained
in this intriguing form of popular culture.