Anime Needs To Have More Mature Characters
Seriously.
This thought came to me as I pondered how to improve the currently airing Kanamemo. I realized that the structure of the story – the female main character, upon the death of her grandma who doubled as the parental figure, goes off and without meaning to, ends up working as an apprentice in a business – almost exactly matches the recently completed Ristorante Paradiso. That show was one of my favorites of the Spring season but Kanamemo got dropped for being so lousy. So what’s the difference that caused the disparity between the two?
I could fault Kanamemo for including characters like the loli-obsessed yuri girl and praise Ristorante Paradiso for including interesting characters like Luciano but that wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter. The difference – I realized – is Ristorante Paradiso packed their show with older men and these men, because they’ve lived a longer time, have accrued interesting and varied life stories that influenced their actions and made them great and unique characters.
I concluded then the way to improve Kanamemo was to include some older characters – maybe change it so the paper is run by an elderly couple that are working hard to keep the paper going even when more and more people turn to digitally getting their news. I’m sure there are other improvements one could do but just changing this one thing makes this show sound much more interesting.
My mind wouldn’t stop there, I started to think about other older characters in anime. The first show that came to mind was Ghost in Shell: Stand Alone Complex. For all it’s sleek, cyber-infused future, the character that just oozes coolness isn’t the Major or Batou but Aramaki. With a simple look he could stare down a criminal or just as easily, out-maneuver a government bent on shutting him up.
Or who could forget the granny from Dennou Coil
Or Takeda Shingen from Sengoku Basara
Or the detectives Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple from Great Detectives Poirot and Marple
And I could go on – I didn’t even touch any of Miyazaki’s movies – but I think I made my point. Anime needs to have more mature characters (and American animation too – just look what Pixar did with UP.)
I would happily pay an arm and a leg to see Shingen in Kanamemo. Especially if he punches that pedophile girl in the face.
needs moar Wakamoto
Go show the cookie-cutter streaming site spammer your fist.
And anime needs more shotacon.
It’s true anime is a medium that focuses on youth over maturity – just thinking about it, if you take out all characters under the age of 20, most anime series wouldn’t have any lead, or even secondary, cast members left. Although there’s something appealing about watching a group of kids growing up and overcoming adversity on their own, I’ve always thought it was funny that parents rarely play any role at all in anime, it’s like they don’t exist in their kids’ lives at all. Usually anime character’s parents in particular are dead, working out of town, never home, or all of the above.
It would be interesting to see more cases in anime where youth and maturity learn from and complement each other, since I think that does happen a lot in real life, both in families and informal mentoring – but I’m at a loss thinking of good examples like that in anime I’ve seen. I guess Urusei Yatsura’s an exception where while I can’t say it’s a normal or healthy family, Ataru’s parents do get a lot of screentime – Cardcaptor Sakura too but since only Sakura’s dad is in the picture that only half-counts.
Putting Dennou Coil’s Yasako’s grandma together with Shingen somehow makes me laugh very hard.
Wakamoto Norio also makes many anime series better just by having his voice in it.
Hmm, the Guin Saga seems to combine youth with adults quite well this season. It really has characters of all possible ages, aside from perhaps the really really young ones, and it really gives off a very mature feeling. I agree that there need to be more series like that, though.
@Snark & lelangir: I’ll second both of those suggestions.
@Jura: spammer be gone – I’m surprised something like that got through.
@suguru: I think it would be funny if they did a show where the parents act like normal parents and the characters still have to do whatever it is they’re supposed to do – have to be done saving the world before 10:30 PM or a harem show where the little sisters and mom actively work against the guy.
@Panther: It wasn’t my intention to be funny but putting the two of them together is rather hilarious.
@psgels: I never was interested in Guin Saga for some reason – maybe it was that leopard guy that did it. After it finishes up, I might give it a watch since I’m always looking for good, mature series.
Yes, I sort of agree that if the newspaper delivery office in Kanamemo featured a manager that was say late 30′s or early 40′s it wouldn’t really change the flow of the series and would add a slight amount of realism to the series. The idea couple to run the office would be a married couple that was like Nagisa’s parents from Clannad, that would be a quite lively office.
Good point.
One of the reasons I loved the first season of Darker than Black was the fact that every character was an adult and didn’t have any annoying teenage angst.
Unfortunately, the second season started off in a high school, and has introduced a handful of teenage characters. Caving to the market perhaps?
I agree.. Were it not for utter boredom, i would not have touched darker than black 2 after the first 10 minutes for the very reasons mentioned. I must admit though, it has however progressed to less irritating characters
..thank goodness
Yes, the worries I had after the first couple episodes were unfounded. I am enjoying Suou’s character arc now. Although there is that silly transvestite has his goofball son who somewhat disturbingly pines after the young Suou.
Most of the characters in visual novels are teenagers, but strangely they are a lot more mature than any teenagers I’ve ever met. Actually, that’s not quite true. Those on the student council, sports, and the leaders of various clubs, those were mature and responsible. The others were followers.
Which, coincidentally, is exactly what makes anime teenagers more mature: in stories where they are forced to experience what it takes to be a leader and doer, they naturally have to become proactive, regardless of their wishes. Code Geass is pretty famous for that. And normal families are dealt with in VNs like Clannad. The main character, Tomoya, does not have a functional family. But his friend Nagisa does. And going to her place, often makes him very envious. Then there’s all kinds of issues that crop up, forcing Tomoya to go look for allies, often adults, to help solve his problems. The Japanese philosophy is that teenagers aren’t adults, but nor are they children. Thus they are expected to FEND for themselves, like living alone. But that’s not to say they think this is automatically healthy. No, they also present adults as leaders, guides, and those who support the next generation, until the next generation matures and Takes Power. There’s no such corrupted belief, as there is in America, that “adults” are there to help children experience the boundless pleasures of sex, alcohol, or non judgmental stuff like that. Not in the mainstream, not in the society’s rules, and not in mainstream anime either. Even in eroge, you don’t see it except in the porn focused ones.
@@suguru: I think it would be funny if they did a show where the parents act like normal parents and the characters still have to do whatever it is they’re supposed to do
Did you just describe OreImouto, Steel?
Once one looks at different demographics for anime or visual novels, one should easily see mature life experiences take hold. Which is to say, in a lot of material I forget the characters are teenagers because what they are dealing with is adult level stuff. And they’re not doing badly either. One guy in Eien no Aselia becomes a war band leader of a bunch of amazons and slave fighters. He does pretty well on both a psychological and physical level. At the end of the story, you’d be surprised at how much he had grown, and how little time had passed since that guy was in high school.
A significant reason for Japanese anime success, is that it reinforces the standards for mainstream society, but yet at the same time attracts rebels and malcontents. The Japanese hierarchy of kouhai becoming sempai, follower to leader, is very important and is often reinforced in the themes of various anime. The idea that you should learn to follow orders before you are allowed to give them, is an idea well accepted in the military and in Japanese society. Because a kouhai and a sempai has a lot more in common with an enlisted obeying the orders of their superiors, than any kind of “equal” relationship in the West.
Thus a lot of anime is targeted against the young, for it is the young that needs to learn how to become a proper adult (Japanese citizen). Something that helps create the strong societal foundation of Japan, where there is no corruption or stealing in disaster relief. Give people supplies randomly and they’ll distribute it to their neighbors automatically. The Yakuza even helped out when the government was too slow on a previous 8.0 quake. I don’t have to tell Americans that Katrina, Detroit, and Chicago… wouldn’t have been capable of that, regardless of the circumstance.