In Defense of Anime Part I

I know there are those people out there that immediately think of Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon or, even worse, hentai when they think of anime (I mean, who doesn’t think of tentacle rape!). The typical reaction to anime from those that don’t really know it except from what their kids watched or what their peers watched is that it’s just for kids. Which is utterly ridiculous. You don’t need to look further than Avatar to see a contemporary American example where a “show for kids” has transcended that label and reached out to a much larger audience.

Moving back into anime, you don’t really have to look further than Pokémon, arguably the most popular anime to come to the States. But it’s unfair and unwise to make the comparison that Pokémon has transcended the same label and reached out to kids over a certain age. I mean, it’s made by Pokémon USA with children in mind.

But this is about misconceptions. They’ll see a giant robot, like one in Neon Genesis Evangelion and immediately assume that it’s going to be for kids. I mean, what kid doesn’t love giant robots fighting each other? But Evangelion is about so much more than that. Sure, it can entertain kids with its visuals and robots and characters like Misato and Asuka and Rei, who were clearly created with the teenage male viewer in mind. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a show that you can watch and be entertained or it’s a show that you can watch and realize how troubled a boy Shinji is at just 14.

Look further, though. What about something like Hellsing? This is clearly not something you want to show a child but if we see one screenshot of Seras when she first meets Schrodinger, you’d believe it might be for children. It’s silly and there’s a cat-boy. But then Alucard shoots him in the face, completely obliterating any semblance of a face he had.

Now, I’ve just provided examples thus far. Next time (when I have more time to prepare and don’t just start writing about something on a whim), I’ll go in depth about one show (to be determined) that has appeal to kids and appeal to adults and why it appeals to us as kids and us as adults.