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Section III: Online Conversations Across Difference

Chapter 5, "Love at First Site" - A study specifically about the Flash animation series There She Is!! and its multilingual characteristics.

Chapter 6, "World Conflict/World Conference" - A study of Hetalia Axis Powers along with its international controversies.







On the Internet, we aren't flesh-and-bones people physically talking to each other. We're minds that converse with one another in a virtual space devoid of borders and demographs. We exist through pure, indiscriminate, neutral data.

Annett opens with this observation, citing early thinkers on their Utopian vision of the Internet. However, she quickly provides counters the thought, deeming the Internet as a place where real-world cultural dominance determine attitudes, trends, and standardized values. That, and issues related to race, class, and gender exist as they do in real life. Taking these dividing characteristics in mind though, it allows for complex connective webs and multi-layered thinking. As Annett explains, anime fan communities aren't necessarily Utopian societies, but are communities using the Internet, the latest form of communication, continuing past problems while presenting the potential for creating new communities amid cultural differences.

Here, Annett introduces There She Is!! as a Korean Flash animation that gained popularity despite communicative barriers and Flash animation's limitations. To give context on Korean animation, the first known work was "Dreams of a Dog" or "Gae Koom" from 1936, although no surviving copies of the film is known to exist. It's described to feature an anthromorphic dog in a suit and tie with references to Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop. From here, the animation sector received systematic discrimination during WWII, as did any industry related to crafts. Besides poor access to filmmaking resources, animators were also heavily censored and could only create works on subjects allowed by their government.

Not too much is known about this time, but after WWII, scholars John Lent and Kie-un Yu cite the 1956 animated commercial for Lucky Toothpaste as the true beginnings of Korean animation, which is noted to be distinct from North Korean animation. Later, Korea's first animated film Hong Gil-Dong (1967) would become a success, as it was distinctly Korean in terms of art style, clothing and setting. This is compared to later remakes that were criticized for adopting a more Japanese aesthetic.

Over time, domestically created animation waned in the 1970s as the Korean animation market shifted to becoming subcontractors for international companies in the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. Korea would eventually become the third largest producer of animation despite creating very little of its own. Their own cartoon programming mostly consist of American and Japanese works edited and dubbed into Korean. This imbalance would cause a vicious cycle of Korean-made works being too costly to air in comparison to the cheaply made international works, resulting in stations reimporting and localizing animations they made themselves.

So, instead of looking at official works, Annett examines amateur works. Post-WWII, there was an initial period where Japanese media were banned from entering Koea in order to facilitate the reestablishment of Korea's national identity. During the 1970s and 80s with the advent of the VCR, younger generations would pirate anime through underground networks, helping them realize that their favorate "Korean" shows were actually edited Japanese works. While politically charged at first, globalization and Internet culture would eventually turn watching anime into a casual activity, which then segues into the creation of There She Is!!

Created in 2003, There She Is!! is a five episode Flash animation about an anthromorphic cat and rabbit falling in love, struggling amid racial tensions between their two species. The shorts are purely visual, featuring no dialogue whatsoever. It was first posted on the creators' website SamBakZa.net, but would quickly garner attention from viewers around the world. This includes negative attention where the creators were harassed for not being able to communicate properly with non-Korean fans, the nationalistic Korean fans being insulted for taking ownership of the work, and everyone else getting into multi-directional arguments over sexual orientation, ethnicity, and nationality for one reason or another. Annett attributes this to the ability of visual language connecting people around the world in conjunction with this new form of media that had transitioned from film to the Internet.








I remember watching There She Is!! years ago on Newgrounds. I had no idea what it was, but I knew it was a cute animated series of shorts among the collection of crass and meme-spewing works. I'd eventually figure out its origins when I first joined MAL, but it's still interesting to go back and watch non-professional works from years ago. This includes "From My Room" (2001), "Xiao Xiao" (2002), and "The Composer" (2007). I'm sure there has been more notable works since then, as I also recall "Super Mario Broz Z" (2016) being remade and "Sidewalk the Animation" being fairly comparable to the previously mentioned short "The Composer."

Amateur works, shorts, and experimental films lack the ability to garner mainstream appeal, as their primary goals aren't strongly tied to familiarity nor entertainment. Instead, they serve to show off their creators' technical and imaginative prowess, unrestrained by industry standards. With regards to anime, There She Is!! has no dub to argue over, nor is there a specific aesthetic it's tailored to. The Flash medium isn't specific to anime, yet the title has an entry in MAL and has overlapping interests from inside and outside the anime fandom.

These intersections show off how complex fandoms can get, as well as show where arguments over anime's definition can spark. Works that aren't explicitly of the anime aesthetic can draw anime fans since anime's main character isn't some generalized visual style. Even with anime there's a variety of ways to portray worlds, motions, and the camera which viewers look through. Intricate stories aren't specific to anime, nor is high-octane action. Sob stories exist everywhere as well, as do works seeped in philosophy and thought. Odds and ends associated with anime can exist anywhere, so what defines anime fans and their dedication to the medium, especially in today's interconnected world?







When speaking of globalized anime, Hetalia Axis Powers (2009)is a straightforward choice as it deals directly with the representations of multiple countries, their stereotypes portrayed through a Japanese perspective, and involves controversies spawning from the perceptions of people outside the anime community. Some of this is derived from the series's own choices, while others are due to the fandom's actions. With this last numbered chapter, Annett analyzes Hetalia for its appeal and reception, providing a closer look at a case where fans are deeply involved with industry content.

Annett recalls the screening of Hetalia's film Paint it White (2010) in an Ikebukuro shopping district, remarking at the fully seated theater with flags advertising the film lining the streets of Tokyo. She also notes the surrounding shops and the later Summer 2010 Summer Comic Market being flooded with Hetalia content. Upon acknowledging its fujoshi fanbase and their parallel relationship with male otaku, Annett claims this distinction demonstrates the friction which exists between genders and nations within the fan community, serving to form said communities and their unique traits through the cultural differences found in the flow of content and ideas. Again, this friction doesn't serve to encourage specifically divide or unify fans, but it facilitates the creation of communities at a larger scale, leaving the various culturally-related nuances to then morph dividing lines at social intersections.

From here, Annett goes on defining fujoshi, otaku, moé, ahoge, and a number of other terms, but she also highlights the change in fan activism. Fans had changed from being passive consumers to becoming active participants in their medium. Speaking on anime specifically, fans are analyzing texts, researching references, understanding anime's creation processes and are creating their own content to both give tribute to their favorite franchises, as well as contribute creative content to the world at large.

Speaking on Hetalia specifically, despite having fan appeal through its character design and comedic, tongue-in-cheek interactions between anthropomorphized countries, its original 2009 television broadcast was cancelled due to South Korean protests over Korea's representation and interactions with other Asian countries, a sentiment that had ascended to the level of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The series was already popular prior to the failed broadcast, as it was receiving criticism in 2008 thanks to its notoriety. Characters in Hetalia were seen to represent the attitude of entire nations, with Japanese racism towards Koreans being specifically called out. While the television broadcast was cancelled, the station still believed that the anime wasn't offensive and went ahead with streaming a webcast and releasing Hetalia on DVD.

From this, toxicity erupted on Internet forums between Japanese/English speaking fans and Koreans, where they would blast racist remarks at each other to no end. As Annett explains, the main issues over Korea's representation revolved around how cute and friendly he is, often clinging onto China and Japan as a "little brother" character. He would act childish and mimic China's and Japan's customs, despite Japan also being depicted as an offshoot of China. There were also various key instances which drew criticism, such as when Korea once grabbed Japan's chest, complaining to China that Japan refused to admit that parts of the areas in question belonged to Korea. This was compared to territorial disputes over islets in the Sea of Japan which both countries have claims over.

This sort of critcism could be applied to all the countries in one way or another, as their aesthetics and demeanors reflect various stereotypes based off the Japanese perspective, even if it were done for comedic purposes. This is in addition to fan actions such as the 2009 Anime Boston convention where Germany cosplayers performed the Nazi salute during a photo shoot, causing Hetalia in general to receive intense negative reactions from Holocaust survivors.

Are there inherent racist qualities to Hetalia, or is it just a harmless comedy? Are the fans a community of fanatics, ignorant to the world at large, or is this just a gross exaggeration of the actions of a few fans? In applying this to anime as a whole, do the vocal minority define fans of entire works? Genres? The medium itself? The internet is a place where all manner of personalities can speak civilly as they can bash heads in the most brutal and ugly manners. As such, the anime we watch can entail similar interactions, and it's through modern forms of communications that we've come to define ourselves and the medium we enjoy.







Can animation represent a nation? Can anime represent communites? Can individual fans represent anime? It's a gross overgeneralization to say it's possible, key works and individuals can serve as identifyable examples of the whole, especially in the eyes of people unfamiliar with anime's broad scope. They serve as the basis of discussion in the public realm, where common knowledge then leads to further discussion. However, in cases where anime is criticized, they also become symbols of everything that's wrong with genres, the fan base, or the medium in general. Addressing mediums through key examples isn't specific to anime, but it's interesting to note that anime has grown enough to develop iconography within itself.

With regards to Hetalia, it's a popular anime, one that's largely powered by its fan base, and has attracted a large amount of criticism and controversies over the years, although it has since waned. Still, as the basis of discussion, it highlights anime's presence in the world. Having watched the first season, I recall it being relatively harmless, though it has a large reliance on stereotypes and comedic reinterpretations historical events and international relations to fuel its characters' actions and interactions. Hetalia's jokes weren't offensive, and as entertainment it served its purpose well, but that's from my own Western perspective.

Jokes about international politics and key political figures aren't exactly new, but anime serves as an easy target. As a niche medium with a dedicated fan base, there aren't many people who would defend the medium from attacks, nor is it a medium capable of defending itself with prominant, established, historically or culturally significant titles. In the future, perhaps anime will bome respectable, but until then, it's the responsibility of fans and creators alike to remain steadfast and aware of how the world interprets us.

While anime remains relatively niche, there is acknowledgement of Japanese animation's existence. As time goes on and more people come across anime, it becomes even more important for popular titles and their fans to understand their effect on the medium. The characteristics of popular shows, of which contain exaggerated animation, vibrant colors, quirky characters, and a unifying aesthetic will continue to represent anime as a whole. In the same vein, anime fans being loud, overly enthusiastic, socially awkward and generally unpleasant to be around, if not outright dangerous.

These aren't accurate representations, but they're what anime and ourselves are characterized to be. It's not an image that can be changed overnight, nor is it necessarily a change that people want. At its core, anime is still entertainment. I doubt that will ever change outside of some monumental shift in the medium towards experimentation, self-expression, and global captivation with an equally immense source of funding. Until then, anime will continue to be fun, thoughtful, exciting and invigorating. At least until the next controversial beings rocking the media.






In all, this book addressed issues surrounding anime fan communies, their effects on the world, and the effects of global events on the fan communites themselves. There wasn't as much focus on fan communities and their interactions among themselves, which was a topic I was hoping to see when I first picked it up. However, upon finishing the book, I can conclude that talks among fan bases leads to circular discussions, rarely leading to any insights beyond the scope of anime being discussed. Of course, speaking on the medium with an adherance to the world at large allows people to build off of scholarly research and contribute findings back. As an anime fan however, I'd like to know more than just the anime fan community's potential for growth, I'd like to actually see projections and predictions on how it'll develop based on past and present trends, especially if it's from a scholarly perspective that's more analytical and research-based. In other words, a perspective that's presumidly has less bias than my own.

As an anime fan, I'd gear my own research to depict anime as a promising medium with the potential for expression and cross-culture connections, but the scope would be limited to strictly anime fans and the effects of anime on people and real-world places. My research eventually led me to Anime Fan Communities, and I was hoping to understand the development of anime fans communities in terms of how they form across geographies and their relationship to real-world spaces. How is anime represented physically? Is it through merchandise or a television screen? Is it through the fans and the interactions among themselves, or the organization of physical space to facilitate social gatherings? Are these spaces determined by fans, or is it due to anime popularizing key locations? Does this also apply to places on the Internet, where anime-oriented websites can differ from websites servicing other mediums? What about anime games? Is the distinction merely the art style, or is there a defining trait that categorizes certain games as anime-based? And, can this then be applied to non-Japanese properties to find underlying propertes that draw people to anime?

These are the kinds of questions I've asked myself while reading through Anime Fan Communities, and while many of them are still being mused over, this book did help in helping understand the context surrounding anime fans. However, I am still hesistant on extensively interpreting specific shows that aren't inherently made to be analyzed. I've read books that analyzed Mamoru Oshii, Satoshi Kon, Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki, as well as televised anime such as Serial Experiments Lain and FLCL. However, works like Cowboy Bebop, There She Is!! and Hetalia don't necessarily allow for enough analysis based on their own weight. Their effects at the macro level can be elaborated on, along with references to their in-series characteristics contributing to those effects. At some point, it becomes akin to overanalyzing works, attempting to make them seem more significant and meaningful than they really are.

This is my own personal grievance though, as such actions remind me of anime fans, reviewers, and at times myself, whom take certain shows seriously and attempt to overanalyze them to justify how good they are. This is a dangerous action that can make the discussed shows seem overhyped and populated with overly eccentric fans that think themselves to be cultured in comparison to the slew of other fans frolicking amid lesser works. The act of self-assurance and confirmation only serves to hide insecurities and feelings of guilt over enjoying certain works, if not anime in general. It's fine to want to be taken seriously as fans of our favorite shows and the medium itself, but the sentiment shouldn't be lost to some false sense of superiority.

I don't need anime to be taken seriously, nor should that be the mindset promoted in the anime community. I enjoy writing and reading, but only so much as a way to satisfy my own curiosities about my tastes. In fact, being taken seriously is a sentiment capable of drawing numerous amounts of criticism and toxicity, if just out of exasperation, frustration, embarrasment and immaturity. Such reations are a symptom of the anime community's inability to face itself. Or, rather, the inability for us as people to converse at an even plane. We're all from different walks of life with different preferences and reasons for watching anime, that much is a given. It's difficult to speak on Ore no Imouto without issues of incest becoming prominant, Shinsekai yori without opinions concerning homosexuality overriding actual anime discussion, or as Annett demonstrated, any anime affected by globalization without issues of localization and local cultural reception turning them from entertainment into platforms to express personal political views.

Instead of aiming to get anime to be taken seriously, respectability and the acknowledgement of anime's vast potential is preferred in my eyes. In other words, it's enough if people can recognize that there are many kinds of anime and anime fans, and that the most popular depictions aren't necessarily accurate. Anime is not inherently intelligent or mature. It's not inherently better made, better thought out, or in any way different from any other visual medium beyond its contextual roots. However, anime is capable of producing individual works that stands above all others, and those works will be great not by virtue of being anime, but by being great in and of themselves. It wouldn't just be a great anime, but a great animation that happened to originate from a Japanese aesthetic. Isn't that what we want at the end of the day, to watch something that we can enjoy?







tl;dr –
Chapter 5 - There She Is!! demonstrates cross-cultural friction in terms of language barriers, cultural values, and the advent of new media.
Me: Through new media, we can get amateur works not bound by industry standards that demonstrate the complexity of fandoms as they create their own works to pay tribute to and exist alongside professional works.

Chapter 6 - Hetalia: Axis Powers is an example of anime dealing with global politics that also attracted controversy at the global level from the anime's content and its fan's actions.
Me - Political jokes aren't a new concept, but as a niche medium, we'll have to deal with criticisms and battle our own negative perceptions from outside the anime community and from within.



Anime Fan Communities - From television to Internet, from one culture to another, from one generation of fans of the past and present to whomever follows us in the future, anime and its fans will continuously evolve the medium's potential to connect even more people through transcultural flows and frictions.

Me - Better anime, better fans to associate with, an understanding of our place in the world, and a more respectable perception of the medium from that same world. I'm not sure what else there is to ask for.



Conclusion:

Anime Fan Communities is about how anime can be interpreted and treated as a medium at the same level of film, invalidating any labels of “high art” and “low art.”
From this all, we can at least see the possibilities of extending, and overextending, stuff in the real world to anime, and allowing us to read into intentions, meanings, and implications of the anime we watch, the creators behind them, and how it all affects us as viewers.

Annett, Sandra. Anime Fan Communities: Transcultural Flows and Frictions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Print.