Note: This article was a paper the author/owner of this site submitted in college. This is also published at Geocities under the pen name Mercedez Regidor. For full credits, please visit this.
The villain's grip on the princess was loosened. She runs off in the other direction, trying to get away. The villain, trying to hit the hero, shoots another ball of red light. But it misses its intended target, and hits the princess from behind in full force. She falls to the ground, gasping for air. The hero runs to her side and caresses her limp body. She whispers a few final words of love to him, and her head falls back. Her breathing stops. The hero, in sadness and anger, screams to the sky. (Dubois 1998)
This is not the latest special effects-packed blockbuster film. Surprisingly, it is actually animation, a “cartoon” – but definitely not a Disney cartoon.
A different kind of animation, it can show a world where anything is possible – a football player can save the world from creatures from other dimensions using his will and determination, machines can unite with people, or man can adopt a new breed of creatures. Absolutely nothing is impossible. The unexpected and unaccepted must be expected and accepted in this type of animation. (Dubois 1998)
This is the world of animé.
Animé is the Japanese version of animation. Before it reached the shores of Philippine entertainment and popular culture, animé obviously came from Japan. Although the Americans brought the idea of film animation to the then war-impoverished country after the World War II, Japan has set its own trademark of bringing up a totally different kind of animation. Japanese animé evolved from the picture card shows (street shows of hand-drawn images resembling animé art) and then manga (roughly translated as "comic book") (Tsurumi 1984, 28-45).
Due to animé's immense popularity and success on Japanese TV, cinemas, and home videos, it also conquered other countries' popular entertainment scene, the U.S. being the first one. In 1964, Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom in Japan), the first known animé to hit American TV, owed its success to its “originality and separateness from American cartoons and television programs of the time” (Oppliger 2000).
[T]he series [Astro Boy] popularized theJapanese animation technique of stimulating movement… rather than using in-between ‘smear' animation – Astro Boy moved with swiftness, vigor, intelligent plot development, and… knockabout humor. (Oppliger 2000)
During the 1970's when animé was at the height of its popularity, considered the “golden age” in the world of animé in the U.S., other countries like the Philippines brought Japanese animation on their local TV. In the country, early animé shows on the local TV were Voltes V, Star Blazers (a TV success in the U.S.), Mazinger Z and G-Force. During that time, these “sci-fi space operas” presented unique and strong storytelling and real-like characters that appealed to the young audiences (Tanpoco 1997, 10-11).
However, when media censorship became extensive during the Martial Law years, animé and other TV shows with "compelling political theme[s]" like Voltes V were banned on TV. The Marcos regime replaced the "more war and battle-oriented" animé by the "less political, family-values oriented shows, or some shallow American cartoon" like Looney Toons, The Mickey Mouse Show, Scooby Doo, The Jetsons, and The Flintstones. (Godinez and Rodriguez, 2001) The scarcity of the Japanese animation, which then was only available in very limited quantities through home videos, disappointed the large number of spectators and fanatics.
It was only during the late 80's and early 90's when animé started to resume its post on Philippine television through the local networks such as RPN-9, IBC-13, and ABC-5 that licensed animé for release on TV. Voltes V, Star Blazers and G-Force were back with other new shows that debuted in Japan like Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon S. The Filipino audience slowly recognized the Japanese from the American animation. Mickey Mouse, Popeye, and Superman were distinguished from the gigantic robots, spacecrafts, and galactic monsters of the Japanese animation. Despite the Filipino audiences' view toward Japanese animation during that time, the more remarkable and fascinating types of animé were not yet considered in the Philippine scene. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (shown in a U.S. local network as “Warriors of the Wind”), for example is about the humanity's decline and fall. Film critics considered it a socially redeeming cinematic piece, uncovering how far Japanese animation improved both in quality and in content. (Osmond 1998, 13-15, 28; Tanpoco 1997, 10-11)
Today, with the beginning of a new millenium, animé or Japanese animation has made a grand comeback in the Philippine television. Larger television networks have already replaced the traditional TV sitcoms with animé shows. GMA Network had its Ghost Fighter (Yu Yu Hakusho in Japanese) and Flame of Recca (Recca No Honnou in Japanese), both topping the survey charts as the most watched TV shows in primetime television among local networks. Other local TV networks have also popularized animé shows like Ranma ½, Magic Knight Rayearth, Little Women II, Robotech (a huge success in the U.S.), Zenki, Zorro, Slam Dunk, Yaiba, The Slayers, and The Adventures of Huck Finn. Recently, remarkable TV series such as Samurai X, Pokémon, Lupin III, The Vision of Escaflowne, Digimon, Trigun and Doraemon were released on air. These animé shows comprise not only the traditional concepts about animé (about big robots and grand spaceships) but also about other genres that captured not only the children but also the elder and more mature audiences (Tanpoco 1997, 10-11).
Dragon Ball Z, a top rating show that tells the life story of Son Goku from his childhood until he became a grandfather (Oppliger 2000), can be classified as a mix of action, sci-fi and comedy, and would most likely appeal to children. Another popular animé in Japan shown on Philippine TV is Neon Genesis Evangelion, which deals with a biblical prophecy about the earth battling against a group of aliens called “The Angels”. The ABS-CBN Channel allowed it on TV only after editing the dark, violent and controversial scenes, suggesting ‘it is definitely not for kids'. With the use of modern technology, the quality of animé has produced realistic and more diverse themes for various audiences – romance, fantasy, science fiction, comedy, drama, action, horror, and even adult animé.
Aside from creating a wide-ranged genre, animé's success in the Philippine entertainment scene relies on other specific factors. Animé viewers are shown with characters that are not perfect – heroes with stupid habits or major character flaws, but have hopes and dream that audience can sympathize with. Unlike American cartoon superheroes who do nothing else but defeat evil, animé characters have other goals in life. If protagonists commit mistakes, they mature from their faults after gaining experiences from their adventures. Antagonists are not just Evil. In TV series like the Gundam, enemies are not just plain evil orcrazy; they have reasons for what they do.Even others have their own hopes, dreams and chances to improve their lives and find satisfaction after some time. This type of characterization used in animé is “character-oriented”, meaning characters are not forced into plots. Rather, stories develop out of the personality in the animé. “The heart… of animé is in the hearts of the characters,” said one author of an essay about animé. When animators pattern this unique kind of characterization impressively into good plots and simple themes, “magic is created”, and a whole new generation of animation is built (Izawa 2000).
Delving deeper into the world of animé is the way the animators depict and give “life” to the characters. Artists usually draw animé characters with elfish features and very large eyes, varied and unnatural hairstyle and color. When thesecharacteristics mix (sort of synergy), together with a different scenic background, animé becomes complete in the area of looks (Dubois 1998).
Many viewers are fond of the characters' large eyes (although some characters may also have eyes ranging from uneven and squash shaped to soft-edged), and they know that these are just part of the style and aesthetic presentation of the animé. But according to Antonia Levy author of the book Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Animation, “[e]yes are a way of indicating emotion .…s]ensitive, sympathetic characters usually have larger eyes than other characters [on the same show]…” (Levi 1996, 12). Another author set the animé Tenchi Muyo! (also shown on Philippine TV) as an example. One of the characters, Sasami, who has enormous eyes, isthe youngest and the most caring among the characters (Dubois 1998). In the TV series Weiβ Kreuz (pronounced as vais kroyts), Omi, being the youngest among the group has also the largest eyes, while Aya (Ran), the most cold-blooded and impassive among the group has the smallest and the most elongated eyes. The size of the eye does not only reflect attitude. In most animé, the gender is also associated with the eye size and characteristics. Large, soft and rounded eye features symbolize femininity while masculinity is associated with elongated and sharp eyes.
Hair color and style is also very much apparent in animé. Different hair colors and styles identify characters from one another. Aside from this, the color of the hair tells something about the personality of the character. According to Dubois, “black hair… has a positive connotation… blue hair represent [sic] a calm personality, fire-red hair can represent a hot temperament [and] (b)londes often signal trouble or evil…” (Dubois 1998).
Animé presents its characters as people with aesthetic tastes infashion. Aside from those skin-tight costumes worn by the American superheroes, animé artists present the characters in oddly designed but dashing outfits. Characters are also unlimited to the extreme stereotypes of their gender (Izawa 2000). In Bubblegum Crisis for example, Priss' favorite attire is a pair of worn-out man's pants and red leather jacket; she also rides a motorbike. On the other hand, Fushigi Yuugi's Hotohori has feminine features – lovely face and very long hair, he is also vain with his looks and beauty, though he is male in gender preference. In other words, in animé, it is possible for girls to look like boys and the other way around, without losing their gender identity.
Not only the different genres offered by animé, nor only its peculiar way of characterization, or its trendy characters, but also the similarity between the Japanese and Filipino humor has made animé click with the Filipino audience. In most animé shows, the creators cannot just overlook the funny antics, and expressions of the characters. Just like when Filipinos love to laugh at mishaps, animé portrays these using the characters. Viewers get used to seeing animé characters momentarily appearing in cartoony, caricatured form (“superdeformed” in animé jargon), as part of the animators' story-telling gimmick (Decker 1999, 22). Contrary to the American cartoons that consistently stick to its model form throughout the animation, animé, with its extreme emotion and comical effect has captivated large number of viewers.
Emerging with the expanding popularity of animé in the Philippine entertainment scene are the animé fanatics called otaku's (literally translated as “a dangerously obsessed fan” or “geek”) (Dubois 1998), supporting their favorite animé shows in any way they can. Daisy, a truly certified Pinoy otaku (Filipino otaku) at the age of nine, owns about 50 collections of manga (or “comic books”) and 20 videos of her favorite animé series (Sy 2001). Although the animé merchandise available in the market is very limited (and usually expensive), otaku's tend to keep and maintain their hobbies by sacrificing large portions of their savings or luxuries. Jenny, another casual otaku, for instance, saves her DOST allowance every month to at least purchase her favorite P300-worth Animerica magazine or the Chinese-encoded X manga series (although she doesn't actually read nor understand Chinese!) (Constantino 2001).
Another evidence of animé's prevalence in the Philippine entertainment scene was the first-ever official animé fan convention in the country, the AnimExplosion 2000 held on November 3-5, 2000 at SM Megamall Megatrade Hall. With AnimExplosion 2000, lots of otaku's got the chance to meet and thank the Japanese creators behind their favorite manga's and animé shows and films (GMA Network 2000). AnimExplosion 2000 also gave the otaku's opportunity to dress up like their favorite animé characters, hence showing their love for animé.
With the rise of these fanatics and the factors that meet with approval of the Filipino audience, there's no doubt that animé has really grown large in the Philippines. Animé's increasing popularity in the country could further captivate legions of Filipino viewers that would continue the legacy animé has embarked to the popular scene. Animé is another entertainment and educational source that would indeed shape the Filipino values, and eventually, would add more colors and variety to the Philippine popular culture.
