In order to get more of an insight into the current state of anime from a more personal perspective i reached out to an american animator currently working on animation in japan, below is the email log between us both.
Some Questions for you
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22 Nov
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Hello there Henry!
My name is Ollie Simons and i am a 3rd year student, studying animation at Leeds College of Art.
I'm currently writing my dissertation on Anime, Its history,Its themes, Its spread to the west, and its modern reception.
Being an animator that has experience with both the animation industry in America, and the animation industry in Japan i feel like you would likely have some insight into some of these topics and was wondering if you would be up to answer some questions?
Cheers!
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28 Nov (11 days ago)
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Hi Ollie,
Sorry for the late reply.
I`ve been super busy with multiple projects over these last couple months and haven`t been able to properly reply to e-mails not related to work.
It might be too late at this point, but if you`re still writing your paper, send me over whatever questions you have. I can`T spend too long answering each one but I will try to help out as much as possible.
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28 Nov (11 days ago)
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Hey Henry
Not to worry, we're both animators i can empathise with being constantly busy with projects.
They're quite long winded questions i'm afraid but i appreciate any input you have for me.
Having worked on both American animation and Japanese animation, are there any key differences between the way animation is produced? And what professional practices were difficult to get used to when you began working in Japan?
Anime isn’t just a genre, but is often treated like one when it’s raised in cultural discussion, predominantly because of most anime having a large similarity in style, would you agree or disagree with this statement and why?
The sexualisation of Women is a large talking point Online from western sources, how is it received locally in Japan?
The opinion of Anime in the west is quite polar, either hated or loved, however what western audiences receive is a lot different, ie a lot of less of the Anime style in advertisements, how does the japanese audience respond to Anime?
Furthermore, do Japanese audiences have a similar reaction to western animation, ie is there a "weeaboo" equivalent for Japanese fans of american animation?
Thank you for your time and i look forward to hearing back from you!
Cheers
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29 Nov (10 days ago)
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Hey Ollie,
Here are your questions followed by my answers. Good luck with your paper, hope this helps.
Having worked on both American animation and Japanese animation, are there any key differences between the way animputation is produced? And what professional practices were difficult to get used to when you began working in Japan?
It`s totally different. There`s almost no part of the production process that`s the same. In the west (at least from my experience working in New York) there are background artists, layout artists, key-frame animators, and in-between animators. They all do very different work and then when everything’s put together the scene is finished. Also, everything is done on the computer. In Japan everything is done on paper with pencils until you get to the final scanning/coloring part of the process. Here they have gengaman, 2-gengaman, dougaman, and sakuga-kantoku …. So basically one person draws everything (the background, the characters, decides the motion, etc) and then a super artist (the “animation director”) goes over each frame and adjusts them, then someone else puts all the corrections together before it`s shipped off for in-between animation.
The attitude of the studio`s and workers (everyone talking and throwing around idea`s in the west, vs everyone sitting silently working in Japan) as well as the pay (Work is hard to find but pays ok in the west, vs almost no pay in Japan) is also very different.
Anime isn’t just a genre, but is often treated like one when it’s raised in cultural discussion, predominantly because of most anime having a large similarity in style, would you agree or disagree with this statement and why?
I think the line between “Japanese animation” and “animation” in general has been blurred recently thanks to globalization. I recently made a blog post about this which goes into a lot of details about my feelings on the matter. I think animation is a medium (same as film) and not a genre though … and I think Japanese people would agree. In Japan no one thinks Miyazaki films, 80`s horror OVA`s, hentai, and Anpanman are the same thing. They recognize that they`re made by different people for totally different reasons.
The sexualisation of Women is a large talking point Online from western sources, how is it received locally in Japan?
Sexualization of women in Anime or just in general. Japan is a few decades behind as far as that stuff goes. (And culturally is just kind of different to be honest. The kind of sexualization of pre-teens that`s found all-over the place in Japan is, and never has been found in America as far as I`m aware.
I know Japanese girls who hate it and roll their eyes at that stuff, though they`re not even a fraction as vocal about it as western girls would be. (And frankly speaking, I also know Japanese girls in the anime industry that kind of like it … that think the over-sexualized anime girls are “cute” and enjoy drawing them.)
The opinion of Anime in the west is quite polar, either hated or loved, however what western audiences receive is a lot different, ie a lot of less of the Anime style in advertisements, how does the japanese audience respond to Anime?
That`s hard to answer because it depends on the individual. I`ve heard the claim “everyone in Japan watches anime” by western anime fans. That`s not entirely true. “Anime Otaku” are still “anime toka” here. That might not have the same meaning exactly … but it`s still not totally normal. On the other hand, *everyone* does, or has at some point in their life read, and been a fan of Manga. Manga is incredibly integrated into the culture. So being familiar with Naruto, or Dragonball, Sailor moon, or Hokuto no Ken, is not something out of the ordinary. Most (even “normal” people) are familiar with Jojo`s bizarre adventure and a few of the catch phrases that have come from it for example. …….. So while not everyone “loves it” I don`t think as many people “hate it” here. That part (the “people who hate it” part) of the equation isn`t really a thing here.
Furthermore, do Japanese audiences have a similar reaction to western animation, ie is there a "weeaboo" equivalent for Japanese fans of american animation?
No. Western animation is just called “anime” here just like Dragonball is called “anime” here. Kids here grow up with Disney films just like they do in America, so everyone`s familiar with a bit of “western animation” and thinks nothing of it. And if there was a Japanese person who was a big fan of Adventure time, or something like that, people would probably just call them an “anime otaku” … they wouldn`t have a special name for it.
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30 Nov (9 days ago)
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Hey Henry
Thanks so much for your insight! I will put it to good use :)
I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions, please let me know if there is anything i can do for you :)
All the best
Cheers
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