Manga / Anime - a specially Japanese interest?

[Globalti]

Since living in France where bandes dessineés or cartoons are very popular I've developed a mild interest in this art form over the years but I'm aware that along the fringes of the genre there's some deeply wierd stuff. This fits with my very limted knowledge of the Japanese; any country where you can buy used underwear from vending machines has got to be either incredibly libertarian or sadly onanistic.

I reckon the Japanese culture is probably the most completely different from our own that we could ever experience - anybody been there? What were your impressions?

BTW anybody interested in buying an anime DVD of a bike race in Andalucia? Here: http://www.anime-source.com/banzai/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=960

 

[Fnaar]

I like the 'toon format, and you're right, there is some rather explicit sexual stuff out there (apparently ) and I ain't no prude
FM's married to a Japanese woman, n'est-ce pas? My brother was, too, but it didn't work out and they got divorced

 

[Aperitif]

I like the 'toon format, and you're right, there is some rather explicit sexual stuff out there (apparently ) and I ain't no prude
FM's married to a Japanese woman, n'est-ce pas? My brother was, too, but it didn't work out and they got divorced

...she gave him the chop,chop,chopchop..? (sorry)

 

[cheadle hulme]

The Onion sums it up pretty well.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/japan_pledges_to_halt_production

 

[Chris James]

Fnaar's comments reminds me of my University interview twenty years ago, for mechanical engineering. I went on about Japanese stuff being cheap and nasty and the interviewer paused for a moment and said that he had a Japanese wife, and she was cheap and nasty too!

Embarassing but funny at the same time. I must have done something right though as the Dr went out of the way to tell me that he thought it had gone well.

 

[Fnaar]

...she gave him the chop,chop,chopchop..? (sorry)

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I am indeed married to a Japanese woman and lived in Tokyo off and on for about 5 years. And yes, on the fringes of Japanese manga/anime culture there is some very weird speciality stuff - everything from boy-on-boy action (which largely plays to a female audience) to the comics that feature schoolgirls being raped. The Japanese have a rather more honest attitude to sexuality than we have and don't see that it has anything to do with things like marriage and official taste. However there is still a very nasty undertow of misogyny and violence against women which is still not acknowledged enough.

However a lot of manga / anime is either connected to either school or 'otaku' (roughly translates as 'geek') culture - the latter is huge in Japan, and generally pretty harmless. Manga is a kind of escape and a lot of it is very, very boring - endless sports stories for example. The conventions of both are complex and very self-referential which is why it is difficult to get a lot of manga and anime immediately.

Having said that there are some amazing artists, writers and filmmakers who make rather more 'universal' comics and films but based in a Japanese sensibility, of whom Studio Ghibli is probably the best known (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke etc.)