Why isn't the American animation industry like the Japanese one?

Funny how no one connected the dots to manga and comic culture, since that's the root of most Japanese animation. Even in 70s, mere years after Shounen Jump was founded, it surpassed DC Comics (around for decades) in monthly sales, and then widened the gap in the following years. Popular manga simply had more variety than popular comic books, latter being mostly superheroes (and even among superheroes, a lot of it was spin-offs of side characters from a more popular comic). Worse yet, they don't have any continuity, and keep getting rebooted or AU'ed, versus something like One Piece that is one continuous story from start to now.

It probably didn't help that major publishers in US adopted a Comics Code that prohibits many aspects that may be inappropriate for children, including rules like "criminals shall never be depicted in a sympathetic light", "in every instance good shall triumph over evil", "don't show excessive blood nor use horror or terror in title" etc.

They had a different approach towards comics, which bled into a different approach towards animation. There just isn't anything in the mainstream American comics of the 70s like Lone Wolf and Cub, or Barefoot Gen. It'd be caught by a gazillion reasons why it's improper to be shown by comic publishers and basically be DOA.

@JoeChip

None of this makes sense, every objection you made makes the point even stronger and Japanese manga industry's rapid outpacing even more impressive.

They have different population, namely Japan having a bit over 1/3 of US population, which makes it even more of an achievement to dethrone a publishing giant established for decades in a few years in sales.

DC Comics is a company with many magazines whereas Shounen Jump is one magazine, which makes it even more of an achievement to outsell them.

One Piece example isn't to show Japanese comics run for longer, I don't think you would even pass literacy in some countries. It was to show Japanese comics retain more engagement through making one continuous cogent story that isn't rebooted or AU'ed or change authors, unlike American comics that do.

Lone Wolf and Cub or Barefoot Gen are some of the most mainstream Japanese comics of their time, meaning the 70s, they were serialized under high selling contemporary magazines.

Comic Code being abolished since then doesn't mean the market giants haven't consolidated enough of the market by the time it did, to set the norms and conventions to a large degree.

Watchmen is fine, as is Sandman, 2 examples doesn't make their popular comic industry as diverse.

I don't care one bit about Japan as a country, I think it is a war crime revisionist, xenophobic, sexist, and all around problematic society. You don't know who you are talking to.

@Auron

Oh look everyone, our zoomer friend again posts a lot of baseless bs claims without providing any credible source and just hopes cherrypicking and strawman arguments will prove him right, I especially loved the part where he claims "which makes it even more of an achievement to dethrone a publishing giant established for decades in a few years in sales" without giving a single statistic , what a surprise from a zoomer with a limited brain activity.

There is no point in arguing with sopmeoen who doesn't even know the difference between magazine and comics so I will just stop here. Hope you keep posting to amuse me though.

Because western culture is close minded and won't embrace loli and little sister culture. I live in Texas so I should know, lol.

@Yui_Suzumiya69 Ironically, this isn't true. Of old or new shows. Step siblings isn't an unpopular concept here, for example. Overprotective older brother is also a thing in certain shows/movies. And wasn't Lolita a movie released here? Either way, a common trope in our shows is a teen getting with someone older (usually a teacher or person in their 20s).

Yes, but only after making substantial changes from the novel. The 1997 adaptation is closer to the book than the 1962 adaptation, but it still suffers from the misunderstanding that the story is a romance. Nabokov must've been rolling in his grave. It should be seen more like a horror story. Dolores Haze was still depicted as a pretty girl, whereas Nabokov would've wanted her to be average and more childlike. Lolita seems to be unadaptable, which is fine because it doesn't need to be adapted.


I saw this movie called Miller’s Girl earlier this year, in February. It does involve a taboo relationship between a student and her teacher, but it unfortunately is extremely, mind-numbingly boring. I went in with the wrong expectations, admittedly. I was expecting something more like pinku eiga, but the movie lacks anything sexual.

On Letterboxd, I wrote: