How come Japanese Anime includes many Christianity-related elements in their shows but Western Anime never includes Shinto elements in their shows ?
| Western anime is shittier than Japanese anime, that's the reason. |
| If you're a fanboy, please don't waste my time. Watch more movies, please. Perhaps, this is hell. |
| Because Christianity has spread all over the world including Japan but Shintoism is only present in Japan and not in other countries. |
| One is religion that has been spreading around the world (including Japan) for 2000 years due to evangelism being one of its core doctrines (see: Pentecost) while the other is a religion associated with a particular nation with no evangelical doctrine. Kinda like Judaism but not as geographically spread out. |
| MEA·MENTVLA·INGENS·EST |
| I think because Christianity is probably more popular, worldwide. Even most non religious people recognize the cross and know about Jesus. Shintoism is really only big in Japan. |
| My waifu is the most wonderful waifu. Mai Valentine. We're freaking out that we're running out of time, but to do what? Should i stop and think of that? Is there something i could do to slow it down? Live in a day for once, instead of watch it sprinting by |
| Because there are no Shinto missionaries in America. |
| その目だれの目？ |
| Since English is an international language, as well as Western's cultrue is more popular than Eastern's cultrue so by incorporating Christianity-related elements, those shows will be capable of appealing to the majority of ordinary people. It's just like many Japanese songs having some English words but there's almost no English songs featuring Japanese words. Anyways, why don't you just call it Cartoon, Western Anime sounds kinda weird!! |
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| What the hell did I just read ? Westerners didn't invent Christianity ffs. |
| Cause Christianity has basically tried to colonize every inch of this planet over the last 2000 years while I don't think Shintoism ever tried to build a global cultural hegemony. Both historically (missionaries) and contemporary (global pop culture is usually american in origin and therefore seeped in christianity) christianity is just the dominant religion of our planet. But also you do have plenty of western stuff that incorporates elements of shintoism, for example TLA. |
AlcoholicideMay 3, 2022 10:34 AM
| I probably regret this post by now. |
| it's bizarre to treat it like some sort of transaction I don't think anyone is japan is thinking "you owe us one" because they used elements of christianity in their media, especially when some of those elements are still bastardized enough where you would likely be appalled if disney did the same with shintoism would I be opposed to a western movie about such topics, probably not, but don't pretend like anime did christianity a huge unreciprocated favor by having nuns in ecchi anime |
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Maou_heika said: Only 1% of Japan is Christian.Because Christianity has spread all over the world including Japan but Shintoism is only present in Japan and not in other countries. Christianity was in any case a Roman and Germanic pagan event that was repurposed into given a “Christian” meaning, there is no biblical evidence to suggest that Jesus was born in the winter, and the text suggests that he was instead born in the summer. Japan does not celebrate Christmas for religious reasons, in fact, most countries don't, and many do not even give it a name that would suggest as much, remember that “Yule” is also an alternative name in English, which was the name for the original pagan Germanic festival that celebrated the winter solstice. Saeedlfc said: Japanese worship Westerners, with the exception of some weebs, the opposite doesn't happen. The simple answer is that the Japanese celebrate Christmas every year and that they do not view it as something particularly “not Japanese”, reading it up, Christmas has, in fact, been celebrated in Japan for centuries now, for longer than the U.S.A. exists as a country. |
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| I wouldn't really say any anime have "representation" of Christianity per se. Taking an honest look at how anime usually portray that kind of stuff, churches are usually magical organizations or cults, and things like crosses are just there to look cool or mysterious. I kind of find this similar to how American stuff uses things like samurai or ninja to look cool or mysterious without actually understanding anything about them other than their motifs. Just as American media doesn't understand samurai as anything more than stoic, armored guys with katana, anime doesn't understand Christianity as anything more than magical lore and cool imagery. I wouldn't call either of those actual representation of actual cultures. Then again, I'm an anime fan, so I hardly give a crap about representation in the media I consume. |
_FRB_ said: it's bizarre to treat it like some sort of transaction I don't think anyone is japan is thinking "you owe us one" because they used elements of christianity in their media, especially when some of those elements are still bastardized enough where you would likely be appalled if disney did the same with shintoism would I be opposed to a western movie about such topics, probably not, but don't pretend like anime did christianity a huge unreciprocated favor by having nuns in ecchi anime Basically what this guy said. Christian imagery is usually limited to making the show look more cool or sexy. Also, I now realize that the original post had some weird wording and the account is only several days old, so this thread was probably someone's weak trolling attempt. |
| STOP SAYING WESTERN ANIMATION IS WESTERN "ANIME" Western trash CANNOT be compared to anime. Also, the answer for your questions is pretty clear: Japan is based unlike the West. |
| BANZAI NIPPON. Nippon is the Land of freedom. Nippon is the Land of Peace. Nippon is the Land of Justice and Prosperity. In Nippon, we trust. We love Nippon, we love Anime. Anime love us, Nippon love us. 日本 I believe in freedom of expression. |
| Western anime isn't a thing but anime in general takes a lot of ideas from the west. Cartoons don't need that to appeal to an audience I guess |
| Because Shinto has no cultural relevance pretty much anywhere outside Japan, while Christianity has played a small but notable part in Japan's history. All creators draw from their own cultural background, and it's much more likely that a Japanese creator has been exposed to Christianity than for any other creators to have been exposed to Shinto. Heck, even Japanese expats usually quit practicing Shinto until they return to Japan. I don't think the depictions of Christianity in anime are that great, either. Usually Christian elements are incorporated only for the aesthetics with nothing of substance beneath that familiar-looking surface. Exceptions exist of course but they aren't that common, especially outside historical anime. And that's completely fine since representation should be the byproduct of telling a great story, not the end goal when the writers sit down to brainstorm new ideas. Disney and Pixar should not make a movie where they include elements of Shinto just for the sake of including elements of Shinto, just as Japanese animation studios don't make anime for the sole purpose of including elements of Christianity. |
| "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34 |
| Shinto is pretty isolated to Japan. The West however has influenced the world and Christianity along with Islam has influenced pretty much every single part of the world as the two biggest faiths. Anime really is a product of both Japanese culture but also has a lot of influences from the West. Also people are right technically Christianity isn't Western or I guess European at all lol. It's an Abrahamic faith though to be fair the current Western identity even among the non religious is somewhat centred around Christianity. Still I don't see why anyone needs to be grateful? It's interesting to see anime mess with themes, settings etc that are Western inspired but at the end of the day honestly anime for the most part doesn't actually delve that much into Christian theology. It's all really surface level stuff because really to most otaku/Japanese creators Christianity isn't philosophy or belief it's just a cool foreign aesthetic. They want the Gothic styles, hot nuns and cool Christian iconography but beyond that what else is there? Same reason why they use English or German words. Most Western fans likely don't care that much. Really since the 19th century there has been this cross culture obsession between both the West and Japan but ultimately at the end of the day both just pick what they like about each other. It's not like Western media doesn't take a lot from other cultures. You have one of the most popular IPs in the West Star Wars where the Jedi are basically a fusion of Japanese Samurai, Buddhist monk and classic Arthurian Knights. The actual plot is a fusion of stuff from Kurosawa films, Dune and a bunch of other influences. ATLA is probably one of the most popular Western cartoons out there that was heavily inspired by Buddhism and cultures from Japan, China, Tibet etc. As for why Disney doesn't do it I mean they might who knows they have covered plenty of other cultures. I mean if anything Japan is probably the one culture people are the most familiar with in the West that isn't Western. |
BilboBaggins365May 3, 2022 12:08 PM
| I could be wrong but this is likely due to the influence of Western beliefs spreading to the east. And when it is the opposite, it feels like a novelty, almost like a token. Here is a slightly extreme theory, and not one I agree with. It is possible some see western ideas to be superior to the east, so why would you insert an inferior idea alongside a superior one? |
_FRB_ said: Yeah, OP is taking a very strange Anime Elitist position. Media as a whole takes lots of ideas and influences from each other. There's no reason to look down on western animation because it isn’t swamped with Asian religious symbols. There's plenty of obvious Japanese and Asian influences in modern western animation such as Avatar the Last Airbender, Big Hero 6, Mulan Etc. Even beyond animation, Clint Eastwood’s dollar trilogy wouldn't have happened without Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo.it's bizarre to treat it like some sort of transaction I don't think anyone is japan is thinking "you owe us one" because they used elements of christianity in their media, especially when some of those elements are still bastardized enough where you would likely be appalled if disney did the same with shintoism would I be opposed to a western movie about such topics, probably not, but don't pretend like anime did christianity a huge unreciprocated favor by having nuns in ecchi anime Star Wars is one of the most popular western franchises in history and the Jedi are heavily influenced by Asian religious philosophy including Shintoism. As for why there are lots of Christian symbols in Anime.  According to one of the producers of NGE, “Because we thought it looked cool.” I have my own theories on this, but that’s for another time |
-insert NGE meme here- |
MetakinZeramyan said: How come Japanese Anime includes many Christianity-related elements in their shows, like depictions of Fathers, Priests, nuns, crosses and Churches but Western Anime never includes Shinto elements in their shows ? To reciprocate Japanese Anime's generous representation of Christianity in their shows, shouldn't Western artists reciprocate the representation by including Japanese Shintoism elements in their own animation too, like from Disney and Pixar movies ? Please be reminded, that representation of a particular religion, culture or nation in foreign media is a big deal, considering that Indians, Arabs, Africans, Hindus and Muslims rarely get any significant representation in Japanese Anime anyway ( due to they themselves being strict and serious with their faith so that scares Japanese creators from including them for fear of offending if something is misrepresented ). So Westerners should feel grateful a major part of their civilization is represented in a country where most don't follow Jesus' teachings as seriously as people in the West by representing elements of Japanese Shinto faith and general culture in their Animation. I'm interested to see how a Pixar 3D animation can tell the story of a Miko shrine maiden in full garb participating in Youkai exorcism in a fictional fantasy version of America or something lol. I think you just broke the record for being wrong about the most things in a single post.
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| Well I for one already loved Lain. |
| bruh some of them don't even know who is christiano ronaldo. |
| It's honestly a very interesting and vast subject that need to go into multiple point like the different religion in Japan, the very different relation with religion Japanese have, the impact of Christianity in their histories, how those religion are being represented in japanese media, the popularity of Japanese media in western countries, not only viewing things from American production, how religion in general is often represented in western animated production and probably a tons of other subject to gives a proper answer to this question. I would say that the reality is far more nuanced than what you say. Yes Shinto by itself is not very represented, however, Buddhism, the religion with the most practitioner in Japan has some presence in western media. I would also say that you also need to look at production from other western countries because there's a lot of representation of cultures from non western countries in some cartoon. But you are also right in a certain way because religion ( except for mythologies ) are rarely in the center of a show in western media but this is mostly because of how we conceive religion when in Japan, the way of conceiving them is quite different and allows for more representation of religions that have been in their culture since quite some times. But all those things aside, Fuck that would be so cool to see some shrine maiden exorcising some Yôkai being animated by Pixar. |
justanormiMay 5, 2022 11:57 AM
justanormi said: But all those things aside, Fuck that would be so cool to see some shrine maiden exorcising some Yôkai being animated by Pixar. a PIXAR KiKi Kai Kai/Pocky and Rocky production, perhaps? that could indeed be swell, providing it wasn't Westernized/Focus Grouped/DISNEYified...  |
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| I don't think I agree with any sentence you wrote. MetakinZeramyan said: Comparing apples to oranges for all sorts of reasons.How come Japanese Anime includes many Christianity-related elements in their shows, like depictions of Fathers, Priests, nuns, crosses and Churches but Western Anime never includes Shinto elements in their shows ? MetakinZeramyan said: Then you do that. Unless you're the one writing the checks, providing artistic direction to other people is as easy as pointless.To reciprocate Japanese Anime's generous representation of Christianity in their shows, shouldn't Western artists reciprocate the representation by including Japanese Shintoism elements in their own animation too, like from Disney and Pixar movies ? MetakinZeramyan said: Well, if they depict those cultures in the same way anime depicts christianity then you can bet people would get pissed off.Please be reminded, that representation of a particular religion, culture or nation in foreign media is a big deal, considering that Indians, Arabs, Africans, Hindus and Muslims rarely get any significant representation in Japanese Anime anyway ( due to they themselves being strict and serious with their faith so that scares Japanese creators from including them for fear of offending if something is misrepresented ). MetakinZeramyan said: Sure, if by "westerners" you mean just you. In other words: speak for yourself. I wouldn't feel grateful even if anime fashioned an accurate depiction of christianity instead of the usual cult-like elements or those random references to purity and whatnot; even more so if we take into account the fact that an ever increasing number of westerners aren't christian.So Westerners should feel grateful a major part of their civilization is represented in a country where most don't follow Jesus' teachings as seriously as people in the West by representing elements of Japanese Shinto faith and general culture in their Animation. MetakinZeramyan said: lol.I'm interested to see how a Pixar 3D animation can tell the story of a Miko shrine maiden in full garb participating in Youkai exorcism in a fictional fantasy version of America or something lol. |
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eyatOs said: What the hell did I just read ? Westerners didn't invent Christianity ffs. _FRB_ said: it's bizarre to treat it like some sort of transaction Nurguburu said: STOP SAYING WESTERN ANIMATION IS WESTERN "ANIME" NorthmostIsle said: Yeah, OP is taking a very strange Anime Elitist position. Media as a whole takes lots of ideas and influences from each other. There's no reason to look down on western animation because it isn’t swamped with Asian religious symbols. O_T_T said: I think you just broke the record for being wrong about the most things in a single post. RentNoGirlfriend said: idk what y'all expected from yet another obvious Ehurvaks alt wanting his self-insert + one white woman + many japanese women harem lmaoI don't think I agree with any sentence you wrote. https://myanimelist.net/forum/search?cat=forum&q=&u=Ehurvaks&uloc=2&loc=-1 |
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Fario-P said: The one time I don't add the "provided this isn't a bait" disclaimer is also the time someone feels the need to point out it is a bait.idk what y'all expected from yet another obvious Ehurvaks alt wanting his self-insert + one white woman + many japanese women harem lmao |
| Attempting to read this nonsense gave me a headache |
| First of all, there's nothing to be grateful of. They are doing it for the money, using Christianity's aesthetics only to make things look cool and sell, not out of respect. Would be like saying that Scandinavians should be thanking us for propping up Thor and Odin. Also, Shintoism happens mostly in a single country and it isn't even over 50% there (I googled 88.9 million Shinto followers (48.6 %) and 84.8 million Buddhists (46.3%)). https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/japan/ It's just not relevant enough to make a product specific out of it, and you can always bundle it's philosophy with others to make the generic "Asian" religion we see in western media. |
| Christianity is more mainstream than Shinto. |
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| This isn't a "trade deficit" or "import-export" imbalance issue. Featuring Christian themes doesn't create additional elements in some mystical "accounts payable" ledger for Japanese creators. Creators and companies will use whatever they think will draw the most attention and revenue, and for Western media companies, explicit Shintoist elements don't fall under that category. Is OP yet another alt of whoever's always asking for "more [insert ethnic group here] characters in anime"? |
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