2. Is anime a high or low cultural medium, according to Susan Napier (2005) and what are some of its subgenres?

It is hard to argue that anime is a ‘low’ art form, just as it is hard to argue it as a ‘high’ one. Instead, anime seems to blur the lines between what is considered ‘low’ and ‘high’ for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest is perhaps how intrinsically tied to many aspects of Japanese culture – including those that are generally considered to be ‘high’ art – anime is. Many of the frequently seen stylings and aesthetics of anime are taken from Japanese kabuki and noh theatre. (Napier, 2005) Both forms of theatre, while coincidentally regarded as ‘low’ art or entertainment for the commoners in the time they were invented, are regarded in modern culture as a precious art form unique to the Japanese culture. As explored by Stevie Suan in ‘The Anime Paradox : Patterns and Practices Through the Lens of Traditional Japanese Theater’ (2013), multiple aspects, unique to Japanese media as they are not found nearly as often and certainly not within popular American or British (what one could call ‘Western’) media, are shared between the traditional Japanese theatre forms and anime. (Suan, 2013, pp. 1-20)

Most notable of these are some of the most recognizable aspects of anime, such as the visual aesthetics and appearance. Both noh and kabuki put great emphasis on form, using the body, props, lighting, costuming and make-up to create exaggerated appearances featuring extremes of colour and shape. Alongside this (and indeed, part of it – perhaps even impossible without it) was the blending of the ‘unreal’ with the real. Noh and kabuki often featured monsters, ghouls, and other surreal creatures and characters along with fantastical (and often disturbing) happenings. This blending of the real and the unreal is key to both the Japanese theatre forms and anime. (Suan, 2013, pp. 20-35)

Looking at Akira, we can see examples of both of these aspects throughout the film, especially within the closing sequence, where we see Tetsuo’s body swell and mutate into a horrific, monstrous form, then get destroyed by Akira, sucking Kaneda briefly into another dimension in which he has visions of Tetsuo’s childhood. The changing of Tetsuo into a monstrous mass is a clear example of the use of form, especially that of exaggerated and extreme shape, as a mode of storytelling within anime, representing Tetsuo’s transformation into a complete monster of destruction. Along with the transportation of Kaneda to the ‘alternate’ dimension, it is also an example of the unreal meeting the real within anime – although the ‘unreal’ seems to exist even from the moment the audience experiences the almost surreal motorcycle chase through neo-Tokyo at the beginning of the film, it is here that it reaches it’s peak, and is used to fill in the final blocks needed to completely tell the audience the story of Akira.

While this is just one example of the point where anime blurs the line between high and low art, another important point is the wide range of sub-genres that anime stretches across. Traditionally, animation as seen in ‘Western’ counties (such as America and Britain) has been considered children’s fare, with ‘adult’ animated works only becoming more common relatively recently. This has limited it’s sub-genres significantly. Anime, on the other hand, has not had such limitations, and significant anime works can be found in almost every genre. Akira, as an example, is considered a significant work in the cyberpunk genre, and cyberpunk (alongside the mecha genre) remains a notable subgenre within anime. (Napier, 2005) Another popular subgenre is fantasy, and other distinctions within it such as steampunk; these can be seen clearly in the popular works by Hayao Miyazaki under the Studio Ghibli banner, such as within Spirited Away and Laputa: Castle in the Sky. The popularity of both genres can in part be related back to ‘unreal’ aspects of anime taken from Japanese theatre, as both genres heavily involve fantastical, surreal, or ‘magical’ elements, and the unique aesthetic elements of anime play a large part in bringing them to life (as can be seen in the landscape of neo-Tokyo within Akira). (Swaile, 2015, pp. 100-120)

References

Napier, S. (2005). Anime: From Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle. Hampshire: Palgrave/Macmillan.

Suan, S. (2013). The Anime Paradox : Patterns and Practices Through the Lens of Traditional Japanese Theater. Leiden: BRILL.

Swaile, A. D. (2015). Anime Aesthetics : Japanese Animation and the ‘Post-Cinematic’ Imagination. London: Palgrave/Macmillan.