Anime Influence On Japanese Culture

This paper is going to discuss how the evolution of anime influenced generational cultural shifts. This means that it is going to go into the evolution of anime in depth, and how this evolution not only influenced the culture in Japan, but also the culture of people around the world. This paper is arguing that Japanese culture; in terms of the arts and the manifestations of human intellect as well as the ideas, customs and social behaviors of a particular people or group; was influenced and changed by anime and it evolution. Anime did this by creating the sub-culture called the ‘otaku’ culture, a culture which obsesses over anime and its merchandise to a more extent than other anime fans. Collectively, these otaku fans spend billions of yen

One might say that it has affected its culture greatly. However, to assume this, it is important to know what exactly culture is. Again, the oxford dictionary states culture as two things: one, as “The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively” and two, as “The ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society” (Oxford Dictionaries (US)). Therefore, in terms of art and manifestations, yes, anime has influenced their culture in that regards. For example, in Japan, anime and manga is their pop culture. One can see the effects that it has on big consumer cities like Tokyo by the sheer number of advertisements that use anime as a medium. In terms of the ideas, customs and social behaviors, this is a more complex answer that requires an in depth answer. This essay is going to delve into these two assumptions and explain exactly how the evolution of the Japanese animation, called anime, has influenced the shifting of culture throughout the generations in Japan, and even elsewhere in the

Manga is an art form that has developed in Japan just after the pacific war; however its origins go far deeper. It goes back all the way to Edo period Japan where a Buddhist monk, Toba Sojo drew comical cartoon animals called the Choju Giga Scrolls (Scrolls of Frolciking Animals). These scrolls show five scenes, it starts with some monkeys and rabbits playing in a river, then it goes to rabbits and frogs practicing archery, next is festival, and then some rabbits and frogs wrestling, finally, the last scene shows a Buddhist priest in the form of a monkey, giving an offering to a frog seated on a lotus leaf throne (Imaging Japanese History). It was in these scrolls that are accredited to the right-to-left style that manga is read in, as well as the speed lines the modern anime has used for so long (Aoki, Deb). These speed lines vary in with, creating the sense of movement. These scroll also the origin for the bold lines that manga, (then later anime) uses. Although there was no text in these scrolls, later on, some of these scrolls incorporated text to explain what was going on. These were almost always high prestige art. These scrolls influenced modern manga with its comicalness, its bold lines and story (Imaging Japanese