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Why Is Anime So Weird

Everything You Need To Know About Japanese Entertainment

Why is anime so weird???

Manga and anime are perhaps Japan’s biggest cultural export and they make up one of the most recognizable art styles on the planet. Since the nineties, when everyone in the western world was suddenly talking about Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Dragon Ball Z, anime has become something of a household term. Something completely associated with Japan and something that has

11/21/2019 6 minutes reading time

The Death Of The Dub Theme Song

So what happened to the dub opening? By 2010, it was practically extinct, and to this day, it really only exists in legacy series long-running kids franchises like Pokémon and Beyblade where its tradition to have an alternate dub theme song. The death of the dub opening is due to a combination of a few different things. Partly, its a result of the mainstreaming of anime in the US and the collapse of companies like 4Kids. But another significant factor is the advent of streaming services, and before that, widespread DVD distribution. Anime isnt competing for attention on American television anymore. You can choose what you want to watch whenever you want to watch it, thus the dub opening isnt needed to hook viewers in with flashy, action-packed clips. What was once the norm is now a thing of the past, a strange relic that only lives as nostalgia for some, embarrassing memories for others.

But, for kids of the 90s and early 2000s, the Americanized dub with a wacky opening was the only way we knew anime. So while we look back on the dubious dubs of anime past and their cheesy Americanized openings with facepalms and regret, theres no denying that, by many accounts, the dub openings did their job. We got hooked on these shows, and by extension, hooked on anime as a whole. We may never want to hear that old One Piece opening ever again, but without it, I, and many other fans my age, may have never formed a lifelong love of anime.

Learn About Anime And Japanese Culture With An Expert’s Help

Japan is one of those places where the millennial culture is infused with the modern era in an unusual way that you might sometimes think that you are in a science fiction movie.

Of course, that is also infused in Japanese anime culture as well. In the streets, you will find both women in kimonos and anime fans. This contrasting scenery is also shown in anime.

That is why anime is an entertaining and simple audiovisual genre and a fantastic resource to learn about the duality of Japanese culture and life.

So, if you want to learn about anime culture, Japanese traditions, or learn to make anime, look for a private tutor.

Superprof provides users with access to tutors or students studying anything. All you have to do is sign up and look for an anime drawing tutor or a scriptwriting instructor near you.

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They Learn New Things Often

While there are Chinese and Korean anime-like shows, a typical anime is Japanese. Anime fans come from all corners of the globe, so for anyone not Japanese, anime can actually be rather educational.

You learn a little bit about Japanese culture regardless of what anime you are watching, and if you watch the subbed versions of anime , you can also learn phrases and single words in Japanese.

There’s No Concise Definition Of What Anime Even Is

Why Do Anime Characters Look So Weird Without Eyes? Lol ...

If someone says “I don’t like anime,” there’s potentially a lot more to unpack in that statement than you might think. First and foremost, what do they mean by “anime?” The word literally just refers to animation, and Western audiences use it as a blanket term for animation from Japan. But there’s no strict definition of what anime really is.

Anime expert Jonathan Clements gave a talk at AnimeFest in 2015 about popular misconceptions regarding the medium and noted that a Japanese book published in 2011 on anime studies spent 100 pages arguing over exactly what anime was. That’s one reason it’s difficult to address anime criticisms they’re too wide-ranging. Is it anime for children, violent anime, adult anime, romantic anime, low-budget, television, film, or something else altogether? “Animation from Japan” is just too wide a net to cast when trying to discuss something with such a long history and such a diverse amount of content.

When you try to factor in animation from Korea or China, or maybe animation made in North America but in a style that emulates traditional anime, are those things still anime? There are a lot of questions to ask, but not a lot of solid answers.

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Everything You Need To Know About Japanese Manga

Manga and anime are perhaps Japan’s biggest cultural export and they make up one of the most recognizable art styles on the planet. Since the nineties, when everyone in the western world was suddenly talking about Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Dragon Ball Z, anime has become something of a household term. Something completely associated with Japan and something that has

06/17/2019 10 minutes reading time

The Popularity Of Anime

Anime has been in existence for many years in Japan and only took the global stage in the early 2000s. The majority of the fans of the Japanese based cartoons are in the United States and the United Kingdom, among others, with many watching the animations daily. Even as its popularity grows, it is important to understand the reasons why the love for this unique animation programs continue to grow. Some of these reasons are listed below.

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Anime Is Not Just For Kids

We have a weird relationship with animation in the world of pop culture. Cartoons have long been considered the purview of children, and not without reason. They’re flashy, colorful, and able to show off fantastic and bizarre things that real life can’t convey. They’re very appealing. But by the same token adults are quick to embrace Pixar animation, for instance. In 2017, Forbes noted that none of Pixar’s 18 films had grossed less than $100 million at the box office. Those weren’t just kids paying to see those films.

We’re able to accept animation as being adult, or at least being able to be enjoyed by both children and adults. Anime is often dismissed as being just kid’s stuff, however. That stems in large part from what are considered the most popular animes, things like Dragonball Z and Pokemon, which are very child-friendly.

As the University of Hawaii’s campus newspaper Ka Leo pointed out, just because some anime is child-friendly doesn’t mean all anime is child-friendly. North American audiences tend to categorize anime as its own genre. But there are romance anime, action anime, comedy anime, and some that are relatively mature, like the very dark Death Note.

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Why is Anime so Weird?

Manga and anime are perhaps Japan’s biggest cultural export and they make up one of the most recognizable art styles on the planet. Since the nineties, when everyone in the western world was suddenly talking about Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Dragon Ball Z, anime has become something of a household term. Something completely associated with Japan and something that has

09/27/2020 7 minutes reading time

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Everything You Need To Know About The Japanese Language

Manga and anime are perhaps Japan’s biggest cultural export and they make up one of the most recognizable art styles on the planet. Since the nineties, when everyone in the western world was suddenly talking about Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Dragon Ball Z, anime has become something of a household term. Something completely associated with Japan and something that has

05/10/2018 10 minutes reading time

Why Is Anime So Cheesy

A lot of Western viewers find anime shows cringy or cheesy, depending on which word you prefer. Now, since cringe is quite subjective and there are no rules as to what is or is not considered cringy when it comes to anime but in this article, we are going to explore the possible reasons why anime is so cheesy and cringy.

Anime is neither cheesy nor cringy. The Western perception and mindset are simply different, demanding more realism from something that is inherently meant to be fiction. Situations that are most often considered to be cringy are either completely normal plot-wise or are just a consequence of different cultural norms.

The remainder of this article is going to elaborate on why anime is not cheesy and why Westerners might find anime cheesy. Were also going to refer to some of the situations that are most commonly described as cringy and try to explain why they actually shouldnt be because most of them arent.

Anime is a different culture, like Japan itself, and in order to understand it, you need to approach them from a different point of view.

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They Explore Meaningful Concepts Regularly

Despite the rather unrealistic nature of most anime, many shows teach viewers a lesson or explore at least one major thematic issue central to human existence. For example, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood explores the themes of kinship, death and corruption. Sword Art Online explores how we construct our perceptions of reality and what makes one reality the true one.

Why Do We Think That Anime Characters Are White

Why do you look so weird on me? What is wrong?

Anime characters have colorful hair, big eyes, white skin and most of the time colorful eyes as well.

All these characteristics are indicative of Western people. We have blond hair or red hair, we have blue or green eyes and a lot of us have white Skin. So from our point of view, Anime characters look very much like western people.

If you look at Japanese people most of them have dark hair, brown eyes and a little bit darker skin. From our perspective, they dont look like the majority of Anime characters we know.

So the reason, why so many westerners ask the question why all the Anime characters seem to be white, is pretty obvious. From our point of view, they seem to be white.

But you may be surprised, that Japanese people think completely different about this matter!

The Anime style is a very distinct art style that was originally developed to make animation cheaper. So they didn´t use a lot of detail in their animation and over-exaggerated some features like the eyes and the proportions of the head to make emotions easier to read.

They also used common features, that Japanese people find attractive in the new art style to make the characters more appealing. So they made the eyes and the head big and they also gave their characters very white skin.

White skin is commonly found attractive in Japanese culture. Thats why you will see a lot of girls avoiding the sun in order to not get brown. They sometimes even carry a UV-resistant umbrella to block the sun completely.

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Reasons Why Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Is Groundbreaking

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a groundbreaking anime with many aspects we love like the clothing & the soundtrack, but there’s some things we hate.

Since the show’s initial release in 2012, Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has succeeded in changing anime as we know it. With its wildly colorful costumes and daring animation, JoJo retains the playful eccentricity of its 1980’s manga counterpart. The stylized poses and over the top fight scenes makes this anime feel like Italian melodrama and Murakami’s superflat style had a lovechild.

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In spite of this originality, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure‘s excessive nature derails itself on many occasions. In a show where every stunt must outdo the last, it’s easy to muddy the plot. For all of its wonders, JoJo still leaves the fandom wanting more. Here, we’ll be listing five reasons why JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is groundbreaking, and five reasons it’s just as terrible.

How To Draw Your Own Anime Character: The Art Style And Techniques Of Anime

What makes Japanese animation so recognizable is its incredibly distinctive style. Unlike the styles of classic American cartoons such as The Simpsons and Tom & Jerry, Japanese anime is instantly identifiable.

Even across the dramatically different styles of Tezuka, Hayao Miyazaki, and Toshihiro Kawamoto, there are a number of similarities that unite them. And, if you want to draw your own anime characters, it is important that you know these styles inside out.

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Anime Is Older Than You Think

Most Western audiences of a certain age likely had their first contact with anime with Astro Boy or the 1988 film Akira. Younger audiences obviously came into the fold with powerhouses of anime like Dragonball Z, which got an English-language release in 1996, or Pokemon, which saw both Game Boy games and the anime premiere in North America in 1998. However, what we consider anime in Western culture, which is essentially just animation that originates in Japan, is much older than you think. In fact, anime can be traced back as far as 1917, according to anime expert Frederick Litten.

Oten Shimokawa made a film called Imokawa Muzoku The Doormanin 1917, widely considered the first anime ever created. There’s actually an even older anime, though it’s not a full film and never had a commercial release, that only features an animation of a boy writing on a blackboard then turning around to salute. That one may be up to 10 years older than Shimokawa’s.

Considering the first known work of traditional Western animation, as noted by The Atlantic, is 1908’s Fantasmagorie, that puts anime on equal footing and means it essentially grew up right alongside Western animation.

Only Western Fans Of Anime Believe That Anime Characters Are White

Why are AMERICANS so STRANGE in Anime!?

As mentioned above, only western fans think, that Anime characters are white. Japanese people don´t care about the color of the skin as much as we do.

If you ask someone from Japan, why their Anime characters are all white, they won´t even really understand your question!

Another theory to why western fans think, that anime characters are western, is because they are imagining themself in the role of the protagonist or their favorite anime character. That is also why cosplay is such a big thing in western countries nowadays.

It is completely normal to follow the adventures of a character and wanting to be part of it and imagining to be part of their universe and maybe subconsciously we then start to imagine our anime heroes to be western and that is the point when we start to ask the question if they are from japan then why are they not looking more like Japanese people and actually more like I do?

And that is the moment where the confusion started. While Japanese people only watch their favorite anime and imagining themself in the same universe while thinking nothing of the heritage of their favorite anime heroes because they are obviously Japanese to them.

So I hope, you could understand the problem with this question. At its core, this whole thing is a cultural misunderstanding. Anime characters are not white, they are simply idealized abstractions of reality!

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Terrible: Hamon/ The Ripple

For starters, giving this technique two different names was one quick way to confuse fans. Especially being that the characters in the show even say it doesn’t matter which title is used. They mean the same thing, yet are nothing alike and actually sound like two different powers.

In addition to this, Hamon is no different than Chakra or Total Concentration Breathing . It’s an energy that can be harvested into a multitude of techniques with little to no limiting factors. What these other techniques have that Hamon doesn’t, however, is a uniqueness to their characters. For instance, Hamon could theoretically be used in Demon Slayer because of the technique’s heavy use of breathing, but Total Concentration Breathing is much too varied to be put into JoJo’s fighting style.

Which Are Japan’s Most Popular Anime

Identifying the best anime or even the most popular anime series is a difficult task. This is because there are anime for young girls , anime for teenage guys , and anime also for adults.

This is the key to the success of the anime industry in Japan. But it also warns against treating anime like a monolithic thing.

However, some anime are easy to point at and identify as extremely popular. Take the films of Studio Ghibli Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away which each, in turn, was the highest-grossing anime film ever. Kimi No Na Wa is the highest-grossing anime film of all time however, Spirited Away still remains the only anime movie to have won an Academy Award.

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Why Are Anime Watchers So Weird

While there are casual anime viewers and regular fans, there are also those who take their love for anime a step forward and actually become otaku. Otaku, or die-hard anime fans, might seem weird to some people and in this article, we are going to explain if anime are watchers so weird.

Anime watchers arent weird at all. They just love a culture and a form of art that is very different from what we can see in the West. They are different in their affinities and their expressions, but theyre not weird. Otaku culture is a relevant cultural phenomenon and it needs to be accepted as something normal.

Since otaku culture is the root of all the issues associated with anime and weirdness, we are going to dedicate the rest of this article to explain what otaku culture actually is, how it manifests and why people might think its weird, when it is actually not weird at all.

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