I have been a big fan of both Japanese animation and of Western animation for most of my life. The one thing that has always bothered me is why doesn’t the West ever have animation with meaningful plot lines?
For example, the three largest animated shows created here in the United States over the last twenty years for mass media consumption have to be The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy. All three of these series are comedic in nature and follow a very sitcom-like model. There are very few examples of animation that has any kind of meaningful plot line or story to them and shows that have more mature themes on top of that is even less likely.
In Japanese animation this is the norm, I think one of the biggest contrasts between these two cultures is that Anime series usually end after one season (two at the most). Their are exceptions (DBZ, anything made by Shonen Jump), but the norm is that these are relatively short. This offers a lot of advantages for writers, they can write one story arc that is compelling to watch and they approach the beginning of there series with an end game already in mind. Shows that don’t follow this model tend to have a lot of filler (Naruto, Bleach, DBZ to name a few).
In American animation we tend to see more of a sitcom model where their is minimal continuity from one episode to the next. This makes the show much more accessible but also requires minimal dedication to the series. I find it odd that with the rise more recently of shows with really deep plot lines (Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones) that no one has really considered to adapt this to an animated series.
However Americans also have the general stigma that animated shows are either meant for kids, or that they should be funny in nature. This is a major diverging point between the two schools of animation. Their are several anime dramas and more are made each year, while in American animation, this is extremely marginalized.
If the west ever did decide to pursue an animated series with more of a plot, and meant for a more mature audience I think that it would now be a hard sell. Anime fans would immediately label this as a blatant rip-off of Japan Anime, and Americans would be resistant to adopt the show believing that animation is meant for kids and that the themes in the show are too adult for children.
I suppose on the plus side anime does give the audience a chance to experience parts of Japanese culture. Which I love, it’s something we never really get to see, and it has an authenticity to it. I suppose you could say the same by watching shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. They do portray a lot of American culture as well.
Are their exceptions to this rule? Of course, I have seen some shows that have been made in the west that have great story lines. “Avatar” is a great series and has had two successful story arcs that are very similar to anime type writing (and have an eastern theme to begin with). Also some of the DC and Marvel animated series have had interesting and unique plot lines. I think that American comic book writing could have a major impact for animation, and hope to see more of this hit the animated medium.
Look at the fan base for DC/Marvel, for the movies we all see. The audience is there, now if we can make a compelling animated series. I think that this would be a major success. However if it isn’t adopted by a major network (aka not a “Kid’s network”) it won’t hit that older audience. American’s animation writing needs to move on from a product first (ie toys and product sales) mentality. Animation is just as much an art form as anything else, and since we take such pride in comics, why can’t we move this into animation?
A "Fables" animates series? I would watch it!
What do you think? Is the west just behind in this type of writing? Have we missed our opportunity? Are their other avenues we could be pursuing? Or is their something else to anime that the west just cannot imitate?
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