first i'd like to note that i copy/pasted verbatim from this page
%angelfire.%com/%geek/tetrisnomiko/%misconceptions.%html
sorry for butchering the link but it's not allowing me to post >_> just delete the %'s
second i'd like to note why i'm posting this. i found a page stickied in here also titled "anime misconceptions" and i figured i'd clear some stuff up for you xians :3
Misconception #1:
"Anime is not for children"
The average non-anime fan taunts the anime otaku by saying "You like anime?? But cartoons are for children!", and the anime otaku responds in saying "Japanese animation is not intended for children. It is intended for people of all ages, and most of it is intended for teens and adults, so hah!". I hate to break it to you, guys, but Japanese animation (as is Western animation) is intended for children!!. There are a few exceptions (which I will cover later), but in general, anime is for children.
When I went to Japan as an exchange student and told people there I liked anime, they giggled and said "But thats for children." I said back "But what about the violence and nudity?" and they gave me blank looks as if to say "What? Theres something wrong with violence and nudity?". The simple fact is that Japanese culture is different from Western culture. In Western culture (especially America), strong emphasis is placed on censorship in TV and other media.
While I was in Italy, I saw a billboard with a naked lady on it. I saw an ad on the back of Shocomi Magazine in Japan for a manga school which showed a class drawing a naked lady. It is obvious that nudity is just not shunned in other cultures as it is in America.
Likewise, sexual references, homosexual references, violence, etc., all considered "bad" for children in America are not considered "bad" in other countries.
Sailormoon, Pokemon, Gundam, Card Captor Sakura, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Marmalade Boy, Fushigi Yuugi, GTO, Detective Conan, One Piece, Hime-chans Ribbon, Chou Kuse ni Narisou, Yuu Yuu Hakushou, Youre Under Arrest . ALL of these shows were intended for children (elementary school through early junior high at the LATEST).
I have more proof other than what Japanese people say (which should be proof enough).
-Watase Yuu (a Manga-ka) discussed how Americans view anime differently than the Japanese in her freetalk of Anime Expo 98 in Ayashi no Ceres, vol. 8. (I have a translation here).
-A message appears at the bottom of the screen during lots of anime aired on TV saying "To all you little kiddies! Be sure to turn the lights up bright in the room while you watch anime".
-In the GTO Anime Character Guide book, Mr. Shimizu of the staff stated: " We hope to make the anime GTO an anime that adults can enjoy, too. Just as Lupin III, though intended for children, was still entertaining for adults, we want GTO to be an anime that even adults can watch."
-Another example is the time slots anime have. Almost all anime by Ribbon (Marmalade Boy, Hime-chans Ribbon, GALS! ) is aired in the morning; a sure sign that children are supposed to watch it. Other anime is aired in prime time (like GTO, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, One Piece ) but never later than 8:00.
All of these points imply that most anime is indeed created for children. While several grown adults in Japan will admit to watching and enjoying anime like Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, or GTO, they are still intended mainly for children. Shoujo anime especially.
Exceptions:
The picture of the very anime you see on your right (Weiss Kreuz) is an exception. Anime aired on cable (Ayashi no Ceres, Gravitation, Yami no Matsuei, Weiss Kreuz, Mahoutsukai Tai), and some OVAs, and anime porno are not intended for children. "So its intended for adults, then!" you say BZZZ! Wrong!
Misconception #2:
"Anime is popular in Japan"
Anime otaku tend to have the idea that anime in Japan is mainstream and that everyone loves it and watches it as much as Americans love and watch sitcoms. That is simply not true. Its normal to watch one or two anime shows a week (a couple of my high school and adult friends in Japan watched Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo and Detective Conan regularly), and Kinoko-chan (another friend) checked out the Ayashi no Ceres anime because she loved the manga. But if you are in high school or older and you love anime, you are just as much an anime otaku in Japan as you are in America.
"So what IS mainstream?" you ask. The answer is manga.
A couple examples: My beloved coffee shop, Rengai-ya, had a bookshelf full of manga for customers to read. Grown men and women read the manga and even the monthly magazine, "Margaret Betsuma" (a magazine that is intended for girls junior high age and up)
My class in high school would not be complete without volumes of manga (of all kinds. Ribbon, Kodansha, Hana to Yume, Flower, Margaret, Shounen Jump, etc.) circulating about the room. But even though most of the girls in that class would gladly read Card Captor Sakura the manga, they would not be caught dead watching the anime.
When you think about it, this concept is true in America. My dad, mom, and any other adult I knew would read the Garfield comics but not the Saturday morning cartoon. My grown-up cousins would read the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics but not the Saturday morning cartoon. Manga is mainstream. Manga is everywhere. Anime is not.
But back to the subject of anime being intended for children, you ask "But what about the swearing? Dont they consider THAT bad for children?" . Which leads me on to
Misconception #3:
"American releases of anime are bad because they leave out the swearing"
That handsome, fanged guy you see on your left is Tasuki >: )= He is a character from the very popular anime "Fushigi Yuugi". This anime was first successful as a fansub, and then was bought by Pioneer and subtitled and dubbed officially in America. As Fushigi Yuugi was first being released by Pioneer, many people who had seen the fansub complained that Tasukis swearing (and the swearing of all the characters) had been toned down a lot, or left out all together.
This misconception is not only ignorant, but it offends me as a translator. Who are you (who depend on subtitles to understand anime) to say that a translation is "wrong"? Why is a translation by an amateur for a fansub more accurate than a translation by a highly-paid professional for a money-making release?
Japanese and English are two languages that are totally and utterly unrelated. While Japanese does have words which are considered "rude", and words that one says when one is upset, the Japanese language really has no definite set of "swear words" as we have in English. This is where the translator really has to consider making an English equivilant rather than an English translation of the anime. Here are some examples:
Iya simply translates to "no". Since it is rude in Japanese to bluntly say "no" in many situations, a proper English equivilant for "iya" if spoken to, say, the President, would be along the lines of "Hell, no", "F***, no", "Yeah, right", etc If the person saying "Iya" to the President were one of his cabinet members, I think a simple "Hell, no" would suffice. Whereas, if the person saying "iya" to the President were his biker, messed up, teen-aged son, I think "F***, no" would be more accurate. But then, we have to take into account that this anime in which the Presidents biker, messed up son was saying "iya" in might have been aired on TV, thus, back to the simple "Hell, no".
"So which is correct, then?" you ask. There is no solid answer for that. There are many ways of translating Japanese to English, and it is purely up to the translator and editor. As long as the original meaning was not taken away, and as long as the characters are talking in character, the translation is good.
Misconception #4:
"But the Japanese voice actors are just so much better than the dub!"
This misconception is a fair one because it is partially true. This argument is usually brought up in the never-ending Dub vs Sub Wars. Pro-subers say they prefer subtitles because the English voices are bad and cant act. Whether or not someone can act well is purely opinion. The reason many people say they prefer the original Japanese voices is simply because those are the voices they heard first and are accustomed to.
But there have been plenty of cases in which I was not happy with the Japanese voice actors. In some cases, I think their acting is bad and in others, I dont think their voice matches the image of the character. (Other manga fans will understand where Im coming from). Ill list a few:
Kouda Mikako (from Neighborhood Story)- in my opinion, she cant act and she cant sing either. Her expressions in her voice dont match the expressions of the anime character on my TV screen.
Hibino Hikaru (from Hime-chans Ribbon)- TERRIBLE. She sounds like a 40-year old housewife, not a snobbish junior higher.
Gushoushin (from Yami no Matsuei)- I dont remember which one, (maybe even both of them, but I didnt like Gushoushins acting. It sounded far too childish and over-expressive to me.
Fuu (from Magic Knight Rayearth)- Not a good actor. Perhaps the super-formal speech pattern was hindering her from putting better expression into her acting But Tomoyo (from Card Captor Sakura) had a super-formal speech pattern, too, and I think Iwao Junko (Tomoyos VA) did a very good job (But Iwao Junko is just a good VA in general, though. Her Ceres was beautiful.)
Kobayashi Daichi (from Hime-chans Ribbon)- A mediocre actor, no complaints in that department, I just think he should have been voiced by a male VA. (I only say this since most of the other boys his age in that anime all have male VAs.)
Yuuki Miaka (from Fushigi Yuugi)- HER VOICE IS TOO HIGH!! For a long time, I hated Miaka (though I loved Fushigi Yuugi). I thought I hated her character, but after I learned Japanese and read the manga, I realized the truth It was just her voice that irritated me; Araki Kae (Miakas VA) is a great actress, and normally, she has a nice voice. I just think she overdid it with Miaka.
Sakurakouji Yuu (from the Mask of Glass OVA)- I like Okiayu Ryoutarous voice, but dangit, he does NOT fit Sakurakoujis image. He also did not fit Matsuura Yuus image in Marmalade Boy (Hmmm, lots of "Yuu"s hes cast as ^^ Though I LOVED him as Tigers Eye from Sailormoon XD
Kitajima Maya (from the Mask of Glass TV series)- Katsuki Masako sounds like an adult woman. She does not sound like Kitajima Maya. Her acting is also over-dramatic and shes a bit of a ham (as Maya. I love her as Ikari-sensei from Kimen Gumi and as Sailor Neptune, though ^_-) Ogata Megumi did a wonderful job with Mayas voice in the OVAs, and I wish she had voiced Maya in the TV series as well.
Kenshin (from Rurouni Kenshin)- Great actress, but I think they should have had a male voice Kenshin.
And the list goes on and on. ;; As I stated earlier, controversy regarding voice actors all boils down to personal preference. I would just like to bring up the idea that Japanese voice actors can be "bad", too.
Misconception #5:
"Anime songs and anime music is popular music in Japan"
Aside from an occasional theme song done by a popular artist or group (examples include both GTO opening themes, Hime-chans Ribbons themes, Rurouni Kenshins first opening theme), anime theme songs, insert songs, and character songs are not popular music. They are not played over the radio on normal pop/rock stations, and they are not bought by your "typical" Japanese person.
I dont think many of you were under this misconception, but I sure was ; The revelation came to me during my first time at a karaoke box in Japan. Karaoke is very popular in Japan and they have booklets with all kinds of songs, new and old, and in all kinds of languages to chose from but good luck finding an anime song you want to sing! (Sometimes the anime song section was only as big as the Chinese music section!! O_O)
The most I could ever find of a series (if I was lucky) was the opening theme song, and there were certainly next to zero character songs available (the most I remember being available to sing in the department of character songs were a few songs from Sailor Moon, but that is an extremely popular series, so thats an exception I even heard Moonlight Densetsu on the radio once
).
Likewise, voice actors are not thought of as popular singers. I had to special order my single of "Scarlet" from a CD store in Japan, even though Iwao Junko (a very popular VA) was the singer. The only voice actor who has gotten close to being called a "pop singer" is Hayashibara Megumi. Shes the only anime voice actor who has her own section in the karaoke book (and believe me, I looked for other popular VAs: Koyasu Takehito, Araki Kae, Iwao Junko, Seki Tomokazu, Midorikawa Hikaru, Shinichiro Miki, Ogata Megumi, Mitsuishi Kotono .none were listed.
And also likewise! Singers who do the theme songs of anime who are not VAs are not necessarily popular singers. Ask a few random Japanese people if they have heard of Satou Akemi (theme and insert singer for Fushigi Yuugi) and they will give you blank stares. (Incidentally, Satou Akemi is not listed in the karaoke books). These people may have released singles or CD albums, but these are mostly for fans of the anime the singer sang for.
%angelfire.%com/%geek/tetrisnomiko/%misconceptions.%html
sorry for butchering the link but it's not allowing me to post >_> just delete the %'s
second i'd like to note why i'm posting this. i found a page stickied in here also titled "anime misconceptions" and i figured i'd clear some stuff up for you xians :3
Misconception #1:
"Anime is not for children"
The average non-anime fan taunts the anime otaku by saying "You like anime?? But cartoons are for children!", and the anime otaku responds in saying "Japanese animation is not intended for children. It is intended for people of all ages, and most of it is intended for teens and adults, so hah!". I hate to break it to you, guys, but Japanese animation (as is Western animation) is intended for children!!. There are a few exceptions (which I will cover later), but in general, anime is for children.
When I went to Japan as an exchange student and told people there I liked anime, they giggled and said "But thats for children." I said back "But what about the violence and nudity?" and they gave me blank looks as if to say "What? Theres something wrong with violence and nudity?". The simple fact is that Japanese culture is different from Western culture. In Western culture (especially America), strong emphasis is placed on censorship in TV and other media.
While I was in Italy, I saw a billboard with a naked lady on it. I saw an ad on the back of Shocomi Magazine in Japan for a manga school which showed a class drawing a naked lady. It is obvious that nudity is just not shunned in other cultures as it is in America.
Likewise, sexual references, homosexual references, violence, etc., all considered "bad" for children in America are not considered "bad" in other countries.
Sailormoon, Pokemon, Gundam, Card Captor Sakura, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Marmalade Boy, Fushigi Yuugi, GTO, Detective Conan, One Piece, Hime-chans Ribbon, Chou Kuse ni Narisou, Yuu Yuu Hakushou, Youre Under Arrest . ALL of these shows were intended for children (elementary school through early junior high at the LATEST).
I have more proof other than what Japanese people say (which should be proof enough).
-Watase Yuu (a Manga-ka) discussed how Americans view anime differently than the Japanese in her freetalk of Anime Expo 98 in Ayashi no Ceres, vol. 8. (I have a translation here).
-A message appears at the bottom of the screen during lots of anime aired on TV saying "To all you little kiddies! Be sure to turn the lights up bright in the room while you watch anime".
-In the GTO Anime Character Guide book, Mr. Shimizu of the staff stated: " We hope to make the anime GTO an anime that adults can enjoy, too. Just as Lupin III, though intended for children, was still entertaining for adults, we want GTO to be an anime that even adults can watch."
-Another example is the time slots anime have. Almost all anime by Ribbon (Marmalade Boy, Hime-chans Ribbon, GALS! ) is aired in the morning; a sure sign that children are supposed to watch it. Other anime is aired in prime time (like GTO, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, One Piece ) but never later than 8:00.
All of these points imply that most anime is indeed created for children. While several grown adults in Japan will admit to watching and enjoying anime like Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, or GTO, they are still intended mainly for children. Shoujo anime especially.
Exceptions:
The picture of the very anime you see on your right (Weiss Kreuz) is an exception. Anime aired on cable (Ayashi no Ceres, Gravitation, Yami no Matsuei, Weiss Kreuz, Mahoutsukai Tai), and some OVAs, and anime porno are not intended for children. "So its intended for adults, then!" you say BZZZ! Wrong!
Misconception #2:
"Anime is popular in Japan"
Anime otaku tend to have the idea that anime in Japan is mainstream and that everyone loves it and watches it as much as Americans love and watch sitcoms. That is simply not true. Its normal to watch one or two anime shows a week (a couple of my high school and adult friends in Japan watched Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo and Detective Conan regularly), and Kinoko-chan (another friend) checked out the Ayashi no Ceres anime because she loved the manga. But if you are in high school or older and you love anime, you are just as much an anime otaku in Japan as you are in America.
"So what IS mainstream?" you ask. The answer is manga.
A couple examples: My beloved coffee shop, Rengai-ya, had a bookshelf full of manga for customers to read. Grown men and women read the manga and even the monthly magazine, "Margaret Betsuma" (a magazine that is intended for girls junior high age and up)
My class in high school would not be complete without volumes of manga (of all kinds. Ribbon, Kodansha, Hana to Yume, Flower, Margaret, Shounen Jump, etc.) circulating about the room. But even though most of the girls in that class would gladly read Card Captor Sakura the manga, they would not be caught dead watching the anime.
When you think about it, this concept is true in America. My dad, mom, and any other adult I knew would read the Garfield comics but not the Saturday morning cartoon. My grown-up cousins would read the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics but not the Saturday morning cartoon. Manga is mainstream. Manga is everywhere. Anime is not.
But back to the subject of anime being intended for children, you ask "But what about the swearing? Dont they consider THAT bad for children?" . Which leads me on to
Misconception #3:
"American releases of anime are bad because they leave out the swearing"
That handsome, fanged guy you see on your left is Tasuki >: )= He is a character from the very popular anime "Fushigi Yuugi". This anime was first successful as a fansub, and then was bought by Pioneer and subtitled and dubbed officially in America. As Fushigi Yuugi was first being released by Pioneer, many people who had seen the fansub complained that Tasukis swearing (and the swearing of all the characters) had been toned down a lot, or left out all together.
This misconception is not only ignorant, but it offends me as a translator. Who are you (who depend on subtitles to understand anime) to say that a translation is "wrong"? Why is a translation by an amateur for a fansub more accurate than a translation by a highly-paid professional for a money-making release?
Japanese and English are two languages that are totally and utterly unrelated. While Japanese does have words which are considered "rude", and words that one says when one is upset, the Japanese language really has no definite set of "swear words" as we have in English. This is where the translator really has to consider making an English equivilant rather than an English translation of the anime. Here are some examples:
Iya simply translates to "no". Since it is rude in Japanese to bluntly say "no" in many situations, a proper English equivilant for "iya" if spoken to, say, the President, would be along the lines of "Hell, no", "F***, no", "Yeah, right", etc If the person saying "Iya" to the President were one of his cabinet members, I think a simple "Hell, no" would suffice. Whereas, if the person saying "iya" to the President were his biker, messed up, teen-aged son, I think "F***, no" would be more accurate. But then, we have to take into account that this anime in which the Presidents biker, messed up son was saying "iya" in might have been aired on TV, thus, back to the simple "Hell, no".
"So which is correct, then?" you ask. There is no solid answer for that. There are many ways of translating Japanese to English, and it is purely up to the translator and editor. As long as the original meaning was not taken away, and as long as the characters are talking in character, the translation is good.
Misconception #4:
"But the Japanese voice actors are just so much better than the dub!"
This misconception is a fair one because it is partially true. This argument is usually brought up in the never-ending Dub vs Sub Wars. Pro-subers say they prefer subtitles because the English voices are bad and cant act. Whether or not someone can act well is purely opinion. The reason many people say they prefer the original Japanese voices is simply because those are the voices they heard first and are accustomed to.
But there have been plenty of cases in which I was not happy with the Japanese voice actors. In some cases, I think their acting is bad and in others, I dont think their voice matches the image of the character. (Other manga fans will understand where Im coming from). Ill list a few:
Kouda Mikako (from Neighborhood Story)- in my opinion, she cant act and she cant sing either. Her expressions in her voice dont match the expressions of the anime character on my TV screen.
Hibino Hikaru (from Hime-chans Ribbon)- TERRIBLE. She sounds like a 40-year old housewife, not a snobbish junior higher.
Gushoushin (from Yami no Matsuei)- I dont remember which one, (maybe even both of them, but I didnt like Gushoushins acting. It sounded far too childish and over-expressive to me.
Fuu (from Magic Knight Rayearth)- Not a good actor. Perhaps the super-formal speech pattern was hindering her from putting better expression into her acting But Tomoyo (from Card Captor Sakura) had a super-formal speech pattern, too, and I think Iwao Junko (Tomoyos VA) did a very good job (But Iwao Junko is just a good VA in general, though. Her Ceres was beautiful.)
Kobayashi Daichi (from Hime-chans Ribbon)- A mediocre actor, no complaints in that department, I just think he should have been voiced by a male VA. (I only say this since most of the other boys his age in that anime all have male VAs.)
Yuuki Miaka (from Fushigi Yuugi)- HER VOICE IS TOO HIGH!! For a long time, I hated Miaka (though I loved Fushigi Yuugi). I thought I hated her character, but after I learned Japanese and read the manga, I realized the truth It was just her voice that irritated me; Araki Kae (Miakas VA) is a great actress, and normally, she has a nice voice. I just think she overdid it with Miaka.
Sakurakouji Yuu (from the Mask of Glass OVA)- I like Okiayu Ryoutarous voice, but dangit, he does NOT fit Sakurakoujis image. He also did not fit Matsuura Yuus image in Marmalade Boy (Hmmm, lots of "Yuu"s hes cast as ^^ Though I LOVED him as Tigers Eye from Sailormoon XD
Kitajima Maya (from the Mask of Glass TV series)- Katsuki Masako sounds like an adult woman. She does not sound like Kitajima Maya. Her acting is also over-dramatic and shes a bit of a ham (as Maya. I love her as Ikari-sensei from Kimen Gumi and as Sailor Neptune, though ^_-) Ogata Megumi did a wonderful job with Mayas voice in the OVAs, and I wish she had voiced Maya in the TV series as well.
Kenshin (from Rurouni Kenshin)- Great actress, but I think they should have had a male voice Kenshin.
And the list goes on and on. ;; As I stated earlier, controversy regarding voice actors all boils down to personal preference. I would just like to bring up the idea that Japanese voice actors can be "bad", too.
Misconception #5:
"Anime songs and anime music is popular music in Japan"
Aside from an occasional theme song done by a popular artist or group (examples include both GTO opening themes, Hime-chans Ribbons themes, Rurouni Kenshins first opening theme), anime theme songs, insert songs, and character songs are not popular music. They are not played over the radio on normal pop/rock stations, and they are not bought by your "typical" Japanese person.
I dont think many of you were under this misconception, but I sure was ; The revelation came to me during my first time at a karaoke box in Japan. Karaoke is very popular in Japan and they have booklets with all kinds of songs, new and old, and in all kinds of languages to chose from but good luck finding an anime song you want to sing! (Sometimes the anime song section was only as big as the Chinese music section!! O_O)
The most I could ever find of a series (if I was lucky) was the opening theme song, and there were certainly next to zero character songs available (the most I remember being available to sing in the department of character songs were a few songs from Sailor Moon, but that is an extremely popular series, so thats an exception I even heard Moonlight Densetsu on the radio once
).Likewise, voice actors are not thought of as popular singers. I had to special order my single of "Scarlet" from a CD store in Japan, even though Iwao Junko (a very popular VA) was the singer. The only voice actor who has gotten close to being called a "pop singer" is Hayashibara Megumi. Shes the only anime voice actor who has her own section in the karaoke book (and believe me, I looked for other popular VAs: Koyasu Takehito, Araki Kae, Iwao Junko, Seki Tomokazu, Midorikawa Hikaru, Shinichiro Miki, Ogata Megumi, Mitsuishi Kotono .none were listed.
And also likewise! Singers who do the theme songs of anime who are not VAs are not necessarily popular singers. Ask a few random Japanese people if they have heard of Satou Akemi (theme and insert singer for Fushigi Yuugi) and they will give you blank stares. (Incidentally, Satou Akemi is not listed in the karaoke books). These people may have released singles or CD albums, but these are mostly for fans of the anime the singer sang for.
