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Forum - View topicExcessively foreign?
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the 1960s British spy series The Avengers, but I've been a long time fan and recently I was told that the later episodes were made in a fashion to be more 'British' in order to look cooler to American audiences. They figured that American audiences were watching the series because they found the idea of a British spy series to be cool more than the fact that it was a spy series alone. Having taken a look, I ended up realizing that this was true to an extent, and the pronunciation of words as well as scenery and props were made to look considerably more foreign to US viewers than necessary.
I was wondering if this phenomenon occurred at all in anime; to wit, are there Japanese producers who, realizing that western anime fans may like the 'foreign' aspect of it, try to emphasize that it is from a different country? |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3825 |
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I don't think Japan has a problem with their work being "not Japanese enough" for western audiences. To the extent that they care, (which is not that great of an extent, considering the relative sizes of the Japanese and western consumer markets for anime) Japanese creators aiming for western audiences seem to make their work less uniquely Japanese and more universally accessible.
British and American cultures are similar enough that there may be value in emphasizing differences, but I don't think I've ever watched something from Japan and thought "man, this isn't Japanese enough." |
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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If your question about was a certain anime series like it was with a single example of British spy series then maybe the claim could be made on a case by case instance, but the entire the entire medium.
Or are we supposed to be the ones to supply you with actual examples? |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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I feel that way when they start explaining the Japanese culture instead of just letting the bloody thing roll.
Detective Conan does it quite well but some anime make it intolerable. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I feel like it's more common for the opposite to be done: make an anime appeal to the West by using Western elements rather than Japanese ones. Certainly you can see this at work in recent series, the best example being Tiger & Bunny which feels very much like the superhero cartoons made by American companies.
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Kruszer
 Posts: 8016 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Japanese anime is usually pretty Japan-centric as far as location and culture, I can't see them having a real need to make things "more Japanese" than they already are.
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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In general, no. I'm sure there's some examples where they acknowledge foreign markets, but most anime are made first and foremost for Japanese audiences with zero concern for what a foreign market thinks. I also think it's a bit conceited just to assume a show like Full Metal Alchemist was doing that just because it didn't feature Japanese characters.
If anything, it'd be the opposite, where you have (albeit, American) companies trying to whitewash things by removing Japanese names to english ones (like Yu-Gi-Oh! Pocket Monsters, etc) to make it more "relatable" to Americans. |
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Gon*Gon
 Posts: 679 |
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As mentioned before, anime is usually for japanese audiences first, then foreigners. There are some exceptions...like that anime with that black guy whose a samurai. But in general, it's stuff aimed at a japanese audience, thank god for that.
From what it sounds like, The Avengers is an unique exception rather than the rule. Usually when things are made to suit american audiences, it's often american companies altering the materials. |
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ArsenicSteel
Posts: 2370 |
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This is the second or third time that you have comment like this. If this was a casual conversation away from the internet I would chalk it up to you being really forgetful but since this conversation is on internet this sort of pattern is inexcusable since getting the proper title would take less than 5 seconds to find out. (.15 seconds to be exact if you used those words in Google.) Unless you are a blonde with double Ds being pretending to be ditzy and forgetful is not endearing. So please for my sanity and for the tideness of this board can you make a better effort to type out the names of black characters like Afro Samurai and people like Halle Berry(You called her the black chick that played catwoman in another thread). |
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I happen to have a lot of interest in how different cultures perceive and accept things from different countries. I think appreciating art for the diversity it offers is a beautiful thing. It pains me to think that people travel to different countries and come back disappointed because it wasn't enough like their own country. So in that sense there is no such thing as excessively foreign.
The Japanese know well enough people from all over the world watch their anime. The Japanese are also very proud of their culture but that's not entirely why they might be stubborn to change anime to appeal more to a foreign audience. The other reason is probably because they feel honored that so many people have taken an interest in Japanese culture through anime, and anime has made people interested in Japan. It would be dishonorable to change it in any way to fit the demands of the many fans who are already happy with the way anime is. |
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Gon*Gon
Posts: 679 |
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Halle Berry is black? Anyways, yeah...Afro Samurai...the one with the awful hair and the obnoxious sidekick. In my defence...my main experience with this show is "turn on TV in the middle, watch it, went like  ->  ->  , turn off TV".
Not once did I ever see any title screen. |
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ThePoliced
Posts: 130 |
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When most animes have char models that really don't look like Japanese people, i'd say the sky is the limit.
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vashna
Posts: 1313 |
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Well, let me certainly say that I in no way meant to start a fight, but was rather simply musing on a point. I meant no disrespect at all! From my personal vantage point, I do not like the idea that cultural aspects need to be stripped from a series for the purpose of Western popularity, but I also would never at all accuse a story like FullMetal Alchemist of doing the same. In no way did that story do so, but rather was intended to explore something that was a culture really, in many ways, its own. That being said, I think it's been established that many of the stripping aspects are criticisms that can be traced towards localization companies.
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