Kill Bill Vol. 1
In Kill Bill Vol. 1 the story of Japanese assassin and yakuza boss O-Ren Ishii is told in a stylish, blood-splattered animated flashback. More than a further instance of a pop-culture obsessed director checking off another of his influences, the sequence also serves as a reminder of the all-consuming presence of Japanese animation in Western entertainment. In the same year Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away picked up the Best Animated Feature Oscar highlighting the lighter, more traditional aspects of the medium. Finally, after over two decades of cult obscurity and a reputation forever fluctuating between innovative beauty and controversial obscenity, it seems that anime is here to stay. However, it still remains to be seen whether the medium will break out of its cult status to attain popular recognition.
Often mistakenly referred to as ‘manga’ (a collective term for the printed comics in Japan in which many anime features had their origin), the word ‘anime’ covers all animated productions of Japanese origin. The reason that both mediums have specific names outside Japan is that their output, reception and methods of production are very different to Western animation or comics. In this country both tend to be directed at a younger audience through a very limited number of genres. In Japan comics and animation cover every possible genre from science-fiction to straight drama and as a result are consumed by people of all ages.
Although that is not the case here, anime is everywhere, from the consumer-driven advertising epic that was Pokemon and its current spawn, to the gravity-defying kung-fu and nonsensical philosophy combo that remains The Matrix and its imitators. In a culture so saturated with anime images and influences it is hard to pinpoint exactly when this obscure cult phenomenon became a mass-culture enterprise. In its country of origin the story is a much larger one spanning centuries of Japanese artwork, which later developed into manga and Disney-inspired animation before evolving into a mass-produced entertainment industry. But on our half of the world the craze only began in the late eighties and suffered a few false starts before successfully attaining worldwide recognition.
The End of the World Makes an Entrance
Akira
In 1988 a once human lifeform that had skipped a few centuries in the evolutionary process brought the future world of Neo Tokyo to the brink of extinction. For Western audiences brought up on Disney musicals and Warner Brothers slapstick, Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s Akira was itself a giant leap in the evolution of animation and the effect upon that world was much the same. There are few light moments in Akira , no throwaway morals and youth-orientated ethics, and most of all these cartoon characters bled when they got hit. The film almost seems to deliberately destroy our preconceptions as one particularly disturbing sequence has cute teddy bears and bunny rabbits mutating into clawed, slobbering monsters. But for all its high-speed bike chases, ultra-violent massacres and complex sci-fi plot devices the story at the heart of Akira is a simple and universal one.
Akira’ s protagonists are Tetsuo and Kaneda – childhood friends who become mortal enemies when Tetsuo becomes a test subject for the government and develops god-like powers. Although there is a much larger story being told around this one, it is the coming-of-age drama that grounds Akira and adds a human element to an otherwise cold apocalyptic epic. It also allowed the film to be appreciated by an adult audience and overall it is the depth of the characters more than the quality of the animation that makes it easy to forget that you are not watching a live action feature.
Unfortunately these qualities were largely ignored in the scavenger hunt for new anime that followed its release. Akira ‘s reputation was built on its violence and it was this that distributors sought out in an effort to please a newly formed audience.
Blood, Rape and Tentacles
Fist of the North Star
The post- Akira anime boom was characterised by the blood-thirsty anti-heroes of titles such as Golgo 13 and Fist of the North Star – both of which followed the adventures of human heroes fighting hordes of evil forces in stories that were all too familiar to a Western audience. What separated these heroes from their peers is the sensational and inhuman way in which they defeated their foes, with each new victory finished with a death more spectacularly violent than the last. The half-man/half-monster adventures of Devilman and Vampire Hunter D pushed the excess of violence even further. But of all the violent and controversial anime features and serials released in the wake of Akira few came closer to shutting the medium out of this country completely than 1989′s Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend. The film itself was originally a serial, which, like much of the anime distributed outside Japan , was edited into one two-hour feature. As if this wasn’t enough to throw the already confusing plot into further disarray the BBFC went on to cut an unprecedented six minutes of footage from the UK release. It is unclear whether a more coherent uncut version would add anything of value to a film infamous for its harrowing scenes of phallic tentacles raping young schoolgirls. This is about as far away from Disney as The Wild Bunch is from The Sound of Music.
Despite its almost unapproachable subject matter Urotsukidoji is important to consider for three reasons. Firstly, the aforementioned controversy surrounding its release probably added to the popularity and cult status of anime as much as it threatened to destroy it. Secondly, it is a good example of how small a picture we have of anime in this country. In Japan erotic anime (or hentai) is a huge industry in itself of which we only have a few examples. Most importantly, the story of Urotsukidoji bears some interesting similarities to Akira .
The story follows the conflict between two worlds – those of the demons and the half-demons – with the human world caught in between. The conflict is enflamed by the imminent birth of the Chojin – a creature with the power to unite all three worlds. Where the story mirrors that of Akira is in the character of Nagumo – a young student who discovers that the Chojin is living inside him. As a result we have themes of evolution, identity and ultimately apocalypse. Similarly, the hybrid heroes of Devilman and Vampire Hunter D also struggled as much with their own identities as with their enemies and were forever teetering on the brink of an evolution into their darker sides. While these may not be the most popular examples it is clear that a narrative pattern emerges from these films.
From Cyborgs to Pop-stars
Cyber City OEDO 808
In the early nineties several anime releases attempted to recapture the former success of Akira by combining the ultra-violent action-adventure with the science-fiction epic. Cyber City OEDO 808 was a three part series following the exploits of three criminals hired by the government to work off their sentences by fighting crime. Although each episode had a high-concept sci-fi plot at its core all three end in a blood-splattered battle between man and machine (and in one instance a vampire). The conflict is reversed in Hiroshi Fukutomi’s 1993 feature Battle Angel Alita which tells the story of a robot girl who falls in love with a human boy intent on reaching the aerial city that belongs to upper-classes. Despite the social dilemma at its heart it is the violent battles that occur along the way that characterise the film and it was not until Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell (1995) that the balance set by Akira was fully re-established. Here again was a self-contained science-fiction feature with more brains than bullets and an interesting story beneath the splattered blood. Again the focus was on evolution – this time of an artificial intelligence into a sentient lifeform planting it firmly in the cyberpunk sub-genre of science-fiction. In pursuing a rogue AI barely-human cyborg Kusanagi begins to question her own humanity and that of society as a whole. Although there are some stunning action sequences in which futuristic weaponry obliterates the backdrop of a decaying city Ghost in the Shell is a more thoughtful, slower-paced film than Akira or Urotsukidoji . In one scene Kusanagi wanders the streets in search of her identity leading to a lengthy montage of city scenes contrasting images of uniqueness and individuality with those of uniformity and blandness.
The futuristic cities of Akira and Ghost in the Shell have much in common. Both display a severe contrast between the new, clean and technologically superior areas of the city and the older, abandoned ones. Both worlds are ruled by corrupt governments and interestingly it is the military they control who provide a counterpoint to this in both films. At the end of the films both Kusanagi and Tetsuo have to choose whether to evolve with the new species or return to the old. Ghost in the Shell was clearly highly influenced by Akira but, as the story of Urotsukidoji indicates, these are not the only two films to share these characteristics.
1997 saw the release of Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue, which tells the story of Mima – a pop-star who makes an uneasy transition from singer to actress and as a result begins to question her identity. More Hitchcock than cyberpunk, Perfect Blue is an often confusing but ultimately rewarding study of celebrity and the star image. While it is set in a very recognisable real world peppered with pop-culture references the story has a now familiar narrative pattern.
Again, Mima’s story is one of evolution – from music to acting – and features another struggle with personal identity. The scenes in which Mima wanders the streets chasing or trying to escape the hallucinatory form of her former image echo Kusanagi’s dilemma in Ghost in the Shell. Although we have no government presence, Mima does become a pawn for the agents and producers who rule the entertainment industry. Like Akira and Urotsukidoji, it is also a coming-of-age story with the young Mima forced to grow up much faster than she is prepared to handle. Although she does not walk the same futuristic streets, Mima follows the same path as Kusanagi and Tetsuo with similar results.
Hollywood Take-over
The Animatrix
Despite the strong presence of Hong Kong style fight sequences and a healthy does of Hollywood set pieces anime is perhaps the most obvious influence on the Wachowski brothers’ Matrix trilogy. There are clear references in the visual style of the action sequences, particularly in the moments of slow-motion calm pre-empting each explosion of violence. However, when compared to the other films mentioned here it is the story of The Matrix that bears the most similarities to the feature film anime we are familiar with. Again we have a divided world, this time split between that of humans and machines. We also have a malevolent controlling authority, which our heroes are manipulated by as often as they fight against it. But the primary similarity can be seen in the character of Neo and his search for identity. The journey is also one of evolution into a higher form of existence, as Neo becomes a bridge between the two worlds and inherits immense power in the process. As result the worldwide influence of anime has spread through the influence of The Matrix.
Matrix imitators such as The One and Equilibrium borrowed much of the anime/Hong Kong hybrid action style, but also contained the story elements of a divided world and heroes in search of identity. The spin-off anime project, The Animatrix, was both an acknowledgement of the trilogy’s influences and an extension of its themes presented by a number of renowned anime directors. While the Wachowski brothers had a hand in all nine of the episodes that make up the anthology they only wrote four of them, and the remaining five benefit from their independence. One episode in particular, Beyond , shows how a group of kids discover the Matrix with a complete absence of violence and action, finally bringing a story of epic battles and existential struggles down to a human level. Through episodes like this the end product serves as more of a reminder of the differences between traditional anime and The Matrix than an example of their similarities.
Visions of an Anime Future
Spirited Away
While anime has clearly benefited from the success of The Matrix there has also been a renewed interest in animation itself. Much of this has originated from the rapidly expanding popularity of CGI films such as Finding Nemo and Shrek . As a result more recent anime features have found a mainstream audience such as Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away . It is ironic that the most popular anime of recent years is devoid of the action and violence that made the medium a success in this country, but that does not mean that Spirited Away lacks any of the characteristics noted so far.
The film tells the story of Chihiro – a ten-year-old girl who finds herself trapped in a world of gods and demons ruled by an evil witch, Yubaba. Chihiro is forced to work for Yubaba, given a new name, Sen, and urged to forget her former life. Again we have a divided world, a corrupt authority and a search for identity. We also have a coming-of-age story as Chihiro enters the film complaining about the fact that her parents are moving home and forcing her to leave her friends behind. By the end of the film she has gained the ability to adapt to new surroundings and is ready to accept her new life.
Fortunately, the gradual global domination of anime is showing no signs of slowing down with this year’s releases including Hiroyuki Morita’s The Cat Returns, Katsuhiro Ôtomo’s Steamboy and Hayao Miyazaki’s Howl’s Moving Castle. Although the international success of the medium has always fluctuated it is worth remembering that in its country of origin this is a huge industry producing masses of material every year, of which we will only ever see a few choice picks. A good example is the aforementioned anime series Fist of the North Star that ran for a total of 152 episodes in Japan with a mere 21 being released in the UK . Bearing this in mind along with the narrative similarities in the output that is available to us, it is perhaps more appropriate to look at anime not as a separate medium, but as a visual and narrative genre. This way anime may finally escape its cult, fanboy bonds and truly be seen as part of mainstream cinematic history.
With thanks to Geraint D’Arcy for background contribution
Chris Regan
