Fan Fiction ❯ Anime History 101 ❯ Anime History 101 ( Chapter 1 )

Hi, iIam Professor AnimeGamer, though you may just call me AnimeGamer. Of course, that isnt my real name, but then im not supposed to release my real name....well, not here anyway.

This topic is here for the enjoyment of all Otakus to ponder, read, learn, and argue over. All things I have said here are not set in stone, and we all learn more as we discuss this topic, ne? Anyway, I suggest that if you dont want to spend about ten minutes of your time reading this topic, to just skim read or three paragraphs down where I just summerize this topic, and join in the discussion.

Anyway, any questions, comments, etc. just please post it below, and if you just want to have idle chat, I have Yahoo and AIM with this same name. I have to establish my "credibility" so how about this...I have watched anime for about half my life now, which is nine years, and I have written about it countless times. I have also researched into anime and it's roots. So how about that for credability, eh?

Anyway, on to what the topic says, Anime History 101. Im pretty sure you guys and gals have all watched anime, most times in a english dubbed format. I have watched many animes like that, as japanese subtitled animes are hard for me to get my hands on, even though I live at a city that imports animes into the U.S.

When you think of anime currently, as of 2002, it is in five waves, with an extra wave that is not listed that I will get to later in this topic. In terms of the music, Anime Music is top-notch, and is a VERY KEY INDICATOR of how good an anime really is. Im serious about that, and just the music alone has now has it's own waves. It is also key to note the arrival of more "anime-like" games, preticularly in the RPG genre. Finally, there is the bigger market of the United States, and that's a whole 'nother monster right there.

The first wave of anime is basically the first animes from Japan. The forerunner of this wave, is basically the anime called Astro Boy, which uses the eyes as a spoof of the popular Betty Boop of that time. Who would've known that Betty Boop's eyes would start of a whole new cartoon genre, that many consider to be better than the U.S. Cartoon Animation of today. Unfortunately, I dont know much about the animes of the first wave as they are very hard to come-by now in days, so i cant be really descriptive about them except they were also the first animes to hit the U.S. market with a impact.

The second wave of anime includes the very famous Speed Racer which capivated not only Japanese audiences, but American audiences also. Also under this wave is Gatchaman and Voltron, the leaders of the whole "team-in-a-mecha" idea popular in later shows such as Power Rangers, Ultraman, V.R. Troopers, and such. They also started the whole "mecha" genre that would drive the third wave of anime. The anime of this time, which would be the 70's, was pretty good but by this time in American history, the U.S. was caught up in it's own cartoon heroes such as Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and such. Animes of this time would later make an appearence in the early 90's as morning cartoons in time slots where kids would already be in school.

The third wave of anime is basically what I call, "the mecha wave." Mainly because the first anime to make a large impact, and looked visually so different from any previous animes before is Robotech. Robotech introduced a radical new form of Mecha anime that didnt revolve around having a team, and instead focused on single pilots based on carriers, fighting space invaders. It also introduced something not found in other animes as well. That would be a pop-singer, right smack in the middle of the anime singing songs. This would stablize the then very unstable anime music genre in terms of what genre all anime songs would fall under. Immediately after Robotech is the also very popular Mobile Suit Gundam. The start of Gundam over twenty years ago (yes, we are that old you 4th wavers =P) is still going strong with it's many alternate worlds that would dot all over the fourth wave. There is also an anime that basically slips under the radar of this wave, but starts up the whole anime movie genre. That movie, would be Fist of the North Star. Fist of the North Star is radically different from every anime before it, and also had an influence in later and more prominent animes, preticularly Akira. This movie showed blood. What do I mean by that, you ask? It showed gore, and not just your typical gore...it showed guy's limbs flying across the screen, monsters that would be common in fantasy animes now in days, and a lead mysterious character that would just be unstoppable.

Now, on to the fourth wave that at some point ended not too long ago. It is important to say that after the releases of the third wave, there was a period of where animes werent selling, and anime would go kaput, and be gone forever. What prevented this from happening is a little anime called Nadia. It would be Nadia that would set the guidelines of the fourth wave, and basically showed the path to the big doors of the U.S. market. I havent been able to see the anime, but it would be the formula from that anime, as well as better drawing techniques so evident in fourth wave animes that would make the difference, and revive the dying anime genre. What kicked the doors down is animes such as Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. I didnt say Dragon Ball mainly because Dragon Ball is a third wave anime, but it would the splitting of anime of Shojo and Shinjo anime that would ignite the anime genre, but also opened the doors of the U.S. market yet again to anime. In about 1995, Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon began seeing play in America, the first new animes to be shown on TV after the closing of the doors after the second generation. Soon to follow were Ronin Warriors, a semi-third/fourth anime, Samurai Pizza Cats, among others early on. Eventually, all of these ended up getting cut from American television, some have made it back (namely DBZ) and some will just stay on poorly dubbed tapes. Then there is the underground popularity of Ranma, Tenchi Muyo, every CLAMP work, Neon Genesis Evangelion, among others. Also getting popular is the Anime Movie with it's spearhead, the insane and hard to decipher Akira, with Ghost in the Shell right behind it. A short mention is the showing of drama animes, such as Marmalade Boy.

There is so much on the fourth wave (yes, im a fourth waver, that's why I tend to know alot about this wave.) that I have to spend another paragraph on it. Basically, the second half of this wave would come not from the anime genre itself, but from the game genre. Yes, im talking about Pokemon, called Pocket Monsters in Japan. This simple game ignited a craze in Japan, which took the idea of virtual carry-around pets to a new level, and pitted them against each other. It would be this that jumped the Pacific Ocean and lit Christmas sales over Furby. Pikachus flew off the shelfs as the Anime began it's run alongside the Gameboy release of the games. Not too long after to join them is Digimon, Cardcaptors(sadly...I'll get to this later.), and the newly popular Yu-Gi-Oh. All of these ended up being Trading Card Games in competition of the oldest TCG around (Magic:The Gathering, if you want to annoy a Magic player, just say "use the heart of the cards." =P) of which they are played in game shops all around Japan, Europe, and the United States. Not too long after this, where we have come to even current day, we have animes shown every saturday morning on fox that I dare not say, mainly because I cant name them on top of my head but also because their crazy, funny to watch but very slapstick animes.

Finally, there is the last wave, the fifth wave that began very recently. The main leader so far I have seen of this new wave is an anime called GTO. GTO is about a teacher named Onizuka and his troubles of his classroom along with his past. Joining it is Samurai Girl: Real Bout High School, Steel Angel Kurumi, Ex-Driver, Inital D, among others. These animes are interesting in the fact they are drawn quite differently then animes of the past in using three-dimensional cels in different ways. Their vibe when you watch them is also alot different then animes of the past, as they are not just solely "shojo" or "shinjo" animes, but now mix-and-matches of both types of animes. These new animes will continue to evolve, as I look forward to more from these type of animes as I see them whenever I can.

Now, on to Anime Music, which by itself is now expericing a split currently of the usual "J-Pop" and the rise of the new genre of music the Japanese enjoy now, "J-Rock." We all know J-Pop, all you have to do is find basically any third wave anime and point to it's opener as a J-Pop song. What is new is the openers of the new fifth wave anime leaning toward shinjo, in that they use J-Rock instead of J-Pop. Easily J-Pop could be in Ex-Drivers, but they used Rock. Of course, J-Rock before the fifth wave isnt new (just look to DBZ, even Cowboy Bebop) but never before has J-Rock stepped out into the spotlight as it has now. It's too early to tell however if im correct, but as more animes come out and come across, it's just a wait and see about this topic.

Before I move on, I must speak of the wave that I dont really consider in the other five waves. Namely, Hentai Animes. "NANI?!?" you may say, but it is true. About every otaku who has seen or heard about an Hentai Anime knows of the main Hentai series. That series is called La Blue Girl. It came out about the time between Ranma and the beginning of DBZ. However, it would be that Hentai anime that would begin the drawing boards in the Red Light District of Tokyo, Japan. That's basically all I can say about it, as I just turned eighteen recently, though I did have a bad experience with a hentai anime, and I dare not watch any more Hentai Animes...as least for awhile anyway.

Now, we have arrived to the sub-genre of games of the "Anime-game". The most popular of this genre is the Final Fantasy line, which is known all around the world to be the best the Anime-game genre has to offer. It would be the Final Fantasy line that would begin the incorperation of anime, but it wouldnt be until Chrono Trigger, a legendary RPG game of the Super Nintendo, that anime games would be extremely popular. It took the hand of Akira Toruyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, to begin the popularity of Anime Games that would now be seen in Star Ocean, Tactics Ogre, among others. Anime Games took it a step toward their own direction as well, in terms of the fighting games. Street Fighter, already famous in the U.S. began incorperating anime into it's games, which is really noticble now in Capcom vs. SNK. Virtura Fighter, the first 3d fighting game is also an anime-like game which began this movement of moving anime games toward it's own path. Games now such as Tekken, Dead or Alive, and Soul Calibur, Bloody Roar, and the like are great examples of this movement, as it evolves and becomes more refined, as well as RPG games that use anime that are also becoming more refined and following in the Fighting game footsteps. Just take a look at Legend of Legaia 2 and Wild Arms 3 as examples.

Lastly, we arrive to our favorite punching bag called U.S. dubbing. The anime I have seen that experienced the worst of the U.S. dubbing is Cardcaptor Sakura, which was just terrible from the get-go. I can easily pick out every bad thing all the evil Nelvana people did to this poor CLAMP anime, but every anime that has seen air-play in America, excluding animes that were shown on Saturday Anime on Sci-fi before they pulled the plug, has been subjected and tortured by U.S. Dubbers that threw out scenes that were not in "regulation" of american television guidelines. Bah, we have Eminem showing his ass, and we cant get even a single hint of love from CCS? That's what i find horrible in that dubbing companies hide behind the FCC when they should follow suit of what TokyoPop and AnimeWorks have done, in just translating the anime to the best of their ability and editing the lines to keep much of the original meaning as possible, and not killing any scenes because there was two girls kissing each other. Of course, there are many opinions, and that is why this topic is here...to discuss those.

Anime has had a big influence in the world, whether it would be back then of the nuclear boy wonder called Astro Boy, or in Steel Angel Kurumi where a boy is in the middle of a four person love-triangle. Anime keeps pushing the boundries of imagination, bringing up two unlikely pairs of lovers, to the mysterious man who never turns around to listen to the thank you he receives from others. Always watch anime, fellow Otakus, for every anime has a surprise in store for you.