Kari Stanford

Capstone
Argumentative Research Paper
For the longest time America was against Japan, the people and the items, thoughts, and
ideas that came from them. This was around the World War 2 era that we really disliked them
and this was in large part from the bombing of Pearl Harbor. However, after World War 2 we
started to lessen the hate on them, and this was around the 60s when animations from Japan
started becoming popular in the United States. Groups started forming and people in America
started trying to draw the way that Japan does in most of their animes with their unique art form.
Japanese animation has indeed become one of the most prominent art forms in todays society by
introducing its shows to us, its cartoons, and art, and becoming a big industry within America.
During the World War 2 era we didnt tend to agree with the opinions of Japan but didnt
pay much attention to them either. We were focused on the war going on with Germany and we
even had propaganda against them as most nations did. Cartoons have been in the United States
for a very long time and one of the first cartoon companies, Walt Disney, was founded on
October 16th, 1923 (Disney History). This is one of the most popular cartoon companies to have
been founded a century ago. Another popular company that was founded around the same time in
April 4th, 1923 (Company History) was the Warner Bros., which had a mixture of movies with
people and cartoons sometimes mixing the two together. These companies show a lot of the ideas
of cartoon drawing in the United States prior to the arrival of Japanese animation.
Around the time of World War 2, in 1939, many forms of propaganda were made against
Germany and those allying with Germany. In the 40s, when Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan,
cartoon companies even joined in on the propaganda. There were tons of posters made against
Germany as well as ads and even cartoons. Yes, Disney took part in multiple pieces of
propaganda against Germany and for the war. One seven minute video is telling you to save
money so you can afford the higher taxes to help your army fight and win the war, using the

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Capstone
Argumentative Research Paper
thought of helping your country to buy guns and build planes and get rid of those birds of prey
and defeat the Axis (1943).
Another short film Disney did was called Deh Fuehrers Face, which has a very catchy
tune and stars Donald Duck in a dream about being part of the Nazi party. He goes through and
obviously shows that he doesnt entirely want to be a part of it, and at the end wakes up and says
he is glad to be a part of America (Donald Duck). There is obvious racism shown towards Japan
among other countries within the short film and this shows you how America was not happy with
Japan.
Japan made its own cartoons too though, against Disney and other cartoon companies.
The video is called Momotaros Divine Sea Warriors made in 44 or 45 (Momotaro) and has
characters in the video depicting an off looking Mickey-Mouse, Felix the Cat, and other various
cartoon characters. The video shows Momotaro and his cute bunny, monkey and elephant friends
clear an airship, oil machine guns, and fly their Zeroes to victory whilst singing happy songs. Its
definitely aimed against America and shows the equal dislike towards our country.
After World War 2 it took America awhile to warm back up to Japan, and this started with
the arrival of Astro Boy in the United States, the 1963 anime series (Astroboy). The creator of
the Astroboy manga series is Japanese cartoonist, Osamu Tezuka (known as the God of Manga
and the Godfather of Anime). He introduced the big eyes we see prominent in anime and
manga today and his manga series became the first Japanese television series to show that big
characteristic of anime today. This anime was the first to be broadcast outside of Japan in the 60s
and in the 70s and 80s other adaptations of anime style made its way through the overseas
markets (Wood, Jennie)

Kari Stanford
Capstone
Argumentative Research Paper
As anime became more widespread in the U.S. clubs started forming for anime, with the
first one in being created in 1977 (C9). In the states adults are the ones who got hooked onto
anime first, in the 70s being typically male tech types, 70-80% of them college educated and
between 25-30 years old. The ratio of teenagers to adults was 50:50 in 2000 and manga
publishers also report a 50:50 split for males and females (Anime in America). The fans have
gotten younger over the years with the arrival of Pokemon in the 2000s and other animes geared
towards a child audience.
Some say the turning point was when internet was invented, allowing fans to
communicate with each other and the whole community was based on tape-swapping, since a
lot of the originals were in Japanese the fans would write whole scripts translating it. In 92, U.S.
Renditions released the first subtitled anime on videotape, Gunbuster. In 93, Fox released the
Remake of Power Rangers, then Sailor Moon in 95. Sailor Moon drew in so many girl viewers
that U.S. distributors stopped catering entirely to the male science fiction fans.
In 1988-99 Pokemon came out with toys, a video game, trading cars, and a tv-show. This
was a new business model and it prompted American companies to go to Japan to try to be coproducers or acquire rights. Pokemon also made it okay that anime was Japanese. In the past
most people hid that fact that something made was Japanese since the quality of the dubbing was
so good that you didnt notice it was ever translated. However, Pokemons producers did not hide
the fact that this show is Japanese made and everyone was perfectly fine knowing this.
The way anime slowly became integrated into American society is shown through these
events and shows because originally there was nothing and then suddenly new shows started
appearing, with no obviously stated origin, to allow people to watch it without judging on the

Kari Stanford
Capstone
Argumentative Research Paper
fact that this product is Japanese made. Suddenly when something is boldly stated that its
Japanese created, everyone is fine with it because they enjoy it and the artwork of the show.
There is a certain appeal to the anime style and that is part of the reason why its such a
major art form today. It is seen as a style of art, not just considered under the category of cartoon
because it has its own personal characteristics that make it different from the standard American
cartoon/animation. Mangas also tend to be called graphic novels, and comic books also fall
under the category of graphic novels, the two just have different origins and art styles. Creators,
writers, artists and readers of comics in Americas are still predominately male, however, in Japan
manga is popular with both males and females of all ages whom spend their money for this
leisure. Every genre imaginable is represented making manga have something for everyone.
The broadness of manga appeals to a range of artists and writers such as rock musician
Courtney Love collaborating with D.J. Milku, Ai Yazawa, and Misaho Kujiradou on the series
Princess Ai, Ai meaning love in Japanese. This series depicted Courtney Loves life and her
relationship with Kurt Cobain.
Manga has specific characteristics that define it and that allow you to tell when
something is manga/anime. Each artist does have their own specific style but there is almost
always an over exaggerated display of emotions on a characters face, going for a comedic
purpose. The eyes tend to be big and the details slightly simple, not showing all the contours and
bends of a face or the intense shading that one would do in a drawing with a realistic person.
There is a large emphasis on clean lines and characters tend to have out-of-proportion body parts
and anime and manga are influenced by Japanese calligraphy and painting, where a round ink
brush is used to produce thick strokes.

Kari Stanford
Capstone
Argumentative Research Paper
Here are some examples of anime artwork;

Kari Stanford
Capstone
Argumentative Research Paper

(Sebastian) (Anime Male) (Anime Pinterest)

And here are some examples of manga artwork;

(Manga Pinterest) (Lia Manga) (Day 5) (Twitter)

Kari Stanford
Capstone
Argumentative Research Paper
As you can see, both are very similar, just one tends to have color and the other does not.
There are simple lines, although on the females hair they tend to be more intricate. Most all have
an almond shape for the eyes and a simple nose and mouth. The look and appeal of the artwork is
such a large reason as to why it is a big part of Americas society today.
Japanese animation has indeed become one of the most prominent art forms in todays
society by introducing its shows to us, its cartoons, and art, and becoming a big industry within
America. It has been seen as to how during World War 2 the U.S. disliked Japan and made
propaganda against them, and how Japan made propaganda back. Cartoons and animation have
almost always been a large part of Americas society so its not too surprising that other art styles
of animation would integrate their weird into ours. Slowly but surely anime and manga made a
big show into America and became a big industry, and we can see how with the appeal of the
artwork.

Works Cited
"1943 American War Propaganda with Donald Duck." YouTube. YouTube. Web.
"Anime." Pinterest. Web.
"Anime Male Redhead." Naruto Fanon. Web.
"Anime in America." Anime in America. Web.
"Astroboy." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web.
"Company History - WarnerBros.com - The Studio." Company History - WarnerBros.com - The
Studio. Web.

Kari Stanford
Capstone
Argumentative Research Paper
"Disney History | The Walt Disney Company." Disney History | The Walt Disney Company. Web.
"Donald Duck Nazi Episode with Prologue Speech (der Fuehrer's Face 1943)." YouTube.
YouTube. Web.
"Lia Manga." DeviantArt. Web.
"Manga." Pinterest. Web.
"Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors." YouTube. YouTube. Web.
"Sebastian Michaelis." Kuroshitsuji Wiki. Web.
"The History of Animation." The History of Animation. Web.
"Twitter Gets the Manga Treatment in Japan." CNN Travel. Web.
Wood, Jennie. "Manga and Anime: The Japanese Invasion." Infoplease. Infoplease. Web.
"[Day 5] Lost in Translation." Birchlabs Blog. Web.