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Answerman - Why Do Westerners Make Assumptions About Japan Because of Anime?

I wonder what images of America Japanese anime viewers take away from a show like Baccano!
And, of course, we have the "Mr. Hibbit" shorts where the African-American astronaut appears as "Buddy Gorilla."

It's a good show, and definitely not mean-spirited in its portrayals of different ethnicities and US cultures, but it does have a lot of stereotypes(I haven't gotten to the monkey thing, but just the image makes me cringe).

Well, considering the reception the "Buddy Gorilla" sequence got on this and other anime forums, if that was their intent, they failed miserably.

I don't think that was their intent though, since few anime are intended to be "Western audience-friendly." (Space Brothers wasn't "friendly" enough to get a dub.) I didn't read the manga to know if the Mr. Hibbit sequence appeared there as well, or whether it was added by A-1 Pictures. At one point I recall reading it was a four-koma strip added to the manga, but I can't seem to confirm that now.

I'm currently watching Space Brothers(about 32 episodes in) and I don't see anything suggesting this was made for Western Audiences. It seems pretty directly targeted at Japanese kids who like space. It's a good show, and definitely not mean-spirited in its portrayals of different ethnicities and US cultures, but it does have a lot of stereotypes(I haven't gotten to the monkey thing, but just the image makes me cringe). Anyway, yeah, doesn't seem made for Westerners at all. And there are a lot of jokes about American culture that only Japanese people or people familiar with their culture would really get.

This kind of thing has been a massive problem in Japanese culture for a long while. However, there have been some recent shows that have shown African-descended characters in a better light. Sword Art Online was very positive with that with the character Agil, and I give the show a lot of credit for going out of its way to have such a positive example, even if he was a relatively minor character (all the men other than Kirito are, for obvious reasons.) There have been some others in recent times, but unfortunately the heavily stereotyped black character is still a part of anime. So yea, I don't think the Japanese reader can really claim that America is much worse when it comes to stereotypes from media.

This kind of thing has been a massive problem in Japanese culture for a long while.

1. Car Culture

ChibiKangaroo wrote:

This kind of thing has been a massive problem in Japanese culture for a long while.

I always got a chuckle of how the only black character in the original AD Police / Bubblegum Crisis / Bubblegum Crash world happened to be a thick-lipped, over-sexualized drug dealer. But I can't rag on them too hard, after all they did have an openly gay male character who played quite a major role and who was cast in quite a good light.

I am not defending the use of racial, sexual, or cultural stereotypes, but I think that issue isn't limited to Japan in the slightest. I have seen plenty of the same in American TV, film, and animation too. And I can't think of an example of it being used in anime that's truly offensive, it all seems to be fairly lighthearted humor. They don't shy away from stereotyping their own culture either. I see just as much, if not more, stereotyping of their own culture in anime as I do foreign culture.

I was born in Europe, but my parents and I immigrated to the US when I was 3 years old. We have lived there since (30+ years), due to my father's job. I have been back home to Europe many times and talked with relatives there, so I think I have a pretty good perspective on both sides of of the fence.

I live in Texas. When I was younger I have had European relatives ask me what kind of horse I ride and if I really carry a 6-shooter all the time. It turns out a lot of their perceptions of "Texas" were from Wild West movies filled with gunfights and cowboys. It's no different than the question Justin answered, really. People can't help but formulate an idea of a country based on the media they see and cultural stereotypes like yuna49 mentioned. And Japan does the same quite often.

relyat08 wrote:

I'm currently watching Space Brothers(about 32 episodes in) and I don't see anything suggesting this was made for Western Audiences. It seems pretty directly targeted at Japanese kids who like space. It's a good show, and definitely not mean-spirited in its portrayals of different ethnicities and US cultures, but it does have a lot of stereotypes(I haven't gotten to the monkey thing, but just the image makes me cringe). Anyway, yeah, doesn't seem made for Westerners at all. And there are a lot of jokes about American culture that only Japanese people or people familiar with their culture would really get.

It's a seinen series, so you clearly don't know what you're talking about either if you say it was made for Japanese "kids."

Was the person asking really Japanese? I don't know but I've got this feeling they were faking it to ask a question.

What's more, anime attracts a lot of teenagers. Teen years are rough for a lot of kids, and many spend their time daydreaming about being somewhere far away, doing something far more interesting than school. An anime or manga that might seem mundane by Japanese standards might seem glamorous and full of possibility to an American kid looking in from the outside. Anime and manga are, by their very nature, idealized versions of reality. For an unhappy American kid, they can be intoxicating. In their excitement about this far-off place, it's to be expected that they'll misunderstand certain things.

Space Brothers aired in the middle of the day on weekends. It was a mainstream series, and had plenty of viewers from all age groups. The narrative is simplistic enough that it seems quite clear it was intended to be accessible to children/teens. Also notable is the inclusion of Japanese subtitles in the official OP and ED with furigana. Something that is pretty exclusive to shows aimed, at least in part, at teens and children.
If you think the target audience for something is entirely tied to the vague and archaic magazine demographic that it runs in, you have much to learn.

I thought only the British obsess over "America = NASA Astronaut Land"
Okay, so maybe the Japanese obsess over the stereotype too.

The fact it didn't get a dub with said contention I recall was my point why it failed.

Space Brothers aired in the middle of the day on weekends. It was a mainstream series, and had plenty of viewers from all age groups. The narrative is simplistic enough that it seems quite clear it was intended to be accessible to children/teens. Also notable is the inclusion of Japanese subtitles in the official OP and ED with furigana. Something that is pretty exclusive to shows aimed, at least in part, at teens and children.
If you think the target audience for something is entirely tied to the vague and archaic magazine demographic that it runs in, you have much to learn.

The first season aired at 7:00 am on Sundays; it then moved to 5:30 pm Saturdays. Both of these are "family-friendly" as they say as is the use of furigana. I also recommend taking a look at the music video for "Feel So Moon." It's full of kids from ages one to twelve playing with their copies of the manga and a special artbook.

Compelled to Reply wrote:

The fact it didn't get a dub with said contention I recall was my point why it failed.

I think Space Brothers being a 99 episode show about astronaut training was the biggest reason it didn't get a dub. Still political correctness is creeping into anime and I am guessing fanservice shows are going to be a target in the near future. Granted the people who complain about fanservice shows don't buy them but they will try to shame the companies into no longer releasing them.