Why is it okay to be a non-Japanese “fan” of anime, but not a “creator” of it? (Post 3 July 3, 2017)
Anime “purists” can keep living in their bubble, but the future of the Japanese medium is evolving globally. With or without them.
As part of his Kickstarter Campaign that runs from June 26-Aug 9 2017 Nadir Shirazi Creator/Executive Producer of The MultiFacet anime project is writing a series of articles on Medium that document his four years of trial and error to make art. Art that he calls anime: despite the fact that many will never consider it “authentic”. He is challenging new and old anime fans to consider a different movement that is inspired by Japan, but contextual to different audiences beyond it. One he calls L.I.T.E. anime. Less seconds, Inclusive diversities, Transmedia narratives, Economic experimentations .
He is used to being heavily criticized but keeps agitating anyway. He is a lifelong anime nerd and former multi-faith consultant and educator. He also spells colour with a ‘U’ because he is Canadian, but sometimes without for his American friends.
Anime is created “By the Japanese for Japanese audiences” is how I am often lectured to online. By non Japanese people.
It usually happens in the course of sharing the animated clips of the series I am trying to make.
It’s said with such authority: like it’s a decree from Naruto.
Except it’s a completely false notion. Over the last five years Japanese production companies have had to collaborate and distribute their works online globally as their traditional Boxed DVD model has dried up, and piracy has skyrocketed.
Companies like Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, Hulu, Daisuki and Amazon have stepped into a pay or advertising model to combat the fact the millions of people can watch shows for “fake free” as long as they are willing to risk annoying spyware, and pop up adds of stupid games, and Russian women. Initially reluctant, the Japanese studios and big financiers realize that the medium is so expensive to produce, if they don’t evolve the industry will crash.
Many of the production companies from Japan are in fact collaborating with non Japanese creators and production committees, and Japan notorious for its distrust of “outsiders” is even starting to ease restrictions for foreigners to work there themselves in the anime industry.
LeSean Thomas creator of Canon Busters and the Crunchyroll funded Children of Ether is one of the leading lights of the movement. He brings his diversity as an American person of color -who has spent nearly a decade working in anime in Asia- into his art and fusion with the Japanese animators and teams he directs and collaborates with.
Shows like the Legend of Korra (an American-Korean production) and RWBY (American), Wakfu (French) have millions of fans, and were directly inspired by the Japanese anime style. Scores of independent anime inspired projects are popping up in Canada, the US, France, the UK, the Middle East, Korea, China, and Latin America. Never mind that Japanese creators themselves are breaking down definitions within their own country.
Yet despite this progress, there is still this discourse that unless it is hand drawn, subbed, and made exclusively by Japanese creators it can never be called anime.
Caught up in this maelstrom are global millennial creators who have spent two to four decades being inspired by anime shows, and are trying to forge out out on works of their own.
It’s not enough that with no budgets they are trying to create anime inspired multi media works that reflect their diversities - not all of us go to a super powered high school with rolled omelettes- but they have to contend with gatekeepers.
People who love to show up in the comments on social media and their only contribution to creativity it to type the robotic, “but it’s not anime.”
At first some of us polite people went with the “you have your opinion I have mine on anime definitions.” But as wave after wave comes, creators and those that support them begin to harden and realize that unless they push back the fake purists begin to overwhelm the projects with the narrative of the work “not being authentic.” These folks wish we would stop calling it anime.
Well tough. Because we aren’t backing down. It IS anime, and it’s growing.
If you are (or were depending on when you read this) at Anime Expo 2017 in LA you would find exhibit halls packed with indy projects from people of all different nationalities, worldviews, and ethnicities. They sit next to the giant Japanese studio properties you know and love. You would overhear hallway conversations where people are showing each other their “works in development” while standing in a four hour line to see the Japanese creators and studios unveil the next hit show.
You would see hopeful voice actors, illustrators, animators, and writers all trying to connect with Japanese and Western industry players. And yes of course you will find thousands of people cosplaying, serenading, applauding, and celebrating Japanese forms of creativity and culture that inspire our lives.
Opening up the definition doesn’t take away the fact that anime will always be Japanese in origin, just like pizza’s genesis will be always linked to Italy. But pizza is now a global food and it would never have ascended to its massive popularity if we listened to Pizza Purists who still insist today that pizza is only pizza if its a margherita. That it can never be by the slice, be delivered, or have pineapples, or any of the other zillion pizza inspired innovations we debate each other about and see in every corner around the world.
Why can’t it ALL be anime?
Why can creators and consumers not help usher in a new generation of anime stories that connect with people in different ways, with different art styles and voices: from Japan, but also beyond it? We can probably all learn a lesson from Lil Yachty, whose music many of us (me included) don’t like but has every right to call it hip hop in the face of old school rappers who say he is “killing rap”.
Despite the millions of us who live through anime, we still find ourselves often having to justify it to those who have a lot of misconceptions about it. We don’t need others to validate us but we do need to have stories reflecting a multitude of experiences. As diverse as the Japanese creators are they connect with their own narratives. Anime won’t go mainstream in other parts of the world unless its stories are told by people from those places.
Some will say well who cares if anime goes mainstream or not?! Well the more mainstream genres of global anime get the more chances there are that short and long form series will get picked up by streaming players, networks, and publishers both independent and large size in different countries.
This can help create an industry of talented animators, voice actors, illustrators, writers and more who have immense talent and potential but are unable to join the Japanese industry for a variety of reasons.
We could be at the dawn of an entirely new industry of anime, at a time when the traditional anime industry is buckling under a conundrum. The demand for shows has never been hotter, yet the working conditions for animators and costs to produce quality shows is spiraling out of control.
If globally people are experimenting with anime we could create international collaborations where creative genius could flow digitally between borders. Where smart and passionate people can find ways to experiment with storytelling, while still ensuring animators are compensated fairly to produce breathtaking works.
But that won’t happen unless we change our own discourse. If non Japanese creators and fans of alternative works are always forced to spend their time and energy defending themselves from the purists.
No. It’s time we stand up for ourselves and leave the dinosaurs behind. They will clamour, and chirp, but as new projects move forward they will be left with one of two choices.
Either enjoy the evolution of anime, Or go extinct as they clutch to a definition that originators of the medium no longer cling to anymore.
Nadir Shirazi is the Canadian Creator/Executive Producer of MultiFacet a L.I.T.E anime set in world divided between extreme forms of religion and secularism that elevates people of color. His 2nd Kickstarter runs from June 26- Aug 9 2017 and can be found by visiting https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/themultifacetseries/the-multifacet-series-1st-refraction-web-motion-co
To critique, compliment, or conversate connect with him by…
Web: themultifacet.com
Web: themultifacetfaq.com
E-mail: series@themultifacet.com
Facebook: fb.com/themultifacetseries
Twitter: twitter.com/nadirshirazi
Tumblr: icantdrawbutidea.tumblr.com
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/nadir-shirazi-38329591/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/themultifacet/
