Anime more than kids’ stuff

Posted by admin on Feb 1, 2010 in Arts & Culture | 0 comments

Dr. Isao Ebihara teaches Japanese at TWU and is the author of the recently published All the World is Anime: Religions, Myths and Spiritual Metaphors in the World of Japanimation and Manga. In it he draws comparisons between the well-known authors of the genre and explores the medium’s philosophical and religious
underpinnings.

Mars’ Hill: Why are you so interested in anime?
Isao Ebihara: Anime is probably the trendiest and most fashionable media among the youth and young adults worldwide. By observing anime, we can acquire the latest knowledge about youth culture and study the way that younger people think about the world.

MH: Why is “all the world anime”?
IE: The world of anime is a concentration of the worldview and the paradigm that the younger generation have in their mind. In other words, it is the sea of the collective unconscious among youth and young adults all over the world.

MH: What is the difference between anime and western cartoons?
IE: Western cartoons are mostly for children or concrete operational thinkers and do not have as much philosophical depth as anime. Anime had a humble beginning as a mere copy of the western cartoon in the 1960s; [back then] it was simply kids’ stuff. However, from the end of 1970s, anime had a dramatic evolution into youth and young adult orientation with more complex themes and motifs. Many of today’s anime stories require adult thinking or formal operational cognitions to comprehend them.

MH: Do you think that there can be spiritual anime in a secular world?
IE: Many anime stories have some kind of spirituality. For instance, Hayao Miyazaki’s work is based on a Shinto worldview and Osamu Tezuka was a devout Buddhist. Likewise, if an anime artist happens to be a Christian, he or she can demonstrate Christian faith and spirituality in his or her work.

MH: What do you hope that this book will do for the world of anime?
IE: I want to introduce some leading anime authors and their philosophies to the North American general population and give them an opportunity to start thinking about the new media, trends and culture impacting the younger people all over the globe. At the same time, I also want to challenge the older generation who do not want to open their eyes to the transient and constantly changing world and fail to see the impact of anime and manga on the global community. I want to convince them that anime is a global phenomenon impacting humanity worldwide instead of simply being kids’ stuff or mere Japanese or Asian sub-culture.

All the World is Anime: Religions, Myths and Spiritual Metaphors in the World of Japanimation and Manga was published in January 2010 and can be purchased online or directly through Dr. Ebihara.