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For the past few years Canadians have witnessed a silent invasion—an invasion of adorable characters and brightly-costumed teenagers. What many Canadians may not be aware of is that they’ve been witnessing the Otaku invasion. Japanese comic books and animated shows have become increasingly popular and display no signs of stopping.
Recently I decided to take a trip to my local “anime” (pronounced: an-ee-may) shop in Nepean, Ontario to have a chat with the manager, Whitney Cox. I walk into a store that is packed with all sorts of anime goodies. Two of the walls are filled with all sorts of manga (Japanese comic book), DVDs, and action figures. The middle of the store is filled with racks of adorable plush toys, additional action figures and reading materials. In the midst of it all, I sit at a little round table, nervously clutching my tape recorder, ready to ask my questions. Cox seems relaxed, more so than I am, because she is used to having students coming in to interview her. The majority of them are business students from the local college, but I am here to talk about something new with her. I am here to discuss anime and what about it is becoming so popular in Canada.
“In the last year it’s gotten a lot bigger with younger kids; we’re getting at the age now where a lot of the people aged 20 to 30 [who watched anime] are having kids and exposing them to what they like. We’re going to see kids who like comics and anime more than before, when it was more niche, now it’s ‘everybody likes it, my parents like it, I grew up with it, it’s in my house.’ They’re exposed to their parents’ collection, where they can watch it,” says Whitney.
Research shows that the generation of people who grew up reading DC and Marvel comics went on to create the film-based products of their youth, serving a whole new generation of comic book fans. We can safely assume that the current generation will follow suit. In the past year, we have already seen the film-based products of two anime series: Dragon Ball Z and Avatar (known as The Last Airbender in its film adaptation). Although these films did not produce as much positive feedback as their television counterparts, many fans believe that it is only a matter of time before its popularity picks up. The question is: what effect does this anime invasion have on children?
The anime takeover of American television
It’s no secret that anime and manga are not primarily geared towards young children. Even the ones that are child-friendly tend to have deeper psychological meanings than cartoons found on American television today. Many parents ask if it is alright to expose their children to such mature information at such an impressionable age, and the answer really depends on the individual parent. Whitney says, “I find right now, with Western cartoons, they’re more sporadic and all over the place, they don’t really have a lot of structure, so anime has the upper hand. Whereas, there were a few shows when I was younger that were Western, like Gargoyles, which did have structure.” The times have definitely changed for children’s TV shows today. What once had structure and storyline has now declined to random, irregular episodes, giving anime popularity a boost with younger viewers.
Anime shows for children are considerably different from traditional American programs. They tend to offer young viewers a more mature and thought-provoking storyline compared to their American counterparts. Many of them, such as Sailor Moon, follow a soap-opera-like plot where the characters grow and develop through time. “I’ve seen some really weird stuff [talking about American cartoons] that has absolutely no plot and you don’t think at all. At least anime there are character and plot development, even if it’s introduced a little younger, it actually forces them to think a little bit more while they’re watching it, as long as it’s not too mature," explains Whitney. Shows like Phineas and Ferb, an American children’s show, does not seem to have the same character and plot development that old Western shows and today’s anime shows offer. They go on random adventures that end as the credits roll by. Nothing really changes and there is nothing to get a growing mind to ponder about.
Another important issue to be wary of when it comes to children and anime is how parents monitor what their children watch. Anime has its own adult-only genre called Hentai, a sexually explicit genre that offers unrealistic scenarios and fantasies to be played out in an anime-styled storyline. Stumbling upon this material might confuse children about which anime is okay to watch and which is not. Like any form of entertainment, it is up to the parent to monitor what their children are watching and reading. Every anime is rated just as American movies and shows are rated. Admittedly it can be a little difficult to rate some anime shows between General and Mature, but when it comes to buying Hentai there is no confusion. Every customer trying to buy either the comic books or DVDs must show their ID to prove they are 18 or older.
For some fans, such as Kelsey Carkner, an 18-year-old college student from Ottawa, Ontario, anime is not an average hobby, it’s a lifestyle. She says, “It’s entertaining, it’s interesting. All of my friends, except one, like anime. It’s different than normal cartoons and television shows.” Towards the end of the interview when I ask if she has anything more to say about the subject she laughs and says, “I want to go watch it now.” Just talking about anime gets many fans excited and eager to watch their favorite shows. Although Kelsey has watched anime and bought minimal merchandise she said she would like to participate in one of the many conventions beginning to pop up across Canada.
Conventions are a major part of anime and the Otaku lifestyle, where fans of all ages gather in large convention centres so that they can participate in viewings, stand in line for autographs from their favorite voice actors and artists, buy anime-related merchandise and have a good time with their friends. It is rare to find a single fan all alone at a convention.
Many fans go with friends in costume as characters from a particular show or comic. Cosplays, as Otakus call them, can be made by hand using a number of different materials, like the good old cardboard and duct tape, or by purchasing them online or in-store. “I think that in direct relation to conventions that are popping up, I find a lot of people who are into anime, stick with people who are into anime. There is a little bit of a culture to it. [Especially] with all the conventions and the different branches that anime has taken, like the costuming, the manga, and the DVDS,” says Whitney. Even now, with video games becoming increasingly popular within the anime world, there is a little something for everyone.
What draws the demographic, ages 16-29, to these animated shows, though? Many of the mainstream television shows geared towards this demographic offer quick, wise-crack jokes, 80’s and 90’s American pop culture references and minimal character developments, similar to the popular Western show Family Guy. Otaku fans watch anime shows because they are looking for something more thought-provoking and entertaining, something that will get their mind to work and allow its audience to follow the main characters, usually about four, who develop significantly throughout the course of the show, much like the anime show Inuyasha.
Anime fans tend to choose the Japanese cartoons rather than the American ones for another reason as well. They watch for the choice. Most American television shows run by season, whereas anime shows run by episode. For Otakus looking for something short, they may opt for a 13-episode series. For a medium length anime, fans can watch a 24-episode series and for Otakus looking for a lengthy show, they could find ones that run past 100 episodes. Providing this choice offers Canadian audiences more control over how much they want to watch rather than the regular, American series that usually run from 20 to 25 episodes per season.
The future of anime in Canada
Recent anime movies that have been based on their television counterparts are not as popular as they could have been due to issues with accuracy, but Whitney believes that, with time, anime in theatres will begin to be more popular. “Anime is not quite there yet to bring in enough of a crowd… it has it’s demographic but I don’t think the demographic is big enough to raise the kind of money they’d need for a blockbuster hit. It might [become popular] when the younger fans, the ones who are 16 or 17 get a little bit older, there might be more of an audience for it then.” What’s interesting is that theatres have begun showing one-time showings of animated movies based on anime shows and have done remarkably well with their sales. “I know that Evangelion: 2.0 which got played last month at Silver City [movie theatre], ended up selling out, so I think the popularity is getting there.”
Yes, it certainly seems that anime has found a home within Canadian society. With such a wide demographic, it does not appear that the fan base will stop growing for the time being. The future seems bright for anime in Canada, with the prospect of better film adaptations of television series and multiple conventions popping up all over Canada. Although we may not know how far this Otaku culture will grow in Canada, one thing is for certain: Anime is here to stay.
Reader Comments (1)
Very good feature, Meggin.