Financial Crisis in Anime?!

[The_Adventurer]

I always thought the Japanese animation industry has been going steadily downhill in the recent decade. Still, there are some things about the industry as a whole that I prefer over the U.S. or other animation industries, or any media for that matter. Of course, one is that it is more artist driven, when editors, publishers and distributors are there to serve the artists in getting their vision out rather than in the west where these same serve as gatekeepers, controlling the flow of information and limiting what the public will see. As a result of this, there are still Japanese shows which will tackle subjects US animated media would never touch, and that are not pushing some propaganda, or advancing feminism, or controlling public opinion.

I remember a short series called Aoi Bungaku, which was taken from Japanese literature from the 1930's and 1940's. This show dealt quite seriously with themes such as sex, alcohol and drug abuse and suicide. It was animated at near feature quality and was amazing to watch. I don't know how popular it was, but I suspect it didn't get too far in a world of huge breasted girls in armor suits or the so-called "moe" harem shows that seem to dominate the current rubbish bin which is Japan's industry.

Recently, though, I came across a show called [C]: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control. As you might guess, this show is actually all about money. The government is bailed out of financial collapse by a secret organization called Midas Bank, which the IMF is intently monitoring for wrong doing. This organizations promotes entrepreneurs through transactions called "deals" in which they battle each other in a video game style world, called "The Financial District", using money for attacks. The money they make then flows into the real world, which the IMF seems to be worried about. This "black money" looks normal to anyone else, but those involved in the deals can see it for what it is. It seems like a metaphor for fake (debt based?) money boosting up the economy.

Many of the perceived villain type characters have real jobs working high in the real business and financial world of Tokyo. They control stocks, buy up and destroy corporations and even influence the government. The show contains many conversations about the current job market, how difficult it is to support a family, and even how the days of job security, and working for one company for life, are a thing of the past. Characters in the show struggle with daily life as it involves money, or the lack thereof.

This type of show would never ever be made in the US animation world. If it was, it would likely be relegated to direct-to-DVD and likely be available only online, not even making it into mainstream stores. It's a shame the Japanese industry has fallen so far, but there is still hope shining in a few creators out there. I thought this show was made by the same people as Eden of the East[/b], which has some similarities as far as use of money, but it seems to be unrelated.

[odbo]

Anime, at least the mainstream stuff, has no other purpose than to manipulate and program it's target audience. Any "entertainment" value is only to get people watching. The most obvious success story is the emasculation of men, (look at Japanese "men"!). I haven't watched anime in about 8 years but I know there's rampant glorification of homosexuality, paedophilia, bestiality, and especially "the borg agenda" (sex dolls). The normalization of robots in general and human progress built on dehumanization, was already completed decades ago with stuff like Astroboy and Transformers. Ghost in the Shell reminds people that big brother loves them and a life with no privacy is what they need. I won't mention the pagan stuff involving magic, alchemists, and other garbage.

The view that they "are not pushing some propaganda, or advancing feminism, or controlling public opinion" is naive, ignorant (but typical), and above all not true.

A little bit of infotainment, or disinformation masquerading as rebellion (a la Southpark) is hardly a reason to praise their industry. Even Hollywood has people like Stanley Kubrick giving us Eyes Wide Shut, something he was perhaps killed for.

Japanese entertainment.. meaning their films, tv dramas, animations, video games, and popular music, is more often than not dumber than a box of rocks. I enjoyed Detective Conan though

[The_Adventurer]

If you had bothered to actually read my post, you would have seen that I am talking about shows which "are not pushing some propaganda, or advancing feminism, or controlling public opinion" being the exception to the rule of an industry I clearly stated had gone severely downhill and that I also had lost interest in.