This is topic The gentlemen at AICN have come to the realization that anime is not a "genre". in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.
Nope! They now know that it's a "story-telling style."
Maybe in the near future they'll realize that fantasy is "Not just about elves...it's also about dragons." Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I can see their point.
But, there are some things so uniquely anime-ish that no other genre could possibly pull off. I think it is both a format, and a genre, or at least a sub-genre. I mean, mystery is a genre, but anime can be a mystery, so I guess it's just terminology that needs to be fixed, but it it certainly it's own section of Blockbuster.
Don't forget wizards.
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
Anime isn't a genre?
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
"anime" uses far more than one signature story-telling style. The styles used in a series like Cowboy Bebop alone vary wildly from episode to episode.
This is due in part to Osamu Tezuka (the father of manga and anime as we know them) telling so many different types of stories in so many different styles that those inspired by him were almost doomed to diversity. Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
I think that there is a general artistic style to anime, much in the same way that Disney and Warner Bros. so massively shaped the American artistic style for animation. In that sense, I don't really have a problem with calling anime a "genre".
I even think a lot of anime follows fairly standard story-telling styles and characterization techniques. I agree with you that many series will break convention, and more often than not, they will be all the better for it. ("And the work which has become a genre unto itself will be called Cowboy Bebop" :swoon:)
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
I think that there is a general artistic style to anime,
If you mean that anime tends (in general) to use iconic, easily identifiable character designs in fully-developed, textured environments (again, speaking in general) then I'll agree. But you haven't stated that, so I ask for clarification.
much in the same way that Disney and Warner Bros. so massively shaped the American artistic style for animation. In that sense, I don't really have a problem with calling anime a "genre".
Except that "genre" has to do with content, not form. A mystery can be told in a prose text piece, a serial comic, a live action play in a theater, an animated movie...
Genre refers to the category or type of story being told. A comedy, a tragedy, a mystery, science fiction, etc.
Anime is always an animated cartoon from Japan (or in more recent years, Japan and certain regions of Asia). Period. No matter what the content is. Or the art style. It's the medium being used to tell the story...but it is -not- the genre of the story.
I even think a lot of anime follows fairly standard story-telling styles and characterization techniques. I agree with you that many series will break convention, and more often than not, they will be all the better for it. ("And the work which has become a genre unto itself will be called Cowboy Bebop" :swoon:)
My point is that anime is not a genre, not that it's a unique story-telling technique...there's animation in the US and Europe after all.
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
quote:If you mean that anime tends (in general) to use iconic, easily identifiable character designs in fully-developed, textured environments (again, speaking in general) then I'll agree.
That's a substantial part of it. The conventions for depicting the human form are also fairly distinct and largely standardized. Manga and anime also pioneered the use of subjective motion.
quote:Except that "genre" has to do with content, not form.
From dictionary.com: "1. a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like."
If you'd prefer to define anime as, "an animation style based largely off a form of sequential art called manga, and generally using east-Asian story-telling and artistic conventions," that's okay with me. "Genre" is a lot shorter though.
I kind of wish there was a word for animation that followed American conventions. "Amtoon" or something else not crappy.
Posted by Steev (Member # 6805) on :
I'm on the side that feels anime is a style of medium not a genre.
If only Hollywood could wrap there mind around CG animation as a medium not a genre.
Posted by Qaz (Member # 10298) on :
It isn't a genre! It's a gene! (And I don't have it!)
Posted by Euripides (Member # 9315) on :
Yeah, because the people at AICN are experts on genre theory. *rolls eyes*
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
That's kind of annoying. I mean sure anime storytelling conventions are different but so are Hollywood storytelling conventions when compared with Finnish ones. So are "Hollywood movies" and "Finnish movies" also genres?
But then I'm already annoyed at those western artists who call their work manga.
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
I just wanted to interject that a genre can be bound to a certain medium - such as "film noir" or "reality television". Hentai, for instance, is a genre that's bound to animation.
I also wanted to interject that labeling something as a "genre" is not an exact science. Something can be both "horor" and "science fiction", or both "mystery" and "fantasy", or whatever. As long as you have a set of easily recognizable indicators, you can call something a genre.
Just sayin'.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Someday, we'll see a catgirl in a pleated skirt command her summoned monster to rape a giant robot (being driven by a nebbishy but apparently irresistible teenage boy, who also owns a comically-oversized ancestral weapon) with its slimy tentacles, and Japan will collapse into the sea, the entirety of its cultural contribution fulfilled.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Someday, we'll see a catgirl in a pleated skirt command her summoned monster to rape a giant robot (being driven by a nebbishy but apparently irresistible teenage boy, who also owns a comically-oversized ancestral weapon) with its slimy tentacles, and Japan will collapse into the sea, the entirety of its cultural contribution fulfilled.
OK even I had to snicker at that.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Genre refers to the category or type of story being told. A comedy, a tragedy, a mystery, science fiction, etc.
Science fiction stories can be comedies, mysteries, romances, adventure stories, etc.. Does that mean that science fiction isn't a genre?
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
Exactly, mph.
While "anime" doesn't fully describe or contain any given work, it DOES give you at least a rough sketch of what to expect. The fact that we can even use the word "anime" with some coherence is evidence of this.
Posted by Euripides (Member # 9315) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson:
Someday, we'll see a catgirl in a pleated skirt command her summoned monster to rape a giant robot (being driven by a nebbishy but apparently irresistible teenage boy, who also owns a comically-oversized ancestral weapon) with its slimy tentacles, and Japan will collapse into the sea, the entirety of its cultural contribution fulfilled.
I am mortified by the fact that I'm unable to come up with an adequate counter-response to this.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
quote:Someday, we'll see a catgirl in a pleated skirt command her summoned monster to rape a giant robot (being driven by a nebbishy but apparently irresistible teenage boy, who also owns a comically-oversized ancestral weapon) with its slimy tentacles, and Japan will collapse into the sea, the entirety of its cultural contribution fulfilled.
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