Manga and Osamu Tezuka's "Buddha"

Manga and anime are something that most people in my generation are familiar, and even comfortable with. I think it's really interesting how penetrating anime was in such a short period of time in America, all within the span of a decade or less. For me it was kind of a seamless transition in my childhood, since I grew up watching nickelodeon and cartoon network. I distinctly remember my first encounter with Pokemon, both the games and the TV show, and how completely different from anything I had seen before it was. I think almost everyone around me became completely enamored with it at the time, and continued to be until it became another "uncool fad". This wouldn't have been that significant if it hadn't ushered in a flood of newly translated anime shows for new audiences to absorb. Some cartoons like Sailor Moon had floated around before Pokemon exploded, but I would say most of my exposure to japanese animation and manga happened almost immediately after. It was perfect, really, because as I grew older I craved things that were darker, more adult in nature, and shows like Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Ruroni Kenshin and others immediately took up those reigns. What really strikes me now, looking back, is how unusual of a concept it was for american audiences to deal with serious, mature subject matters being dealt with in a serialized cartoon show. Even today, there really isn't a plethora of animated shows that treat it as a medium for serious storytelling. But most people around my age were really the perfect market for bringing these shows over, as we had never experienced the kind of depth some of the shows offered in content and length, and the wide range of subject matters allowed us to continue following shows well into adulthood and still be able to appreciate the things being depicted. There is still a lot of resistance to anime and manga in the country, mostly due to the frightening levels of obsession fans go to at conventions with their own renditions of popular characters. However, certainly for people my age and younger, it is something that has had an undeniable influence on our tastes in life, and I would even argue our worldview. I feel people in my generation are much more open to influences from different cultures than previous generations (though a lot of it is shallow, I will admit). I think it is necessary though in a globalizing world, and presenting different perspectives of the world through various forms of media such as animation and comics represent a big part of that.

On the subject of the reading, I chose to read Osamu Tezuka's Buddha, a few examples of which you had shown in class. It peaked my interest, simply because of the slightly different variation of style from many of the more modern manga character representations. It still had a lot of the typical archetypes of japanese animation, but with a much more fluid, almost disney like gestural quality to the characters. Something that really struck me at first was the seriousness of the subject matter in juxtaposition to the rather whimsical style. Even though there is obviously a lot of artistic interpretation with the stories being told, they do not shy away from the subjects at hand including death, slavery, prostitution, thievery, and nudity. I almost feel like the sentimentalized style makes it almost more effective than a realistic, posed drawing style would, simply because you are forced to relate to the pure emotions of the characters much like what Scott McCloud discusses in Understanding Comics. And the style isn't overly simple, either. Much like in TinTin, the simplified, iconic characters stand in contrast with the incredibly detailed backgrounds to create an eye-feast in every panel. I also feel like the blunt dealing of the subject matters is something that is indicative of Japan's culture as well. It shows that as a culture Japan is much more willing to accept the mediums of comics and cartoons as a method for conveying serious messages, even heavily religious ones. Rather than seeing them as something to sedate kids or lay light morals on top of silly gags, which seems to be the American approach to animation and comics (which is finally beginning to change, thank god) it is really refreshing to see something fully represent the cruelties of life and history in a method that appeals to people of almost any age.