It’s a common meme on the internet that the Japanese anime, manga, and video game industries are “based,” or stridently opposed to the woke norms that have conquered professional Anglo-American entertainment. This comes from the fact that Japanese storytellers still value good character development over cheap propaganda, are still willing to draw beautiful people and things, and do not routinely insult their audiences.
However, while I do prefer Japanese entertainment over Anglo-American stuff for this reason, I have maintained since 2019 that this may change for the worse.
And there are some signs that this is happening.
Ken Akamatsu, the creator of famed series Love Hina and Negima, points out that there is rising pressure to succumb to woke norms:
Akamatsu then explained, “So far, when Japanese manga is at the stage of looking at the world, there is a pressure on the scene to meet more global standards.”
“I’d like to have the manga artists unify their opinions to some extent as to whether such things are ‘correct or not,’” he continued. “However, when the sales of works that have become globalized and have no sharp edges are good, they end up saying, ‘Oh, [political correctness] might be good.’”
Remember that due to the birth dearth, Japan’s internal market is shrinking — thus any mangaka who wants to truly make it big must reach an international audience. If international distributors will alter and censor stuff they find objectionable, that will put pressure on the creators to not include those things in the first place.
Remember that to completely change an industry, one does not need to convince a majority of its participants. All that needs to happen is that key nodes and critical infrastructure must fall under the control of hostile entities. For example, if the publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha adopted a woke editorial policy, every professional and amateur creator in Japan will align their work to fit the policy. This is all it takes for an industry to go from relatively free to utterly stifled overnight. Keep in mind that Japanese people are people, not machines, so social pressures can affect them just as badly as they affect others. Whatever the nationality, no one wants to lose their job or be frozen out of employment.
I hope that Akamatsu can convince his industry peers to stand strong. He’s going to need all the help he can get.
In some ways the industry has been neutered, at least idea-wise. When you look at those old OVAs like Bubblegum Crisis, Angel Cop, Cyber City Oedo, or Mad Bull 34, and see the sort of things they were able to get away with and the sort of things they were able to do, it is hard to not be a little disappointed that even the bigger stuff is more sanitized.
I’d like to think this is one of the reasons Demon slayer took off–because it was extremely violent and pulled no punches in its content all the way through its short length. It didn’t compromise or extend itself to meet some arbitrary demand from Shonen Jump. That, and the violence all served a purpose to the story.
Hopefully it succeeding in the surprising way it has will lead more creators to sack up and tell more interesting stories again. After losing Miura, they’re going to need more of them.
In some ways the industry has been neutered, at least idea-wise.
I contend that the 2000s moé era was caused by a lack of moral vision on the part of creators. A lot of the old classics had very clear points of view while still being broadly marketable.
I’d like to think this is one of the reasons Demon slayer took off–because it was extremely violent and pulled no punches in its content all the way through its short length. It didn’t compromise or extend itself to meet some arbitrary demand from Shonen Jump.
Interesting information, especially if it has caused mangaka to find their courage again.
After losing Miura, they’re going to need more of them.
Those will be difficult shoes to fill. But the next Miura won’t be like Miura, he will be the first him.
Same as what happened to America, isn’t it? The markets started shrinking on a lot of fields so they started looking elsewhere. Now they find themselves swayed to act according to Chinese values because China (so far) has the populace to court.
Of course one thing that may save manga is they still believe in money makes the success. They can aim for PCness all they want, but if they NPCs don’t show up to buy… will it last?
Been thinking on this since I was on a RetroBlasting kick lately.
https://youtu.be/FqhC5fMyU_I
(esp around the 15 min mark when he notes to rejection of the core customers)
Quote of the day from it: “[They] went after unproven buyers without a shred of evidence that these people could even be courted successfully.”
Same as what happened to America, isn’t it?
What folks need to understand is that most Americans don’t demand wokeness from their entertainment either — but it doesn’t matter because a small political clique controls the professional entertainment industry.
Now they find themselves swayed to act according to Chinese values because China (so far) has the populace to court.
China plays authoritarian hardball; they can’t snark and dunk and virtue signal their way out of the Chinese Communist Party blocking their content.
They can aim for PCness all they want, but if they NPCs don’t show up to buy… will it last?
If the right people subsidize them, it will last forever.
“[They] went after unproven buyers without a shred of evidence that these people could even be courted successfully.”
Because wokes care more about propaganda than profit, about desecrating things that people find comforting rather than providing new comfort or new thrills.
The Chinese WANT wokeness – they encourage it… towards America and the West. They’ll love anything that paints them as the poor, put-upon victims needing to overcome the white devils.
Heh. We’ll see. Even in America the funds are running out.
My point wasn’t that the CCP were anti-woke crusaders, but rather that Hollywood can’t just disregard their wants if the studios seek a Chinese release.
And as for the American side, I think “Get woke, go broke” doesn’t work as well as you think. Every company that has “gotten woke” is still around and has not apologized in any way for insulting their audiences.
Rawle
Perhaps this is a positive development. It drips away all delusions of a magic silver bullet deus ex machina solution. It’s the long haul Benedictine cultural recuperation.
We won’t see the fruits in our lifetime but we started it. And that’s a small point of pride.
xavier
That’s one way to look at it.