Purity or Prejudice: consequences of mainstreaming anime and manga?

I can still remember, vaguely, watching Sailor Moon, Pokémon and Digimon what now has to be more than fifteen years ago. At the time I remember liking them, but to be fair I was one of those kids who were up at seven every Saturday watching the Disney cartoons too. The fact that the style of Sailor Moon looked completely different to the majority of shows I saw would have been completely lost on me.

When you grow up, though, you become more aware of context: ethic context, cultural context, social context. And if you don’t grow out of watching “cartoons” you will say with authority that Japanese animation is profoundly different to Western animation, not only in art but in content too.
 
At least, it was. But is it true any longer? When I read one of Holly Black’s novels who knows how long ago, I was quite surprised to find a reference to anime. Should I have been? As the manga industry slowly gains a stronghold on the international market, as channels like ABC3 air Vampire Knight and Deltora Quest, are we beginning to see the divide between East and West blurring?

There might be more cultural cross-over than you think. Nippon Animation is famous for producing numerous anime series based on Western Literature, such as Anne of Green Gables and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I’ve noticed that Alice in Wonderland has been a popular theme in manga of late, whether in the more obvious Alice in the Country of Hearts series, or included in the fairytale references found in Pandora Hearts, or in the re-imagined Are You Alice. Howl’s Moving Castle, one of the best-known films outside of anime fans (that friends would grudgingly watch with me), is based on the late Diana Wynne Jones book of the same name.

Japanese manga, Korean manhwa, Chinese manhua. All technically mean comic, but for many ‘manga’ has become the be-all representation of the particular Eastern style. Apparently, Original English-language manga or ‘OEL manga’ is the term used to describe the manga-like comics made in the English speaking world. Though, to be honest, I’d never come across this term before writing this. The term as used by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ‘international manga’, which encompasses all foreign comics which draw inspiration from the "form of presentation and expression" found in Japanese manga. (At least, this is what wikipedia tells me.)

The Dreaming was one of the first manga put out by Tokyo Pop that was not made in Japan. Tokyo Pop may have shut its doors, but Yen Press, another American manga and graphic novel publishing company, shows in particular how the Eastern comic style is becoming mainstream. Many of their manga titles are based on already published young adult novels. I think it’s interesting that there has been a shift: what once was “the graphic novel” is now moving to define itself explicitly as manga. Twilight’s graphic novel when it came out was called a graphic novel, but several years later, you have The Infernal Devices graphic books promoted as manga.

Yet, while I believe this shows that Eastern and Western comic styles are beginning to nod to each other, look closely at the artists for the Yen Press ‘international manga’. Gossip Girl art and adapted by HyeKyung Baek. Maximum Ride art by NaRae Lee. Artist for Beautiful Creatues Cassandra Jean. Cirque Du Freak graphic novel by Takahiro Arai.  What connotations are implied when we notice only one has a distinctly western name?

This flames up, I think, purest and elitist sensibilities. Do we define anime and manga as the artistic style? Do we define it as a Japanese style, and from there restrict it to also being drawn by Japanese artists? Is anything else a rip-off? Fake? Or, as my sister suggests in a dangerous whisper, “politically incorrect”? Consider the six shorts in Batman: Gotham Knight; scripted by Americans, but its Japanese production team gave it a completely anime look. Then hold that up against the avatar series, The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra, set very much in an Eastern mythology.

For me, it only raises more questions that I obviously don’t have answers too. So anime and manga fans, what do you think? Does ‘anime’ only apply to Japanese animation? Does ‘manga’ only mean a Japanese comic? Will this continue to be the case? And should it be the case?