Japanophilia

Japanophilia (in Japanese: 親日派 shinnichiha) is an interest in, or love of, Japan and all things Japanese. (Its opposite is Japanophobia.) One who has such an interest or love is a Japanophile.[1] Various cultures and peoples have gone through various periods of Japanophilia, for various reasons, throughout history. To be accused as a Japanophile is regarded as highly offensive in many Asian nations including Korea and China.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Carl Peter Thunberg and Philipp Franz von Siebold, who stayed in the Dutch outpost of Dejima, helped introduce Japanese flora, artworks, and other objects to Europe. Some consider them to be among the earliest Japanophiles.[2][3] (This was before the Meiji Restoration in 1868, when Japan became more open to foreign trade.)

Lafcadio Hearn, an Irish-Greek author who made his home in Japan in the 19th century, was described to be "a confirmed Japanophile" by Charles E. Tuttle Company in their foreword to most of his books.[4]

In the first decade of the 20th century, British writers were lauding Japan. In 1904, for example, Beatrice Webb wrote that Japan was a "rising star of human self-control and enlightenment", praising the "innovating collectivism" of the Japanese, and the "uncanny" purposefulness and open-mindedness of its "enlightened professional elite". H. G. Wells similarly named the élite of his A Modern Utopia "samurai". In part this was a result of British industrial decline, with Japan and Germany rising at the same time. Germany was seen as a threat close to hand, but Japan was seen as an ally. The British sought efficiency as the solution, and after the publication of Alfred Stead's 1906 book Great Japan: A Study of National Efficiency, pundits in Britain looked to Japan for lessons. This interest ended with World War I.[5]

The United States went through a similar period of Japanophilia in the 1980s, anticipated in the 1960s by the writing of Peter Drucker, who pointed to the "consensual decision-making" in Japanese corporations and celebrated Japanese corporate management techniques (even claiming credit for giving this system to the Japanese via his books and seminars). During that period, American students took Japanese language classes with the hope of doing business with Japan.

A different form of Japanophilia has taken over in the United States with the turn of the 21st century as Japan has become more of a cultural influence through the export of its creative goods. A surge of Japanophilia in youth across the globe has occurred that is a love of its culture and fantasy creations, such as anime, manga, trading cards, and entertainment technology.

Terminology of Anime

In Japanese, the English term animation is written in katakana as アニメーション (animēshon, pronounced [ɑnimeːɕoɴ]). The term, anime (アニメ), emerged in the 1970s. This most likely derived from the French l'animé. ^[10][3] Both the original and abbreviated forms are valid and interchangeable in Japanese, but the shorter form is more commonly used.

The pronunciation of anime in Japanese, ɑnime, differs significantly from the Standard English IPA: /ˈænɪmeɪ/ which have different vowels and stress. (In Japanese each mora carries equal stress.) As with a few other Japanese words such as saké, Pokémon, and Kobo Abé, anime is sometimes spelled animé in English (as in French), with an acute accent over the final e, to cue the reader that the letter is pronounced, not silent as would be expected in English. However, this accent does not appear in any commonly used system of romanized Japanese and is not in frequent enough use to be recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Word usage

In Japan, the term does not specify an animation's nation of origin or style; instead, it is used as a blanket term to refer to all forms of animation from around the world.^[11][12] In English, dictionary sources define anime as "a Japanese style of motion-picture animation" or "a style of animation developed in Japan".^[13] Non-Japanese works that borrow stylization from anime is commonly referred to as "anime-influenced animation" but it is not unusual for a viewer who does not know the country of origin of such material to refer to it as simply "anime". Some works are co-productions with non-Japanese companies, such as the Cartoon Network and Production I.G series IGPX or Ōban Star-Racers, which may or may not be considered anime by different viewers.

In English, anime can be used as a common noun ("Do you watch anime?") or as a suppletive adjective ("The anime Guyver is different from the movie Guyver"). It may also be used as a mass noun, as in "How much anime have you collected?" and therefore is not pluralized as animes.

Synonyms

Anime is occasionally referred to as Japanimation, but this term has fallen into disuse.^[14] Japanimation saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, but was supplanted by anime in the mid-1990s as the material became more widely known in English-speaking countries.^[15] In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts.^[15] Although the term was coined outside Japan to refer to animation imported from Japan, it is now used primarily in Japan, to refer to domestic animation; since anime does not identify the country of origin in Japanese usage, Japanimation is used to distinguish Japanese work from that of the rest of the world.^[15]

In Japan, manga can additionally refer to both animation and comics (although the use of manga to refer to animation is mostly restricted to non-fans).^{[citation needed]} Among English speakers, manga usually has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics".^{[citation needed]} An alternate explanation is that it is due to the prominence of Manga Entertainment, a distributor of anime to the US and UK markets. Because Manga Entertainment originated in the UK the use of the term is common outside of Japan.^{[citation needed]} The term "animanga" has been used to collectively refer to anime and manga, though it is also a term used to describe comics produced from animation cels.

Anime is commonly referred as an art form.^[16] As a visual medium, it naturally places a large emphasis on visual styles. The styles can vary from artist to artist or by studio to studio. Some titles make extensive use of common stylization: FLCL, for example, is known for its wild, exaggerated stylization. In contrast, titles such as Only Yesterday or Jin-Roh take much more realistic approaches, featuring few stylistic exaggerations.

While different titles and different artists have their own artistic styles, many stylistic elements have become so common such that they are described as being definitive of anime in general. However, this does not mean that all modern anime share one strict, common art style. Many anime have a very different art style from what would commonly be called "anime style", yet fans still use the word "anime" to refer to these titles. Generally, the most common form of anime drawings are "exaggerated physical features such as large eyes, big hair and elongated limbs... and dramatically shaped speech bubbles, speed lines and onomatopoeic, exclamatory typography."^[17]

The influences of Japanese calligraphy and Japanese painting also characterize linear qualities of the anime style. The round Ink brush traditionally used for writing Kanji and for painting produces a stroke of widely varying thickness.

Anime also tends to borrow many elements from manga including text in the background, and borrowing panel layouts from the manga as well. For example, an opening may employ manga panels to tell the story, or to dramatize a point for humorous effect. This is best demonstrated in the anime Kare Kano.

Character design

Body proportions emulated in anime come from proportions of the human body. The height of the head is considered as the base unit of proportion. Head heights can vary as long as the remainder of the body remains proportional. Most anime characters are about seven to eight heads tall, and extreme heights are set around nine heads tall.^[18]

Variations to proportion can be modded. Super deformed characters feature a non-proportionally small body compared to the head. Sometimes specific body parts, like legs, are shortened or elongated for added emphasis. Mostly super deformed characters are two to four heads tall. Some anime works like Crayon Shin-chan completely disregard these proportions. It is enough such that it resembles a Western cartoon. For exaggeration, certain body features are increased in proportion.^[18]

A common approach is the large eyes style drawn on many anime and manga characters. Osamu Tezuka was inspired by the exaggerated features of American cartoon characters such as Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, and Disney's Bambi.^[3][19] Tezuka found that large eyes style allowed his characters to show emotions distinctly. When Tezuka began drawing Ribbon no Kishi, the first manga specifically targeted at young girls, Tezuka further exaggerated the size of the characters' eyes. Indeed, through Ribbon no Kishi, Tezuka set a stylistic template that later shōjo artists tended to follow.

Coloring is added to give eyes, particularly the cornea, and some depth. The depth is accomplished by applying variable color shading. Generally, a mixture of a light shade, the tone color, and a dark shade is used.^[20][21] Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn argues that Japanese animators and audiences do not perceive such stylized eyes as inherently more or less foreign.^[5]

However, not all anime have large eyes. For example Hayao Miyazaki is known for not having large eyes and having realistic hair colors on his characters.^[22] In addition many other productions also have been known to use smaller eyes. This design tends to have more resemblance to traditional Japanese art. Some characters have even smaller eyes, where simple black dots are used.

A wide variety of facial expressions are used by characters to denote moods and thoughts.^[23] Anime uses a different set of facial expressions in comparison to western animation.

Other stylistic elements are common as well; often in comedic anime, characters that are shocked or surprised will perform a "face fault", in which they display an extremely exaggerated expression. Angry characters may exhibit a "vein" or "stressmark" effect, where lines representing bulging veins will appear on their forehead. Angry women will sometimes summon a mallet from nowhere and strike someone with it, leading to the concept of Hammerspace and cartoon physics. Male characters will develop a bloody nose around their female love interests (typically to indicate arousal, based on an old wives' tale).^[24] Embarrassed characters either produce a massive sweat-drop (which has become one of the most widely recognized stereotype motifs of anime) or produce a visibly red blush beneath the eyes, especially as a manifestation of repressed romantic feelings. While common, the use of face faults is optional. Some anime, usually with political plots and other more serious subject matters, have abandoned the use of face faults such as Gundam Wing and Teknoman.

Animation technique

Main article: Animation

Like all animation, the production processes of storyboarding, voice acting, character design, cel production and so on still apply. With improvements in computer technology, computer animation increased the efficiency of the whole production process.

Anime is often considered a form of limited animation. That means that stylistically, even in bigger productions the conventions of limited animation are used to fool the eye into thinking there is more movement than there is.^[3] Many of the techniques used are comprised with cost-cutting measures while working under a set budget.

Anime scenes place emphasis on achieving three-dimensional views. Backgrounds depict the scenes' atmosphere.^[3] For example, anime often puts emphasis on changing seasons, as can be seen in numerous anime, such as Tenchi Muyo. Sometimes actual settings have been duplicated into an anime. The backgrounds for the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya are based on various locations within the suburb of Nishinomiya, Hyogo, Japan.^[25]

Camera angles, camera movement, and lighting play an important role in scenes. Directors often have the discretion of determining viewing angles for scenes, particularly regarding backgrounds. In addition, camera angles show perspective.^[26] Directors can also choose camera effects within cinematography, such as panning, zooming, facial closeup, and panoramic.^[27]

The large majority of anime is traditional animation, which better allows for the division of labour, pose to pose approach and checking of drawings before they are shot favoured by the industry.^[28] Other mediums are mostly limited to independently-made short films,^[29] examples of which are the silhouette and other cutout animation of Noburo Ofuji,^[28][30] the stop motion puppet animation of Tadahito Mochinaga, Kihachirō Kawamoto^[31] and Tomoyasu Murata^[32] and the computer animation of Satoshi Tomioka^[33] (most famously Usavich).^[34]