Anime Cartoon Fair Celebrates Japan's Signature Style
By Alex Russel
alex.russel@computeranimationschoolreview.com
Computer Animation School Review Columnist
Held every year, the Tokyo International Anime Fair unites some of the biggest names in Japan's signature cartoon style. Oddly, at this year's edition, Japanese nationalism reared its meddlesome face.
Anime cartoons are popular the world over, and their influence can be seen in cartoons and animation of every type. It's nearly impossible for an animation career of any kind to not have anime cartoon influence.
Anime Cartoon Career
The anime cartoon business center of gravity is the yearly Tokyo International Anime Fair that takes place every spring. The greatest names in anime come out of anonymity to the wonderment of their die-hard fans, the so-called otaku.
One of the great heroes of the latest convention, writes the New York Times, was 36-year-old Dai Soto, a hipster screenwriter who accepted an award for his scripting of Eureka Seven, the anime tale of a teenage boy, a pilot girl named Eureka, and a wondering band of mercenaries.
Japanese Animation Career
Soto was also there to be singled out by the event's chairman, the controversial governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, who was once, in the 1950s, a cool kid like Soto, but today is better known as a neo-nationalist with an axe to grind.
Because as animation TV programmers around the globe increasingly buy anime cartoons, Ishihara wants Japanese anime to deepen its national identity.
"We can go further," he said at the convention's award ceremony. "We can make something that's more revolutionary. You're talented people. Let's make something extraordinarily Japanese."
The jingoism, observed the Times, seemed only to make assembled otakus uncomfortable.
Anime Animation Career
Anime cartoons have been popular all over the world for a generation, but fandom in Japan is uniquely intense. One American visitor to the Tokyo fair was careful to make the distinction.
"Japanese anime fans never leave their houses," said Richard Anderson, a 24-year-old president of an anime club. "But I leave my house. I even came to Japan! American fans are more social."
The Influence on Animation Careers
Animation careers often delve into anime styles. That's because, first, many (if not most) people in animation careers are themselves anime die-hards like Anderson. Second, the anime cartoon style, full of action and revolving around a single hero and his friends, is quite conducive to video-game design, which has become the top provider of animation careers.
There was no mention in news reports if the Tokyo governor approved of this influence or not.
Sources
New York Times
About the Author
Alex Russel is a freelance media writer living in Brooklyn.
Posted on April 28, 2006 at 07:05 PM
