KToWD: Animation, Anime, Kenshin and Homicidal Sprees

...the talks of traditional animation being dead are very depressing.

It's funny, because I love japanese anime. I absolutely love it. Grant you, like anything in life, there're the good and the bad-- but there's jsut something about it that's awfully refreshing.

So I just about had a fit when my dad said "I don't see why you like it so much. It's not very good."

Okay, I'm all for opinions, but he grouped a whole genre into a single statement and dismissed anime altogether.

And being the nonviolent, benevolent, calm person that I am, I killed him. Kidding. Kidding. Actually, I asked him why he felt that way. He commented on my interest in the storylines--I 've always commented on how _good_ they can be. Like Rurouni Kenshin, IMHO. It's long as all get out-- and there are parts to the tv series that grates me...but for teh love of cheese, the emotion-- the raw _emotion_ and the story and the angst! What drew me into the series was a random happenstance wander into a video room, where the 2nd OAV ( called Samurai X, Betrayal in US) was playing and my jaw unhinged itself and fell off. I didn't even see the whole thing, but I became a fan. There's smething about the determination of the characters that just _touches_ you.

My dad can't get past Saito stabbing the bejeezus outta Kenshin.

Which is something I didn't understand, either. We were watching GunSmith Cats when he made that comment and it's relatively clean in comparison to say, Hellsing ( Which I have and refuse to show him). Gunsmith Cats is a rompin' good time-- shootemup, cops, bombs, comedy, car chases! All fun! But he's like "it's so violent" and I'm like "and the replacement killers wasn't?"-- He really enjoys that movie. I do too. Also, "The Long Kiss Goodnight". He likes that movie a lot. Both of them are _very violent_. So why in the world did he have a problem with Gunsmith Cats?

And it all comes down to the curse of the cartoon bug.

See, there’s this little bug that runs around in the US, that screamed ‘cartoons are for children!’ Sooner, rather than later, that statement morphs into "cartoons=childish!"

Ahem. A little dictionary action is needed here.

v. car·tooned, car·toon·ing, car·toons

v. tr.

To draw a humorous or satirical representation of; caricature.

v. intr.

To make humorous or satirical drawings.

an·i·ma·tion

n.

1. The act, process, or result of imparting life, interest, spirit, motion, or activity.

2. The quality or condition of being alive, active, spirited, or vigorous.

3.

1. The art or process of preparing animated cartoons.

2. An animated cartoon.

Where is there the word, "children" "only for" "directed at" "only to be watched by children" "appreciated only by children" in the definition of cartoon OR animation? Cartoons are supposed to be humorous. Doesn’t mean that they are automatically kid fodder. Animation is simply the act of imparting "life" to consecutive series of drawings. Where is the "must be nice and wholesome and friendly" clause there?

I told my dad he was prejudiced, because he was holding a stereotype up to describe an entire genre of film. He couldn’t get past the fact that what he traditionally thought of as a cartoon, which equalled childish, was violent and expressed adult themes seen in live action shoot em up films. With Kenshin, he couldn’t get past the amount of blood, which I admit, is a lot at times–and look at the actual story. There are times in Kenshin, during the Kyoto fiasco, where I cried ( Kenshin leaving Kaoru that night–the music! Good lord, so beautiful!–Yumi dying because she loved Shishio too much–Soujiro’s past...I mean, angst! Pain, and then, release!) — when I felt my blood boil and the anticipation of victory when there seemed like there could be none at the end of the Shishio battle ( which was incredible) --- all that awesome storytelling that touches_ you and it was hindered by the fact that it was animated. Same with Read or Die–my dad’s best friend loved it! My dad scoffed at it and said "it’s too weird."

And that’s another thing. Language prejudice. Dubs are not done well. They sound stupid, a lot of the time. ( Except for Shinesman, Yuyu Hakusho. Inuyasha, and Cowboy Bebop — all done well, IMHO). Things are lost in the translation and if it’s cultural, of course it’s not going to make sense in anything other than the original language. If I have dubs, I make sure to turn them on when my dad watches–sometimes I don’t have dubs. Like Read or Die or I! Me! My! Strawberry Eggs!…how does this make them unworthy? You can’t read subtitles? Took me forever to get my dad to watch Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon because he didn’t want to hear it in Chinese! ( when he finally watched it, he liked it, though. Every time it was on, it was the subtitled version, not a dub).

So. The problem stems from stereotypes and comfort zones. Stereotyping, expecting all animation to be cartoons…comfort zone–unwillingness to look past what isn’t the norm for you and see the awesomeness of what it is…until people on a large scale manage to get away from these two things and be more receptive to new ideas and change…then yes, traditional animation in the US may die.

I really hope that doesn’t happen. To me, japanese animation is a type of looking glass–it shows the potential of the 2D medium. I’m not knocking 3D, but whenever I look at it…I’m like…"why?". Final Fantasy: Spirits Within was very lovely…and a bit freaky at times, because it looked real. I don’t see why we need to hype 3D as the next Jesus. It’s beautiful and I’m looking forward to Finding Nemo and I loved Toy Story 1 and 2. But how is it more special than 2D? I don’t think it is. I see both as separate mediums that can come together and mesh, but at the same time, are different art forms. One doesn’t need to oust the other. I don’t think converting things over to the 3D platform will suddenly change the state of animation in the US.

I think maybe, what needs to change, is the heart of the stories. Humor has its place, as does serious moments. I think, we need to get back to finding out, what touches the hearts of the people. That would make a great film, if we could just do that.

I’m no expert in any of this. I’m just a lowly animation lover, artist and chemist.

But I think, that if we could just, as people, learn to see great stuff where there is great stuff, without our rose colored glasses on–we would find a whole new world of animation out there — not just in japanese animation, but all over the world.

Ha ha. I rambled.