So..... My goal now is to write every day, so here we go!
One thing that has been on my mind recently is how well Japanese anime melds with Japanese culture as a whole. As a foreigner, this caught me quite off guard, as cartoons and many other fantasy type media have been regarded as childish and immature in my society. But in the case of anime, I feel that this media form has aligned itself with Japan's problems and ideals in ways that allows it to transcend the commonplace idea of childish media.
Now, to get this straight, I am not saying that there is no such thing as a children's anime. There are many such anime in existence such as "Youkai Watch", "Pokémon", and many other anime that I cannot think of. I am implying that there are many anime available to the public that are able to explore relatively important and often mature themes in Japanese culture compared to what is available in other fictional media for other cultures. Exploring themes such as the struggle of faith, implications of technology, and gender recognition underneath an anime simple enough to entertain a relatively young audience gives anime the ability to reach an adult audience. This gives anime a special niche in Japan that I have not quite seen in other cultures in a fictional media - social commentary and insight and possible solution on Japanese values and problems.
The best way for me to describe this phenomenon will be through anecdote. Let me use the most popular anime in Japan (I think, the anime is over 600 episodes long and still releasing new episodes weekly.) - "One Piece" - as a case study. This anime is about a teenage pirate, Luffy, who travels the world with his friends and companions in search of the One Piece treasure. Through these journeys, Luffy makes many friends and explores many different lands and cultures. Through this description of this anime, I will highlight anime’s intimate relationship with Japanese culture.
I will say first and foremost that this anime is seen as an anime for children, new episodes are shown every Sunday morning and the story and dialog is kept simple and entertaining for a young audience. While this anime is easily accessible for the younger viewers, it also presents ideas and themes that attract the adult audience. The main catch of this anime will be the relatability of the setting to Japan. Just by looking at a map of Japan, you can see that every point in Japan is less than about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away from the ocean. Combine this with the extremely mountainous landscape of Japan as a whole, and you can easily understand that the Japanese people feel both close to the ocean, and secluded to their section of the country being surrounded by mountains and water. “One Piece” along with many other anime attract a large scale audience by giving the audience a chance to explore the waters and land beyond. This also gives the Japanese a place to explore when living in a city packed with building for many tens of kilometres. The best way to describe these feelings would be to compare it to the feelings one might have watching a travel documentary on television, it gives the viewers an escape to another land without the effort and resources needed to plan such a trip.
Another important aspect of anime in Japanese culture is the accessibility of friendship to the main characters while travelling. Due to the “keep problems to yourself” construct in Japan, I would say Japan is a hard place to make friends and even acquaintances apart from the workplace and your closest friend’s social circle. It is normal in Japanese animation to see the protagonist making new friends or having a large group of friends on a regular basis. This speaks to the relative loneliness that many people in Japan experience on a daily basis. Since people cannot find friends on the streets, anime gives the viewers a friend that they can keep with little effort. While this sounds like escapism, I see this rather as a possible solution in Japanese society to reduce insomnia by reducing the perception of loneliness in society. I feel that the majority of people in Japan do have a sizeable amount of acquaintances, but cannot perceive it as such due to the lack of interactions they have with these acquaintances on a regular basis.
A final theme I want to highlight in anime that is extremely important to its symbiosis with Japanese culture is the freedom of the characters. To be more precise, the ability of the characters to pursue their personal dreams and goals with little hindrance, and sometimes even support, from society as a whole. That being said, that does not mean there are not antagonists in anime. There would not be a story without an antagonist. I would describe this as almost an exact opposite of Japanese society as a whole. While individuals are free to choose their life’s path, they are often lead to choose certain paths due to societal pressures. These pressures take multiple forms, whether it be the will of the family to take over the family business, create a stable and successful family, or simply maintaining a public face. From what I have experienced so far in Japan, these pressure often leave individuals with little choice in their careers and even where they live as there is often social implications if they make choices that possibly disrupts the public’s order, whether it be from something as extreme as breaking up a family to something as trivial as inconveniencing an individual. The fear of causing someone else problems cause many Japanese people to make “safe” choices, even if that means not reaching their dreams or full potential.
To conclude, anime gives the Japanese people something which they do not have; a world where they can explore their dreams and passions without the need to worry about the Japanese social construct. While this has caused several problems for Japanese society as a whole, I would also say that Japan’s interesting set of societal problems has created a media form that could only form and thrive in Japanese culture, and it has also resonated with people with similar problems all around the world.
I have to say that I am starting to lose interest in many anime recently as I am finding myself with the power to do what I could previously only dream of through anime. I have become the hero of my own story, where I am on an adventure to travel the world to fight monsters (solve problems I wish to solve) and create a world which I dream of (affect the world around me). This is a very powerful position I am in, and I am grateful to media like anime and the people around me who gave me the courage to seek out such power to make myself happy. The only thing I can wish for now is for those who are lost to anime and other forms of media to search for their power which they can use to create their own adventure, away from the beautiful, but fictional world of anime or whatever created medium. Realized dreams are the result of adventure in whatever form or fashion, whether or not these adventures are seen as successful in the eyes of the dreamer or their peers.