00:01Avatar: The Last Airbender is an anime.
00:14On October 18th, 2016,
00:16A1 Pictures and Crunchyroll released "Shelter",
00:19a short animated music video for Porter Robinson and Madeon's song of the same name.
00:24Shortly thereafter, it was posted to Reddit's r/anime community
00:28Where it would go on to become the third highest rated post in the history of the subreddit.
00:33It would also go on to be taken down because, as an r/anime mod stated,
00:38"The specific definition we use to determine 'Anime' is 'An animated series, produced and aired in Japan intended for a Japanese audience.'
00:52This is a music video by an artist that contracted out a studio that happens to also produce anime.
01:02If A1 Pictures had produced an episode of SpongeBob, we wouldn't allow that here, either."
01:11The internet flipped its collective shit at this because... of course it did.
01:15It's absolutely fucking ridiculous.
01:18And within an hour of it being removed,
01:20the post was back up and rapidly climbing the front page.
01:23Boy, I sure do wish that could happen for my videos once in a while.
01:27The takedown and reinstatement of "Shelter" was, in itself, a minor footnote
01:32in the success story of a popular and critically lauded ONA
01:36that was going to reach people with or without Reddit's help.
01:39But the flawed reasoning behind it
01:41speaks to something that is frequently a big problem for the anime community,
01:46especially for critics like myself.
01:49We don't really have a solid, workable definition of what "anime" is.
01:55We have a lot of different, competing definitions,
01:58some of which are technical, like,
02:00"'Anime' is a Japanese colloquialism which comes from shortening the word 'animation'",
02:05whereas others, like the one used by the reddit community, are unworkably broken.
02:11That might seem like a harsh indictment of something fairly innocuous,
02:14but consider the purpose of definitions.
02:16They don't really prescribe how we're supposed to use a word.
02:19They describe how a word that's already being used is being used.
02:25We knew what a "YouTuber" was long before Oxford added it to their lexicon.
02:30We didn't need them to tell us.
02:32And if your definition of a word is so narrow
02:35that it doesn't account for common or general uses of that word,
02:38or so broad that it encompasses things that the word never refers to in common usage,
02:44then it fails as a definition.
02:47The definition of "anime" offered up by "Dr. Nyanpasu"
02:50fails to hold up to scrutiny on multiple counts,
02:54to the point where I feel the need to sit down and explain patiently how words work.
03:00Let's go through it, point by point, and see all the ways it fails.
03:04Point 1: "An animated series".
03:06Okay, we're three words in and already the cracks are showing.
03:10"Series" precludes single shot OVAs, web shorts like "ME!ME!ME!", and movies.
03:15By this definition, Spirited Away and Your Name aren't anime.
03:20Obviously, that would be stupid, so the definition must be wrong.
03:25Point 2: "produced and aired in Japan".
03:28Well, firstly saying "aired" again cuts out theatrical and home video markets, as well as the internet, so that doesn't work at all.
03:35But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they meant "distributed".
03:39I mean, the fact that they're this strict with a definition that they worded this loosely is worrying, in itself.
03:46But that's a different problem.
03:48And even making that concession, it's still awful.
03:52"Produced in Japan" means that we can't count shows like Bloodivores or To Be Hero which originated in China,
04:00or any show that was outsourced to Korea, which these days is most of them.
04:05As for requiring that an anime be distributed in Japan,
04:09well, that would actually include SpongeBob since it has a Japanese dub.
04:14And if you say "distributed first in Japan",
04:17then you end up excluding Space Dandy which is super wrong.
04:22So, yeah, nothing about this point works.
04:25And then there's that "intended for a Japanese audience" bit,
04:29which is murky enough when you consider that more and more studios are aiming anime at a global audience
04:36for business purposes,
04:38but, also explicitly excludes Stan Lee's Heroman,
04:42Afro Samurai, which was a passion project for Samuel L. Jackson,
04:46and The Big O - season two, which was only made because of Cartoon Network.
04:52All of those things are very clearly "anime"
04:56and it would be beyond idiotic to say that the second season of an anime isn't an anime
05:02because it targeted a new audience and was produced by a new network.
05:07So, with all of those clauses stricken down, the only part of the definition that remains is "animated",
05:14which happens to be what the word "anime" means in Japanese.
05:19"'Anime' is a Japanese colloquialism—"
05:22Yeah, Digi, we know.
05:23Although, that is an interesting facet of this argument.
05:27In Japanese, anime refers to all animation, SpongeBob included.
05:32And that's an argument often used in favor of saying,
05:36"Avatar: The Last Airbender and shows like it should be counted as anime."
05:41But it's a weak argument, and not just because it's pedantic.
05:46What this argument is really about is whether shows like Avatar should be discussed in communities like r/anime,
05:53or given the spotlight at anime cons.
05:56And, yes, by that definition, the discussion of Avatar should be allowed in anime communities,
06:01but that would also allow for discussion of SpongeBob and Mickey Mouse,
06:05which most people would agree are totally off-topic.
06:09And some would use that as a justification
06:12for disqualifying any American cartoon from ever being anime,
06:17which is equally pedantic and facetious.
06:20"Anime is Japanese animation, and that's that," they'll say,
06:24even though their acceptance of Chinese-made anime totally invalidates that position.
06:29But even if you are in the camp that says, "Western cartoons can never be anime",
06:34you can't pretend that there's no distinction.
06:37Because when I say the phrase "American anime", it describes a specific group of shows
06:43and you know exactly what shows I'm talking about.
06:47American anime is meaningfully distinct from what you'd call "cartoons".
06:52Now, you might say that the line is a little blurry,
06:55and you could make a good case with shorter series that use more American art styles and senses of humor
07:01like Steven Universe and Adventure Time,
07:03which, fun fact: had an episode directed by anime director, Masaaki Yuasa,
07:08but when you look at Japanese shows like Panty and Stocking or Kaiba,
07:13you realize that it's just as blurry over there.
07:17In fact, I would argue that there are animated series made in Japan for a Japanese audience that are not "anime",
07:26at least, not in the loose American sense of that word,
07:30which is largely shaped by what satisfies use when we sit down thinking, "I want to watch anime"
07:36and what we deem worthy of discussion in anime communities.
07:41And when was the last time you heard an American anime fan gushing over Hello Kitty, Hana Kappa, or Anpanman?
07:49If these kids' shows are discussed at all,
07:51it's never in the context of "Have you seen the latest episode of Sazae-san?"
07:56Those shows are only ever discussed academically
08:00in things like this video
08:02because while you may find it interesting that Sazae-san is the longest running cartoon in the world,
08:09I doubt that any of you are actually interested in watching it.
08:13Few anime fans are because it's not anime, it's a cartoon for children.
08:19And if the Japanese are capable of producing non-anime cartoons,
08:23and we're already allowing for shows out of Korea and China to be considered anime,
08:29then there is no good reason that anime can't be produced in North America
08:33or Europe, in the case of Wakfu and The Red Turtle.
08:37For a lot of people, when they get an urge to watch anime
08:40and they sit down and watch Avatar: The Last Airbender or Voltron,
08:44they end up satisfied with that decision.
08:47But if we can't define anime by region, how do we define it?
08:52It's tempting to say "by art style", but again, shows like Panty and Stocking and Kaiba render that invalid.
08:59And anime definitely isn't a genre.
09:02I mean, there are action anime and romance anime and comedy anime, and has genres within it,
09:07and there is very little that connects those genres.
09:10We could point to storytelling techniques; anime tends to have an ongoing narrative.
09:16But gag series like Osomatsu-san defy that constraint as well.
09:20No matter what aesthetic trappings or genre conventions you try to ascribe to anime,
09:26there is going to be a point of hard contradiction.
09:29I think that's because we've failed to recognize what anime really is.
09:34Some see it as a genre, others as a cultural artefact,
09:38and others as, almost a medium unto itself,
09:41but it's none of those things.
09:43It's something else entirely.
09:45Something that is only really possible to identify with a lot of hindsight.
09:50Which is why I find it hard to fault other anime critics and fans for using those terms instead.
09:57What anime is, is a movement:
10:00an artistic movement within the medium of animation,
10:03not unlike post-modernism or The French New Wave in film.
10:07Everything that makes "anime" anime,
10:10the big-eyed aesthetic, the over-the-top action, the mature themes, the overt sexuality,
10:16is a part of that movement,
10:19agreed upon, collectively, by animators across Japan.
10:24Well, it would probably be more accurate to say anime is a series of movements.
10:29Post-millennial anime is very different from 90s anime, which is, in turn, very different from 80s anime,
10:36and especially ShĹŤwa Era anime.
10:38But, there are commonalities between all of them:
10:42the anime art style, the serialized storytelling techniques,
10:45the way that anime series and movies tend to approach action and romance,
10:50the way that anime has turned cost-cutting measures into stylistic flourishes.
10:54All of these things are elements of the broader movement, not necessarily parts of the definition.
11:00And that definition is murky because, well, all movements have murky definitions.
11:06You know a French New Wave film when you see it,
11:09but you can argue endlessly about what makes "French New Wave" French New Wave
11:15and where the movement began and ended.
11:17And you can argue that films influenced by that movement,
11:21like the work of Tarantino and the Movie Brats,
11:24should perhaps be considered part of it.
11:27And looking at it in that light,
11:29you can very easily make the argument that American anime deserves consideration within the broader anime movement.
11:37Specifically, the post-millennial anime movement, that presently dominates Crunchyroll
11:43and that so famously made Miyazaki declare that "anime was a mistake".
11:48Each movement within the greater movement of anime has its own defining factors.
11:52The animators and artists who birthed early anime were inspired by the possibilities of a new medium
11:59and the creations of Western contemporaries.
12:02But they were also shaken by the impact of the atomic bomb.
12:06The animators of the 70s and 80s grew up on a diet of that early anime
12:11along with imported Western film and television.
12:14Their work had a certain bravado to it,
12:17no doubt, energized by the unprecedented growth of the post-war economic miracle.
12:22They made a lot of cheerful anime and a lot of aggressive, angry work
12:27like Akira and Grave of the Fireflies.
12:3090s anime were, in turn, inspired by those works and Japan's increasingly thriving otaku culture.
12:38They leaned even more heavily into Western and Japanese influences.
12:42Their work tended to be a bit more somber and philosophical, too.
12:46Probably a reaction to the economic stagnation of the so-called "Lost Decade" of the 90s.
12:53If you look at any of these movements,
12:55you will see that they are inextricably tied to Japan's culture, its economical healthy, and its place in the world.
13:02The same is not necessarily true of post-millennial anime
13:07because post-millennial anime is also post-internet anime.
13:11It's post-globalization anime and that changes the ball game.
13:17Whether certain segments of the populous like it or not,
13:21we are now living in a world with a growing global culture and economy.
13:26National borders still mean something, but not nearly as much as they used to.
13:31We can communicate easily on a daily basis with people around the world
13:36through borders and language barriers.
13:39I'm doing that right now, and you can help by subtitling this video for your country.
13:45As Miyazaki lamented in his famous quote,
13:48Japan's millennial animators are primarily influenced by having grown up watching older anime
13:55as well as popular Western fare.
13:58They are unabashed otaku making anime for other otaku.
14:02They communicate via message boards. They collect merchandise.
14:06They are, to be sure, influenced by Japanese phenomena like
14:10the falling birthrate, the chronic lack of social interaction that has created NEETs and hikikomori,
14:16and of course, the boom of light novels, but they have many influences outside of that.
14:22Because, like many people around the world, as much as they live in their nation,
14:28They also live on the Net and so do the Western animators making American anime
14:34like Avatar and Steven Universe.
14:37Animators who also grew up watching anime alongside Western media.
14:42Animators who collect anime merchandise.
14:44Animators who can't help being influenced by Japanese culture, and the history of the anime movement.
14:51They're influenced to the same extent that the likes of Hiroyuki Imaishi and KonoSuba's Kikuta Koichi
14:57are very clearly influenced by the likes of Ralph Bakshi and the American cartoon boom of the 90s.
15:04These animators are contemporaries.
15:06They are part of the same group, the same movement.
15:10And to talk about modern anime in an accurate and all-encompassing manner,
15:14it is necessary to acknowledge that all of them are part of it
15:18and that they have been for a long time now.
15:21To an extent, I can understand the impulse to reject these works.
15:25It can at times seem like Western animation studios are trying to manipulate anime fans.
15:31A decade ago, for every really great series like Titans or Megas XLR,
15:36we got two like Kappa Mikey or My Life Me.
15:39And even the really good ones didn't quite feel like anime.
15:43But American anime like Avatar, Voltron, and Steven Universe are different.
15:49They're made with the exact same intention as most great, modern Japanese anime:
15:55to tell a great story that the anime fans making them would want to watch.
16:01They may get greenlit by pointing to market trends that say, "Anime is hot right now",
16:06but they are clearly passion projects.
16:09They are the exact same kind of passion projects that we see being made in Japan,
16:15and China, and Korea, and broadcast on Crunchyroll.
16:19And we should be celebrating the best of them, alongside FMA, One-Punch Man, and Rakugo.
16:25We should be giving them pride of place at our conventions,
16:29analyzing them in our pretentious video essays,
16:32and discussing them in our communities,
16:34not just for the sake of our own enjoyment,
16:37but because the next movement of anime creators, both in Japan and abroad is watching these works,
16:43absorbing them, and beginning to build on them as we speak.
16:47Looking at today's anime, at all of today's anime,
16:52will give us a better idea of what tomorrow's anime will look like.
16:56That's why I think it's important to allow discussion of Avatar, Voltron, Steven Universe, and Wakfu
17:03in places like r/anime.
17:05Well, partially, I think it's equally important to facilitate debates
17:09about whether The Crystal Gems could beat up the Sailor Scouts
17:12or what rank Ang would achieve in The Hero Association
17:15because stuff like that is fun.
17:17And since those discussions are so fun, and since most anime communities don't really allow them,
17:22I'd like to see those arguments happen in the comments section of this video.
17:25I mean, they probably would, anyway. But I'm allowing it.
17:28Just, please, use my trust wisely, kids.
17:31No biting or hair pulling.
17:33Thanks for watching, commenting, subscribing, giving me cash on Patreon.
17:37And all of the other ways you guys help the channel.
17:40It means a lot. And special thanks to my editor and DJ, I guess, FlipAnime, for throwing this video together for me.
17:47Any compliments you guys have for the music should be directed his way.
17:50Also, I want to thank Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits for letting me record this on his microphone while I was busy moving.
17:57It really helped a lot.
17:58If you enjoyed this video and you want to see more like it
18:00then, I recommend watching my top 10 anime openings of all time.
18:04Or you could check out this mystery video that YouTube has recommended for you using kooky computer magic.
18:09The next time you see me, I'm going to be filming in a new apartment
18:13so, for the very last time,
18:14I'm Geoff Thew, professional shit bag, signing out from my mother's basement.
![#Uwu #Uwuvoice #Itshannahowo Hannah UwU || Hannah UwU voice ❤ [Compilation]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F2V2xm_LDYPA%2Fhqdefault.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
