The question of why we enjoy watching anime is a very basic one, but probably one we don’t often think about unless prompted. In an old post I wrote a couple of years ago, I listed some general reasons for liking anime such as the great variety of stories and emphasis on character development. Today I wanted to go further with one of the reasons I listed for liking anime – because it’s animation – and discuss why that’s so important to its appeal…
As I gave more thought to the topic, I decided that the fundamental crux of what makes anime so appealing to us has to do with the animation medium in general and what Japan has done with it. One of the reasons I, and I’m sure many others, love animation so much is because it has no restrictions. Thanks to advanced technology, the kinds of stories you can tell with live-action have become more various in recent years, but even so, having to use real people in (mostly) real settings will always create limitations no matter how many special effects you can throw in. With animation, you can literally do anything with your story, characters, setting, and style that would either be impossible or way too expensive and troublesome for live-action. Can you imagine a live-action series of Code Geass or Naruto? If it were possible for the same amount of mecha and fantasy effects from these anime to be kept in live-action versions, the expenses would be astronomical for even a big-budget movie, much less a TV series. Animation can create stories that would easily work in live-action, such as Kimi ni Todoke and Death Note, stories that would be nearly impossible to create with live-action, such as One Piece and Pokemon – and all others in between. With animation, you can create even the most fantastical, out-of-this world stories with no restrictions and less expenses.
So, with the animation medium being as limitless as it is, it’s no wonder those of us who like seeing stories beyond what live-action can offer have taken a liking to anime. Being an American, it saddens me that my country has such a limited perception of animation, an entertainment medium that literally has no limits. I can’t speak for other Western countries (though I imagine their views of animation aren’t that different from America’s), but here in America animation pretty much falls into just one of two categories – either it’s safe, children/family entertainment such as Disney films and just about all the cartoons on TV during the day, or it’s the perverse, “man-child” comedies such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and other shows on late night blocks like Adult Swim. That’s pretty much all average Americans think animation is and should be. I’m certainly not saying that shows in these genres are bad or unoriginal, only that it’s a terrible shame that this is as far as America is willing to go with the medium, especially when they have the technology to do so much more with it. Most likely this is because there’s not enough demand in America for animation to be more than what it’s ever been.
And then we look at what Japan has done with the animation medium. With the thousands of anime and manga series that exist in Japan and continue to be created all the time, Japan has literally animated every kind of story imaginable for every kind of audience imaginable. Of course, much like anything else, the Japanese have their own favorite tropes and genres that we see over and over again, but for the most part they have taken the idea that animation is a limitless form of entertainment and have run wild with it. With this, it’s no wonder that people who want to watch something beyond the limits of live-action have turned to animation from Japan rather than animation from their own country.
Continuing on with the idea that animation has no restrictions, because it’s so limitless it’s also more fantastical and allows for greater suspension of belief than live-action. When we watch live-action, we know we’re looking at real people no matter how unrealistic the setting they’re in, thus it’s not too hard to connect with them and imagine ourselves amongst them. With animation however, we’re not looking at real people but “lines on paper,” figments of someone’s imagination…but despite that, we’re able to sympathize with and grown to care about these characters and worlds even though they’re so far removed from reality. Simply because of what it is – drawings on paper (or on a computer program) – animation will always be more fantastical than live-action and will always force us to suspend our belief more than live-action. The visual style of a series like One Piece, Bakemonogatari, or Lucky Star couldn’t convey the same charm and diversity from each other if they were live-action, yet we can grow just as attached to them as anything real. And I think that’s what’s truly amazing about the medium – good anime, or any good animation, depict its characters and settings in such a way that we forget what we’re watching is just “lines on paper” and we view it, and perhaps love it, as if it were real. To me, that’s a greater achievement than liking a live-action series/movie because you like the actors or effects.
To conclude, there are many reasons we like anime, but I feel that the very basic one, the one that all the others draw influence from, is the lack of limits in the general animation medium and the thrill of how it allows us to invest ourselves in people and worlds that are so obviously not real yet we’re compelled to think of them as such. With a hobby like anime that offers such diversity and freedom, it’s no wonder we love it ;)
I totally agree with that. The limitless possibilities, and the greater suspension of disbelief. The limitless possibilities greatly affects characters as well. They can custom-design the characters to fit a specific mold, instead of trying to fit an existing person to that mold. Sure, K-On has no sci-fi or fantastical elements, and could technically be done with real life actors. But could you really find a person that could play the role or Yui, or Mugi, exactly as the writers envisioned? It’s virtually impossible, and you would have to settle with an actor with some resemblance. In anime, you need blue eyes? got it. Short hair? got it. Scar on the left cheek? easy. Real life productions will always have those limitations.
So I think animation can also fit into the original authors mold a lot easier than a real actor, or real setting could ever do. So it bring us closer to what the author actually envisioned. It is a shame that western society does not see animation in the same light. As you mentioned, it could allow for a creative explosion which could benefit writers by expanding possibilities, and of course, us as the viewers.
Exactly, even though a show like K-ON could easily be rendered with live-action, there will always be less of a sense of “escapism” when you use real actors/tresses because they look like real people. With animation, you have much more freedom with how they look – in K-ON’s case, you can make them as cute and appealing to an otaku audience as you want – and that attracts people who are looking for this great suspension of belief in what they watch.
Technically, American animation, even though it does fall into the two groups you mention, is pretty much like the sitcoms and other stuff, where everything is episodic. Except for deaths, nothing really impacts any other episode.
As for Death Note, I disagree that it could be done well in live-action. The animated format works better for psychological battles, in my opinion, and if one looks at the live-actions Japan did of the series, the deaths by heart attack just do not seem real. Alive-action Tri-gun or Rurouni Kenshin would be easier.
I do agree that there are things that are easier to accomplish in animation than live-action though.
I know I wrote a post a while back discussing that same idea that American TV shows tend to be episodic and rarely have the emphasis on continuity that anime does. But yeah, I noticed that too.
I’ve only seen one of the live-action Death Note movies, and even though I didn’t like it that much, I think it works fine as live-action. If you have a good director and get creative with how the psychological battles are depicted, it’s definitely a story that would be possible to accurately show in live-action (whether it could be as good as the animated one is a different story).
I know what you mean about the ‘two types of American animation’. Perhaps that’s why the odd Western animated series such as Avatar, which don’t fall into either of those categories and resemble anime more than American cartoons, are so popular. In the same vein, I feel that a lot of people who don’t know about anime would love it if they’re exposed to it, because many anime tell a good story that could rival your average American live action series – generally without the risk of uninspiring acting or terrible special effects. It’s just too bad that it’s not so readily available on TV as American animation or live action series.
But getting back to your main point – I’d certainly agree that one of the reasons I love watching anime is the limitless possibilities. I never know what awesome new anime with a premise, plot and character tropes I’ve never seen before might pop up each season, and it really keeps me watching. And I love how anime just has so many genres. Not only do the usual live action genres apply, you have completely anime-exclusive ones too. It just increases the breadth of topics that anime, as a medium, can cover.
I haven’t seen Avatar but I’m assuming, despite it being similar to anime in terms of telling a compelling, serious narrative, it’s still more or less safe for kid/family viewing since it was broadcast on Nickelodeon. But even if you have the restriction of having to be kid-friendly, you can still tell a great story for all ages, which Avatar seems to have done =)
Anime being able to incorporate all the genres that live-action has, plus adding its own exclusive ones, certainly adds to its universal appeal. I too think a lot of Americans could find anime series they love if they’d only give it a chance. But that “prejudice” against animation is unfortunately very strong.
It’s interesting how you are basically describing things, that could as well be seen from the opposite dirction, if we wouldn’t like anime: That animation is limited to being nothing more than “drawings on paper”, stylized lines, while live action can have all the potential of three-dimensional believable depth through accuracy.
I’ve spent some time creating some theories about why is it that anime ignores this common western paradigm, and why do we like it so much. I’ve wrote a post from the direction of art history, and Japan not wanting verisimilitude. In a reply post on your blog, I also speculated that many western anime fans who prefer stylization over realism, are slightly on the autism spectrum.
Your post seems to say the same thing, just without the pseudoscientific generalizations, as more of a personal taste: That whatever is the reason, we simply prefer to look at what variations and styles artists can pull off, and that from our perspective, the freedom to be unrealistic in any possible way, is more important than the limit of not being entirely lifelike.
tl;dr : 2D > 3D
In response to your first paragraph, that is a good point when comparing 2D animation with live-action. But I wonder how it would stand when comparing 3D computer animation with live-action, since the former can just as accurately portray depth, etc., without the restrictions of using real human actors.
I remember that post of yours that you’re referring to, as well as your comments. All very good thoughts =) “The freedom to be unrealistic in any possible way, is more important than the limit of not being entirely lifelike” sums up my feelings towards animation quite nicely XD
All things I’ve thought about and wholeheartedly agree on with you. I think animation constantly requiring a higher level of suspension of disbelief is, sadly, one of the reasons its less accessible than live-action, but it certainly offers greater possibilities. Unlimited might be going a bit too far, as I think it goes like this:
live action < animation < written word
You've recently seen Fate Stay/Night, so you probably remember the scene where Lancer hurts Saber in a fight. In the visual novel, his spear is guaranteed to kill in a single blow not because it's powerful in any standard sense, but because it reverses cause and effect – first it determines the result of "the opponent's heart getting pierced by the attack", and later on creates an adequate "cause" that leads to the desired result. This is a fascinating concept, described nicely in the novel, but the anime doesn't even dare touch upon it. Basically, both live action and animation share the quality of happening in "real time", so whatever is shown must be relatively easy to swallow for the viewers and can't demand a long explanation and playing around with abstract themes. That said animation still has more leeway here than live-action.
Another problem I see is that realistic animation is not financially viable. That is, western creators are currently convinced that there is no point in producing any slice-of-life or other down to earth kind of movie using animation if you can have real life people do the same things at half the cost. As a result, western animation has been limited to fantasy scenarios with animal protagonists and the like, never daring to venture into anything simple. While the financial aspect is difficult to deny, I think many anime fans can point to K-On and the like as proof that animation has a lot to offer even in non-flashy scenes and series.
Excellent thoughts. I never thought of the three-way comparison between live-action, animation, and the written word the way you described and I’m inclined to agree with it. Writing really does have no restrictions in time and space because it’s all played out in the imagination of the reader, while the other two have to comply to visual rules or risk being a chaotic mess that no one would want to watch.
Good job describing the reason why Western creators have no motivation to animate a story that could just as well be done with live-action. I would love to see something like that, but unless there’s demand for such a thing among Westerners (which there likely will never be) I doubt it’ll ever happen outside of Japanese animation.
You did a great job of summing up the limitless possibilities of animation as medium. Though I do agree on your mention of Western animation and how the companies behind them are much less daring and have a fear to be flexible with this type of entertainment (and you pretty much summed up the reality of it in a nutshell), I’d like to point out that there HAVE been shows that didn’t conform to the stereotypes of cartoons in the west like the Bruce Timm-animated superhero cartoons like Batman: the Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited, or even Avatar: The Last Airbender (though I do think it would have been written to its full potential had it not been on Nickelodeon).
It’s worth mentioning that Japan has numerous live-actions shows that explore fantasy or sci-fi settings like the anime you’ve mentioned. However, even though many of them are genuinely good shows with good writing, the special effects are usually lacking or inconsistent (note that Japan has always been behind in television camera effects in comparison to west), so much that one has to ignore it in order to enjoy them at their fullest, or at least get used to their charm. Modern Kamen Rider and Sentai are prone to this (though it’s mostly on Toei’s part, who are also lazy with their anime), but there are shows like the demon hunting Garo that do the job surprisingly well for a Japanese serial. But even then there are rare times where it’s noticeably fake. Japan does it a lot better with a film budget, but for TV series, they are at least trying to make live-action shows that stretch to a wider variety of story genres like anime.
I’m sure there are a good number of Western animated shows that don’t fall into the two genres I mentioned. But unfortunately they’re few and far between, and generally speaking most Americans wouldn’t think of animation outside kids stuff or adult comedies. By the way, I remember that old Batman cartoon – even as a kid, I could tell how mature it was (without being so dark that kids couldn’t watch it).
I know pretty much nothing about live-action shows in Japan, so thanks for the info =)