Yet another unique anime attribute is how many series can convey a variety of different tones regardless of their genre or target audience. What I mean by this is that it’s not uncommon for action/violent anime to have scenes of beauty, anime laden with gore to have moments of cuteness, or cute, sugary anime to feature things that are dark and disturbing…
For those of you who are frequent visitors to AnimeNewsNetwork, you’re probably familiar with the site’s web comic, “Anime News Nina!” The most recent Nina strip, which I reposted below, is actually what got me thinking on this topic.
*Click the image for a larger version*
The obvious punchline is that this cutesy, silly magical girl anime has an opening scene that’s very dark and serious, and thus is deceiving to viewers. But it really is so true for so many anime. I’m sure we can all think of a number of series that jump around between different tones like this. We think of Evangelion as a disturbing, dramatic series yet it has a few episodes that are actually funny and uplifting. Angel Beats! and Clannad can tear your heart out with drama yet have many hyperbolic comedy scenes (AB! especially). Cowboy Bebop is usually defined as a comedy yet it has a number of sad, disturbing events. The big shonen trio (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece) is especially keen on varying tones, having a number of episodes that can only be defined as comedic (not necessarily filler) and others that are nothing but drama and violence. Inuyasha is a shonen anime that goes even further by adding romance to the mix of action and fantasy. Mecha series from Eureka 7 to Macross Frontier and Gundam Seed feature many scenes of natural beauty and human emotions amidst action and violent machine battles. And Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and Elfen Lied are two prime examples of extremely gory horror anime that have misleading cute characters.
This blending of different tones isn’t confined to the episodes themselves but even in the anime’s openings, endings, and promo art.
Looking at the opening for the currently airing Usagi Drop above, one would think it’s the opening for a cute children’s anime rather than a mature, slow-paced slice-of-life/drama story aimed at an older audience.
And how about the ending from another currently airing show, No.6? It’s so beautiful and has scenes that seem very slice-of-life, who would think it’s actually a sci-fi action/drama show?
The above funny Fullmetal Alchemist picture would make one think it’s a cute comedy series rather than one that’s often riddled with gory violence and gut-wrenching drama.
So much Haruhi promo art makes the series look like a strictly slice-of-life show that never hints at how it actually revolves around very complicated sci-fi.
I could go on listing and giving examples of anime that play musical chairs with different tones, but I’ll stop here. Of course, I’m not saying that all anime does this. There are a number of titles that stay consistent with their tone – Death Note is always dark and serious, Mushishi is always pretty and slow-paced, and Lucky Star is always cute and funny for example. But I’d say that anime that stick with one tone all the time are the minority.
But is blending different tones together a bad thing? From what I’ve seen, the most popular anime are actually the ones that utilize a variety of tones. I suppose doing so can give the anime more appeal. For example, if its a dramatic action series, having times of comedy and beauty can give the audience a breather, show them different sides of the characters and plot, and reach out to a variety of tastes. As long as the anime is able to jump from tone to tone without it seeming out of place, I don’t have a problem with it, in fact I even prefer it. The more possible tones that can fit into an individual series without it seeming out of place, the more realism and role playing possibilities can be felt in that anime. Real life isn’t always just comedic or dramatic nor will it always be filled with just action packed thrills or slow-paced beauty. It’s made up of a blend of everything, and I feel that anime is trying to reflect that as much as it can ;)
When I heard misleading tones. I quickly thought of Elfen Lied, Magica Madoka, and that Higurashi no Naku Koro ni freaky show. Shows that have cutesy looking girls doing despicable things or getting killed off in gruesome ways.
“Awww, doesn’t that pinked haired girl look really cute?” *ten seconds later* “Did she just chop that woman’s head off with her mind and grab it by the hair!!!??!?!?”
“Awww, the blonde haired girl as beating up on that plushy doll.” *ten seconds later* “OMG, that plushy turned into a psycho clown and chomped her head off!!!”
Well you get the picture.
I’ve watched some Japanese centric videos on Youtube by Hirokochannel, randomyoko, and even Misshannahminx. They bring up the point of Japanese culture gravitating towards “Kawaii”/”Cuteness”. That in their culture OPs like Usagi Drop are considered normal to them. Packages of insect repellant have cute pictures of bugs being happy on them. Actually, the insect repellent thing brings up a point. That is no matter how serious and dangerous the underlying product may be, Japanese culture feels that need to sugarcoat the packaging with a layer of “kawaii”.
I guess you could chalk it up to a difference in cultural ideas. I mean we all know most Americans can’t stand anime and they think it’s all just a bunch of kid shows. When us fans know that isn’t even close to the truth. I’m sure Japanese have their misgivings about aspects in our culture. Maybe just growing up in this cynical American culture has put preconceived notions that make us not understand Japanese concepts fully. What they consider normal, we can’t, because of our own upbringing.
I’m not sure if my points are in line with your thinking. I think I understand your point of view, though.
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My other point is I think Japanese producers like to trick us. Cause if we’re shocked out of our initial reaction to the show, it will make us appreciate it more.
I definitely think that was the plan as far as Magica Madoka was concerned.
Excellent points – actually what you said about “kawaii/cuteness” would be more appropriate for a previous post of mine where I specifically talk about Japan’s “culture of cuteness” ;)
But yeah, Madoka and Higurashi are great examples of this but they’re also two of the most obvious and acknowledged ones. I find it interesting that there are actually a lot more subtle examples if one thinks about it, like with Usagi Drop and No.6.
The difference in cultural ideas reminds me of an interview of where Hideaki Anno tries to explain it, but his explanation was really weird. He has a pretty cynical take on things:
Anno understands the Japanese national attraction to characters like Rei as the product of a stunted imaginative landscape born of Japan’s defeat in the Second World War. “Japan lost the war to the Americans,” he explains, seeming interested in his own words for the first time during our interview. “Since that time, the education we received is not one that creates adults. Even for us, people in their 40s, and for the generation older than me, in their 50s and 60s, there’s no reasonable model of what an adult should be like.” The theory that Japan’s defeat stripped the country of its independence and led to the creation of a nation of permanent children, weaklings forced to live under the protection of the American Big Daddy, is widely shared by artists and intellectuals in Japan. It is also a staple of popular cartoons, many of which feature a well-meaning government that turns out to be a facade concealing sinister and more powerful forces.
Anno pauses for a moment, and gives a dark-browed stare out the window. “I don’t see any adults here in Japan,” he says, with a shrug. “The fact that you see salarymen reading manga and pornography on the trains and being unafraid, unashamed or anything, is something you wouldn’t have seen 30 years ago, with people who grew up under a different system of government. They would have been far too embarrassed to open a book of cartoons or dirty pictures on a train. But that’s what we have now in Japan. We are a country of children.”
Personally, I think it’s a bit too theatrical and perfect an explanation, so I don’t believe it to be the main reason for the obsession with “Kawaii” and just goes to show how weird Hideaki Anno is. It is somewhat disturbing that he claims that his ideas are shared by other artists too.
Anyway, here’s the article if anyone’s interested.
What the tones also do is make fans imagine. The fun never ends after an episode. Fans can just dream up scenarios from seeing those tones and go “Yeah, I can imagine this happening”. Of course, this can lead to fanfiction. That’s what makes certain anime so appealing to many.
When you’re able to help one’s imagination grow & get it going, you’ve done your job.
Great point. If the original creators acknowledge that a series can have action/drama as well as comedy/cuteness, then it’s that much easier for fans to imagine all kinds of tones in their fanfiction, fan art, etc., without it seeming too far-fetched compared to the real thing.
While I agree that some anime have misleading aspects (as Cirris said above, Higurashi, Madoka, and Elfen Lied are very good examples), I don’t think you should stretch it to cover filler episodes, comedic relief, and promotional art.
On promo art: You can’t expect to convey everything about a series like Haruhi or FMA in one picture. Also, you’re selectively choosing which piece of art to show. A picture like this shows a lot more about FMA than your SOL example.
Fillers/comedic relief: Since the dawn of time (or maybe just Shakespeare), people have been incorporating comedy in the most awkward of places. I hear it’s to prevent us from becoming chronically depressed, suicidal NEETs.
And in general, anime should really be not that different from other forms of media. It’s not like most movies center on a specific genre and stick with it. An action movie always has some stupid romantic kiss in the midst of the battlefield and a comedy usually has a contrived moral to the story or a bit of useless drama. Likewise, CLANNAD has Fuuko prancing around, DBZ has Goku and Piccolo taking a road test, and Eureka 7 is the best anime ever made.
tl;dr yeah okay whatever
You’re right that a single promo art picture can’t convey everything about its respective title. But I just feel that anime does it more so than other forms of media. You’re not gonna see promotional images for the latest action/drama movie or TV show featuring cute or funny moments, whereas for an anime like Fullmetal Alchemist, you can find just as many cute/pretty images as dramatic ones.
And its true that comic relief and romance are inserted into just about all genres of movies. But movies are different from TV shows, and again I feel that there are a lot of anime that don’t have comic relief characters (Spice and Wolf, Death Note, and even Madoka come to mind). And in anime, sometimes the comedy lasts an entire episode, or series of episodes, in an otherwise dramatic show, which I don’t think is as common in other TV shows. Inuyasha and Code Geass are a couple of examples off the top of my head that have random silly episodes in between dramatic ones.
And I’ll agree with you that Eureka 7 is a great anime! =)
I especially agree with how Haruhi was misleading. I didn’t really take it seriously at first until I reached the second half of the series– the first half was mostly just nonsensical fun but the second half became this intricate sci-fi story that kept me at the edge of my seat.
Haruhi is a series known for not being able to be defined by a single genre. I like to think of it as a sci-fi comedy with the sci-fi hidden behind the mask of a slice-of-life XD But I think the reason most Haruhi promo art has nothing hinting at sci-fi is because the sci-fi is very subtle and most of it comes about just through speaking and a few non-stellar things done by Kyon and co. With the exception of the conclusion of Melancholy and a few other stories, very little of it has any flashy action or special effects. So that’s probably why it’s hard to make art images out of it.
I would not say that they are deceiving. They just tackle more genres, or some aspects of other genres in their anime. Like the funny parts in Full metal Alchemist, etc. that you mention.
I personally like that. I think Clannad or AB! would not be such hits if the focused only on the sad/tragic moments. I think they would overwhelm viewers and they may not end up liking it. Same with action anime having their funny moments. I think it can add up to the series, and sometimes defuse a specific situation that the writers do not want to get into.
So I think it’s just good as long as it is done properly. There are many instances when they come up with a silly sequence where it does not really fit I guess. I guess it could be a shock for people not used to it. Madoka could be a tremendous shock for example if people were expecting a cute magical girl anime… Western series/movies usually tackle one genre at a time I guess.
Anyway, misleading not so much (unless not used to it). I would think it’s more varied.
I agree that anime is more open to adding a variety of tones within a single genre. That’s not that other forms of media don’t do this, but anime just seems to do it more so, possibly because its such a visual medium and mixes of tones from a single series can be seen not just in episodes, but in songs, OPs and EDs, and promo art. Of course regular movies and TV shows have their comic relief in drama, romance in action titles, etc., but one thing that Western culture won’t mix in with (adult) drama and action is cuteness, while Japan adores cuteness in all genres (which I know you read about in my other post ^^)
Would there be a distinction between anime that depart from the overall tone of their dominant genre, and anime that combine different types of moments while maintaining a consistent tone? People talk about Madoka as a darker or more serious subversion/re-invention of the magical girl genre, and I agree. But we don’t see any silly/chibi moments in Madoka, although the overall darker tone contrasts with more traditional maho shojo anime like Cardcaptor Sakura. On the other hand, Fullmetal Alchemist is a pretty intense and serious anime, but it’s peppered with comic moments and chibi faces. In fact, I think that’s expected of any major shonen anime nowadays — the need to balance out the seriousness with some chibi comedy, isn’t it?
I think that sometimes, a balance of different tones is nice, while others, focusing on a strict tone is better.
For example, things like the Big Three usually have a lot of comedy, but they can get dark and serious at times – this variety in colour allows us to watch hundreds of episodes without it getting old (ok, maybe not for Naruto fillers), and also gives a sense of ‘life’ around the series – life never just goes in one tone, right?
For other series, such as Death Note, the relentlessly driven single-tone of the series makes it have a sense of mystery, foreboding, and suspense throughout – interspersing Death Note with comedic moments would definitely ruin the entire show. Yet, if Death Note was drawn out into being a much longer anime, perhaps comedic moments should be inserted. We won’t know.
What I’m trying to say is that for shorter shows that focus on only one thing, they should try to focus on only one tone. For longer shows or shows with more variety, staying with one tone will make it boring.
I have noticed that Key adapations are fairly famous for this since they have a history to add some fun and comedic moments in the episodes with drama later on. While it has worked for the visual novels, they kind of overdid it with Angel Beats. It was by no means bad since I still enjoyed the show dispite the flaws.
I feel that the opening and ending themes are the big offenders of this since of the mood whiplash from the overally happy music playing after something dramatic happened, which completely ruins the mood. Clannad After Story (Episodes 16 & 21) and a few episodes of Sora no Woto comes in my mind with this… Of course, Madoka’s Opening Theme is kind of misleading since there is a lot of dark moments for most of the show.