By Shahrukh Rana
Photo of Osamu Tezuka, the Godfather of anime in his studio.
Before we get into the bulk of the article, what is Anime?
Anime as we know it today found its characteristics in the1960’s and in its purest form is just a term for Japanese cartoons. Unlike Western cartoons they’re almost always inspired by manga, otherwise known as Japanese comic books and graphic novels. Whereas Western cartoons don’t always rely on prior source material. The word itself is derived by the English word animation with Japan’s earliest animations being from 1917, which took form as short commercials. Osamu Tezuka is considered the Godfather of anime and manga due to his early ground-breaking work such as ASTROBOY (1963) and Princess Knight (1967). These set the templates and characteristics for all future anime to come. Even when looking at these Anime it’s easy to see their Western influences; for example, Princess Knight is inspired by European fairytales and the characters resemble what we’ve come to expect from Disney Princesses. ASTROBOY is clearly inspired by Western pulp and science fiction from the 1950’s and 1960’s. Examples that come to mind are the books and films; The Time Machines (1950), Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956) or Captain Future (1940-1944) which itself ended up getting a short-lived anime series in 1978.
With this being said it would be unfair to say that the West was the only thing that inspired anime, some of the best anime to ever come out is based on Japanese traditions or culture. Let’s not forget that the land of the rising sun gave us Akira Kurosawa and his stunning Seven Samurai (1954) which in itself inspired countless anime, characters, and tropes still being used today. Great examples being the anime Shōnen Ninja Kaze no Fujimaru (Kimio Yabuki, 1964)or rurouni kenshin (Nobuhiro Watsuki, 1996-1999) which in my personal opinion are some of the greatest samurai anime ever made. Other anime that doesn’t take direct inspiration from Western Pop culture is shounen. Some of these shows have become cultural phenomena and huge in Western Pop Culture, examples being One Piece (Eiichiro Oda, 1999-present day) , Naruto (Masashi Kishimoto, 2002-2007) and Dragon Ball (Akira Toriyama, 1986-1989) with all of its spin offs. Just a side note before moving on, there are Shounen that were originally inspired by the west but over time have found the middle ground and stand as examples for globalised pop culture. You might be wondering what anime I’m referring to, it’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure by the one and only Hirohiko Araki. He is a manga artist, writer and animator that uses characters inspired by Japanese fashion movements such as the 50’s and 80’s version of the Rockabilly and characters named after iconic western songs like Billie Jean or the Sex Pistols.
The era of anime that was the stepping stone into re-westernisation.
There are several eras of anime I could pick from when looking at shows that were directly inspired by Western media. I could have easily chosen to look at present day for this article, but that would be cheating in my opinion. Why do I consider this cheating? Well as the western world became more and more infatuated with Japanese culture and the growing popularity of the genre and localisation; it’s easy to see the effect of marketing shows to a global audience nowadays. Plus, with the rise of streaming sites like Netflix, Crunchyroll and Funimation (On demand) it’s become more accessible than ever before. I’m going to be looking at anime from the 1980’s and 1990s because that’s when the Western Influences started to actually make a huge impact on storytelling and characters. Anime has always had western characters for diversity and international appeal, these characters stand out compared to other anime characters due to their “aryan” features such as blue eyes and blonde hair. Other times it’s because certain animes are set in other parts of the word, a good example being Fullmetal Alchemist (Hiromu Arakawa, 2003-2004) which is set in a fictional version of post WW1 Germany.
Characters from Fullmetal Alchemist
Next I’ll be moving onto anime that is less ambiguous in terms of where it came from. Akira is Katsuhiro Otomo’s overnight cult classic from 1988. The film is set in the dystopian future of 2019 in Neo Tokyo and is obviously inspired by Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) in terms of it dark “neo-noir” setting, over sized yet not so accommodating landscape; and littered with trash and debris all soaked in the neon lights from the gargantuan advertisements peddling a life style that’s clearly impossible for the average person to achieve. What I’ve just described there is the genre known as Cyberpunk, one of my favourite genres of all time, as it looks at the world through a collective lens that secularises modern societies. It imagines a world not too far from our own but where mega corporations run and rule the word unchecked and the average person will do anything to survive. I understand that what I’ve just described is too wordy so in simpler terms, just imagine 2020’s America but with cyborgs, flying cars, more pollution, yet slightly less racism. Akira borrows heavily from Blade Runner when it comes to its setting but not so much the plot. Sound design and overall character types are distinctly Japanese. What do I mean by this? In the film, Neo Tokyo was rebuilt from the ground up after a nuclear explosion, this is a clear reference to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The reason I bring this up is that even though Japan loves Western culture, it can be a love and hate relationship because of these. It’s seen as being the “power of God” being wielded by a human, something Otomo talks about in the commentary of the Akira DVD that’s also why the film deals with humans holding Godly powers and not knowing what to do with them apart from destruction. Moving on from analysing the plot of the film to its other Western influences, Kaneda’s iconic bike from the film is covered with stickers from Asian brands that are huge in the West like Canon, Citizen and Shoei, which are in the same vain that skaters from the 80’s, and even now, put stickers of their favourite brands. In all honesty the film, even though it’s a great representation of cyberpunk and neo-noir, doesn’t take that much from the West. But it did help set up the template for future films and shows like Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995).
Blade Runner: establishing shot
Blade Runner: street
Akira: back alley
Akira: street shot
Akira: opening
Ghost in the Shell: Major’s body synthetic body taking damage, inspired by Blade Runner‘s Replicants
Again, like Akira, Ghost in the Shell is set in Japan but in the less dystopian year of 2029 and is more inline with what we’d come to expect from Hollywood action thrillers. The films follow a cyborg called Motoko Kusanagi (I’ll be calling her by her nickname Major from now on), who with her team are tasked with tracking down a hacker by the name Puppet Master, who may or may not be a rogue AI. The film might be easier to digest compared to Akira because it was an international co-production from Britain and Japan. This is bound to lead towards a more westernised anime. As a matter of fact, the anime itself shares very little in common with the manga it’s based on, other than some story beats and character names. The film has more in common with the work of American board game designer Mike Pondsmith, the pen ‘n’ paper role playing games, Cyberpunk 2013, and Cyberpunk 2020 (1988-1990). Everything from the way the city looks down to the character types and even technology, is lifted straight out of the lore books. Let me give you some examples, Major’s squad specializes in taking down people who have lost control of their bio-cybernetic augmentations or bodies due to their bodies or brains rejecting these implants. In the anime they refer to these as “rogue shells” or “rogue Rigs”. In Cyberpunk there is an elite squad of soldiers referred to as MaxTech’s Psycho Squad, who are tasked with taking down people who have entered “cyber-psychosis” which is the exact same thing as “rogue shells”. Major’s outfit even matches that of the MaxTech officers, and it is also being hinted at her also going into a “rogue shell” state before the events of the film. This is important being most members of Psycho Squad have suffered from cyber-psychosis. The similarities don’t end there though, the concept of Puppet Master being rogue AI was also taken right out of Cyberpunk even down to where it originated from. The anime feels even more Westernised, half of its main characters are white Americans or Westerners with Major herself being in a body that’s meant to have a mix of international beauty standards. The anime clearly has Japanese roots but it’s a complete love letter to the Western cyberpunk genre.
Typical Psycho Squad compared to Major’s squad.
Cyberpunk‘s full body augmentation compared Ghost in the Shell’s Rigs.
Cyberpunk‘s character types that inspired Major.
Major’s costume designs though different throughout the decades.
Ghost in the Shell manga cover compared to cyberpunk‘s sourcebooks.
Speaking of love letters to the West, let’s look at the anime space western that helped solidify anime’s foothold in the Western market. Cowboy Bebop (Hajime Yatate, 1998) follows Spike, a bounty hunter otherwise known as a cowboy, who goes from one place to another trying to make endsmeat but slowly builds a small crew on his ship the Bebop. The show goes from one episode to another with barely any over aching plot until the last half of the show. Spike himself is based on Yūsaku Matsuda, a famous Japanese actor who himself based his look on Humphrey Bogart and chain smoked heavily much like protagonists from Noir crime dramas. The show’s Western inspirations really start to show when you listen to its beautifully composed music, done by Yoko Kanno. Hiselectronic jazz music plays a key role in shifting the audience’s mood. Other than this the western characteristics of the show are very tame. For example, the main protagonist’s battle with self and identity or him belonging to a gang is more in line with the mafia rather than the yakuza.
Moving onto an anime that might be more western than all the others, but not for reasons you might think. No, it’s not another cyberpunk or space western, but instead a Gothic Western. Vampire Hunter D (Toyoo Ashida, 1985) based on the long running novella series of the same name draws more from Western literature and pop culture then most others. I know, but it is barely ever talked about. The film is about a dhampir (half human, half vampire) known only as D who is set on a quest to find a man’s daughter, Doris. D himself reminds me of a mix of what Marvel’s Blade from the 70’s meets The Man with No Name from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone ,1966) but with a gothic overhaul. These two Western genres don’t seem to blend well on the surface, but somehow D pulls it off. His Witch Hunter style hat like a cowboy’s hat, his black leather cape draped over his shoulders like a poncho, clearly armed with enough weapons to kill an army of vampires but waiting until the last moment to strike, and most importantly he rides a black robot horse which has nothing to with the genres. Even the Novellas themselves are slow paced and read more like Bram Stoker’s work of fiction then anything Japanese. The reason I believe this works so well is because Hideyuki Kikuchi’s novellas are always in the form of Western style horror, which then carries over into its other media translations.
Final thoughts
Anime is a form of media that has existed since the 1960’s. It was inspired by the West and in turn inspired Western media as well. It’s clear to see that anime is something that is never going away, but with the ease of localisation and translation it’s only going to become more Westernised. This is due to its global appeal and mature way of telling stories unlike western cartoons, which are mostly relegated to children’s shows. Since early Western pop culture from the 1950’s and 60’s, it’s quite apparent that anime itself is a by-product of that, which is here to stay.
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