CompleteMartialArts.com - Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation
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List Price: $34.00
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Manufacturer: Open Court
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.433
EAN: 9780812693324
ISBN: 0812693329
Label: Open Court
Manufacturer: Open Court
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 180
Publication Date: 1998-12-30
Publisher: Open Court
Studio: Open Court
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Editorial Reviews:
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"Samurai from Outer Space" provides a discussion of the suddenly popular genre of Japanese animation. Japanese animation, also known as "anime" (pronounced Ah-nee-may), is gaining devoted fans of all ages and nationalities. A few years ago "anime" was something of an oddity. Now it is poised to become the biggest cultural import since PBS discovered the BBC. There are "anime" fan clubs on college campuses across the country, as well as "anime" fan magazines and "anime" sections in video stores. To enter the world of "anime" is to enter a world of fantasy in which all of the following have keen known to happen: a college student orders out for a pizza, gets a wrong number, and winds up with an immortal Norse deity for a roommate (in "Oh My Goddess!"); a black-haired boy named Ranma turns into a curvaceous redheaded female, whenever he gets splashed with cold water (in "Ranma 1/2", a series which also features a character named Dr Tofu); and a 21st century juvenile-delinquent biker, roaming the earth after World War III, gains apocalyptic powers and an overwhelming desire to blow up Tokyo (in "Akira"). The book contains insights that will help readers understand the many questions and often obscure conventions in "anime", for example: why does Japanese animation look so different from American animation?; why do the characters look Caucasian and have such huge, oversized, round eyes?; why did 50 Japanese animators send a letter to Walt Disney Studios concerning a controversy surrounding "The Lion King"; when a male character in "anime" suffers a nose bleed, why does this symbolise sexual arousal?; how are flashbacks signalled in Japanese animation?; and what do the science fiction "anime" featuring androids, cyborgs and other automatons reveal about the Confucian and Shinto views on organ transplants and genetic engineering? "Anime" is created by Japanese for Japanese. While subtitles and dubbing can help American viewers overcome the language barrier, to fully understand "anime" requires knowledge of Japan's prehistory, its Ninja myths and Samurai legends, its Buddhist and Shinto religions, artistic traditions such as woodblock printing, and philosophies such as Confuciansim. Antonia Levi looks at "anime" from two perspectives. First, she examines the roots of "anime" in Japan's history, mythology and culture. Second, she discusses why American audiences react as they do to an art form that was never intended for them. The Japanese views of truth, the universe, reason and reality are very different from American ones.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Thesis from outer space
Comment: From the title and the beautiful cover art from Starblazers, I couldn't wait to read this book. The subtitle is "Understanding Japanese Animation". Quotes on the back call it a "guide" and claim it reveals " a lot about contemporary Japan", and that the author uncovers the "hidden meaning" of Japanese animation, and "the symbols and stories drawn from Shinto, Buddhism, and Japanese art". That made me want to read it more.
Let's start with the givens. This book is almost ten years old, and shows signs of being edited to reach a wider audience. It also seems to consist of a number of papers or essays tied together. The author blurb on the back is about how she has a PhD in Japanese history and all her credentials for writing about things Japanese. That wouldn't be germane to the issue, except for the slant in the book. And it's very slanted.
The opening chapter is extremely intriguing and asks, in essence, "Are you Otaku?" which is to say, a fan of anime. Then the author defensively asserts her chops, a tendency which becomes far more prevalent as the book goes on, continually saying "I know more than you do." Or sometimes, "You think you know what's going on, but you don't." It reminds me of the love- hate relationship sci- fi writers have to Star Trek conventions. The only time she mentions Star Trek, incidentally, is to point out how later anime fan writers sneak in references to anime and opt for more ambiguous story lines.
Almost every chapter (or essay) ends with an unstated thesis that would have made an interesting book: that Gen X (so called) viewers are drawn to anime because of ambiguity in their own lives. However, she usually outshouts that thesis with another one-- that this proves they're not the attention deficit slackers they're often written off as. Even that would be an interesting thesis were it supported by even one example.
The Otaku viewpoint is significant because the author judges a work based on its audience. While she pays the necessary tribute to Osamu Tezuka, she nevertheless dismisses Astro Boy (Mighty Atom), one of the early popular anime shows in the US, because the audience didn't know it was Japanese. That would seem to be in its favor, but it conflicts with another hidden thesis that anime is made for Japanese and not Westerners. To support that thesis requires ignoring all other early anime offerings, including Speed Racer, Gigantor, and Battle of the Planets. It also ignores the long history of live action films like Godzilla in the West.
But then, the West is, of course, the problem. The author's way of explaining the Japanese view of anything is to contrast it to the "Judeo- Christian" view we in the West all believe. Never mind that a great number of people in the West don't believe these views which are held by Judeo- Christians, whatever those are. The author is so sure "we" believe these things that she never checks facts, and is therefore content to repeat one sentence myths about the Middle Ages, long discredited, that we all know. All this does is make me wonder about the Japanese views the Western views are contrasted with. Since again, not one example is given of any Japanese thinking this way, they seem at best inconclusive.
Quick! Retreat into the I know more than you do mode (or transform into it, for Mecha fans). The Japanese word is, of course, untranslatable. I, genius that I am, think this, whereas stupid fans-- that would be you watching the show-- mistake it for that. Ha ha! Aren't those Otaku amusing? It's like a Star Trek convention.
The parts about Shinto stories inspiring anime are intriguing. You knew something like that was going on in Pokemon, and with eight million gods, souls or spirits to choose from, the results are endless. But again, the author must assert a hidden thesis which eventually seems based merely on personal preference and Freudian double speak. You can't possibly enjoy this advanced anime because you don't know a nosebleed always represents something else. If it comes to that, you wouldn't notice this god from this ancient story because the gender has been changed and she is an executive in Tokyo (no, you probably wouldn't notice that). But when she admits an obvious connection in a well-known and much studied anime like Dragonball, she then asserts there's no relation to its source material. Freudian lit analysis plays the same game of now this gun represents something else; presto! now it's just a gun.
The one place to connect with the casual viewer is in the section on mecha. But the author's thesis that the Japanese have a horror of cyborgs since they involve replacing body parts in no way explains something that far more puzzles and intrigues Western viewers-- their fascination with giant robots. Her way of explaining this is to not explain it, and instead concentrate on exoskeleton suits.
This is the sort of pop cult book by an academic that is all answers and no questions. You learn a lot more about the author than you do about anime or Otaku. You learn, for instance, that she likes (or at least chooses to continually write about) Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Bubblegum Crisis/ Bubblegum Crash, Doomed Magalopolis, and grudgingly, Akira, which was, of course, changed to accomodate Western audiences, who ruined it by making it popular, but fortunately didn't understand it. Transformers is conspicuous by its absence. Neither did Battle of the Planets, or its Japanese original, Gatchaman, make the cut.
Of course one can't cover everything, and one doesn't need to. But if the author hoped to convince readers to watch new anime, as maintained in the Preface, the effect on this reader was the opposite. By ignoring anime I am familiar with, and which has long been available in the US, by stereotyping the "West" in one sentence dismissals, and by expressing continual disdain for the unlettered, unwashed anime audience, she's convinced me to stay away from her favorite anime, which I otherwise might have watched. After all, even ten years ago there was plenty of anime to choose from, and no lack of zealous Otaku eager to share their favorites.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good book on cultural background
Comment: This is actually a very good book despite the awful title and uninspired cover work. It's strength is in the detail with which it deals with the cultural and mythological subtexts of anime. While this is only one way of approaching anime, "Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke" takes a differnt, sociological approach, it offers interesting and useful insight into what to look for in watching anime. Where else, for instance, would you learn to look at how the heroine in "Zenki" controls her demon as an allegory for how Japanese wives control their husbands?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Anime fans, present & future-- Read this Book!!!
Comment: Samurai from Outer Space is a little dated. However, the cultural information is valid, relevant, and amusingly presented. As a diehard, long-time fan of the medium, I also consider the examples listed to be a basic primer of classic anime. Like watching old American movies, watching older anime helps a viewer appreciate where the medium has been, where it is now, and the possible directions it could go.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Makes me want to give anime another chance...
Comment: I've never liked Japanese animation. I missed out on "Astro Boy" and "Speed Racer" when I was a kid. To me, "Kimba the White Lion" represented Japanese animation. Something about the oddness in the characters voices (they always threw in extra syllables at the end of their sentences, "We have to go save him, huh?") and the gender ambiguity of the lead character (these things are important to uptight pre-pubescent kids) really bothered me. By the time Japanese animation took hold in the US cartoon market with shows such as "Voltron," or "Robotech," I was done with cartoons. By the time Japanese animation started showing up on the shelves at Blockbuster Video, I learned that one should refer to Japanese animation as "Anime." In the years between, I found that the same kind of geeky know-it-all kids who dominated the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons scene and who lingered too long at comic book stores discussing the outcome of a battle between the "Teen Titans" and "Alpha Flight," were the same folks who loved Anime. Have you ever disliked a band because of its fans? This was the same kind of thing. I have yet to listen to anything by The Misfits merely because of all the losers in leather jackets who would come to concerts and stand in my way or push people around in the pit. Nine times out of ten they'd have on some sort of Misfits paraphernalia. No one's written a book explaining the music of the Misfits from an outsider's point of view. Thankfully, Antonia Levy's book Samurai from Outer Space is the perfect guide for jerks like me who've dismissed an entire animation style out of dislike for its diehard fans. Subtitled "Understanding Japanese Animation," Levy takes the reader through the history of Anime and Manga (Japanese comic books). She explains common themes explored in these media, helping to put them into cultural and historical perspective. Levy's book isn't a lofty dissertation on the integration of Shinto myths into modern Anime. While she covers those subjects and more, Levy quickly gets to brass tacks. In her first chapter, she addresses one of my burning questions about Anime and Manga, "Why do these Japanese characters have exaggerated Anglo features?" According to Levy, the characters are not thought of as belonging to any one particular race. Instead, those big round eyes are more of a stylistic flourish of Manga - just as big eyes are trademark in the U.S. to those annoying Precious Moments statuettes. In Samurai from Outer Space, Levy addresses the appeal of Anime and Manga to Easterners and Westerners. More than cheaply made adventure stories, Anime and Manga are often steeped in the rich culture of their homeland, just as U.S. storytellers sweeten their narratives with references or by playing off of common cultural themes. Just as a viewer not entirely familiar with Greek mythology might not get as many laughs watching "Xena: Warrior Princess" as someone who really knows their Homer, without a substantial understanding of Shinto myth one might scratch their head at "Ranma ½." A thorough and well-written tome, Samurai from Outer Space convinced me to give Anime another chance. (ISBN: 0812693329)
Customer Rating:
Summary: A book on the symbols and stories that are a source...
Comment: for anime and manga. Over 160 pages full of information on Shinto, Buddhism, Samurai legends, Japanese art and history and how Japanese animation uses it. Chapters also on the women of anime, death and the afterlife in animation and a glossary of anime terms. Add 20 full color pictures and lots of humor, and you have a not-so-serious study about the subject. Only problem is that the book was first published in 1996 and, while the newest printing was 2001, has not been updated and therefore still outdated.
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