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Anime vs. The NES

Zalis116 wrote:

That may be true today, but there was a lot more Japanophobia back then; the Boomer and Gen-Xer parents of that era would've been the children of the generations that fought in or otherwise experienced WWII. Plus, Marketing demanded that American Kirby had to be hardcore.

In the 80s, Japan was feared not because of a war from 40 years prior, but because, at the time, they were an economic powerhouse and a strong competitor to the US; there was a lot of concern that the Japanese were "taking over" Western markets.

R. Kasahara wrote:

Zalis116 wrote: That may be true today, but there was a lot more Japanophobia back then; the Boomer and Gen-Xer parents of that era would've been the children of the generations that fought in or otherwise experienced WWII. Plus, Marketing demanded that American Kirby had to be hardcore. In the 80s, Japan was feared not because of a war from 40 years prior, but because, at the time, they were an economic powerhouse and a strong competitor to the US; there was a lot of concern that the Japanese were "taking over" Western markets.

This. My grandfather told me that people didn't necessarily hate Japan, but their rise as a major competitor in the states to native brands pushed a lot of "Buy American products!" attitudes in the industry. Rebranding Japanese games disguised the Japanese origin. Ultimately, the move was unsuccessful because Japanese products were just... better most of the time. Though, I suppose you could say that ultimately ultimately, everyone lost because now everyone depends on poor countries to produce their goods.

In the 80s, Japan was feared not because of a war from 40 years prior, but because, at the time, they were an economic powerhouse and a strong competitor to the US; there was a lot of concern that the Japanese were "taking over" Western markets.

R. Kasahara wrote:

In the 80s, Japan was feared not because of a war from 40 years prior, but because, at the time, they were an economic powerhouse and a strong competitor to the US; there was a lot of concern that the Japanese were "taking over" Western markets.

Which, in the end, has more to do with capitalism than anything with Japan just having to get the bigger slice of the pie. I also find the takeover "fears" from the U.S. to be hilarious as this was the decade where "greed is good" ruled the market.

It made sense that they changed the style to look less anime-like back then in order to sell the product. The mainstream wasn't ready for it yet.

Ah, the children of these Asian hating-executives must be the same tweeting-klansmen trash who got Rose Tico cut from a Hero to a silent 76-second Asian-menial-stereotype in The Rise of Skywalker. Anything to make Heroic Fantasy, even those explicitly based on Asian Samurai and Wuxia films, safe and white for little blonde hair blue eyed Aryan Timmy and Jane, lest their hair turns black and their skins turn olive playing and watching them, eh?