Another in our "Anime Conversations" series, because for some reason I enjoy fictionalizing what should be ordinary blog entries. (eh. It's more entertaining that way.)

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Welcome once again to the newly-christened 'Raven Room'

"Nice name."

...Thank you, Prof. --and thanks to all who will be joining us for our next anime discussion

[in stereo] "*groan*"

and as you can tell from the bitching and moaning, I'm joined once again by Mitch and the Professor... say, Prof, what is your name anyway?

"Well, in the last interstitial, you had the Dean call me Nigel."

Nigel? That's a goofy name.

"Hey now"

Why'd I do that?

"I think you were trying to make me British or some such."

Oh. Well, what's your last name then?

[beat]
"Are you trying to play stupid or is the beer finally getting to you? If you're looking for a name, well then, you tell me."

Oh, right. Me being the author and all... OK. Today I'm joined in the studio by Mitch and Prof. Halford [Prof nods in agreement ] and we're going to pick up where we left off some ten days ago or so...

[in stereo] "*groan*"
"I guess I'm going to need another beer-- unless you bought the scotch?"

Still out.

"No worries." [*cshk*]

And you, Professor?

"I'm fine. Brought my own [*cough*] coffee."

Ah yes. I seem to remember your recipe for Irish Coffee. Is everyone settled in?
[mental image: a fireplace, though the fire is all embers and ash. The gas lamps about the study are providing sufficient light for the occasion, however. Your Host and the Professor occupy matching leather armchairs to one side of the fireplace, while Mitch is manning a rather large desk on the other end of the room. Mitch has commandeered the beer cooler, and is currently lounging with the cooler on one half of the desk, and his feet up on the other. Your Host is smoking a pipe, while the Prof is occasionally filling a coffee mug from a non-descript bottle he thinks he's hiding by keeping it on the floor next to his chair. Got it?]
And so...

"You're 350 words in and now we're finally getting to the point?"

Shut it, Mitch.


There are a lot of topics I could cover first. A survey of major anime plot types, a review of 'landmark' anime series of the past 30 years, Anime as seen in the United States-- and the influence of key series in the overall acceptance of anime in America...

Some of that would be totally yawn-inducing

"All of it is yawn-inducing"

Shut it, Mitch.

So rather than a historical survey, let's look at story structure instead. No matter which type of anime we'd consider-- magical, giant robot, high-school combat tournaments, some-guy-surrounded-by-a-half-dozen-chicks... there is one point that seems to be a foundation for a lot of these shows.

Where are the parents?

19 times out of 20, our protagonist is going to be some teenaged kid. 19 times out of 20, our kid hero is either an orphan, or his parents work overseas, or he just left home to try and get into college, or she just transferred into an all-girls boarding school...

This particular plot device comes up so very often that this has moved from coincidence to 'standard practice' to cliche. It almost goes without saying that the main character of an anime is going to be a teenage kid, and for whatever reason, the kid is on his or her own.

How many of these can I cite? Akira, Burst Angel, Card Captor Sakura, Chrono Crusade, Evangelion, Fushigi Yugi, Gasaraki, Gundam (gundams, plural, take anyone you'd like), Ikki Tousen, Lain, Magic Knight Rayearth, Mohoromatic, Neo Ranga, Pretear, Rahxephon, Sister Princess, Witch Hunter Robin... [edit: yeah, too many to bother with.]

Let me put it this way: if you're a fan, think of your favs, and note how many have a teenaged protagonist with either explicitly missing parents, or ones that just never get shown, or mentioned.

When grownups are present, they're unapproachable, unavailable, or ineffective. A good example of there-but-ineffective parents would be Tenchi.

"Who's Tenchi?"

Consider this a 'recommended reading' anime, Prof. Tenchi Muyo in all of it's various incarnations is one of the standards of modern anime. A brief summary: One ordinary, unlucky guy finds himself surrounded by a half dozen (and more) beautiful women, all of whom want him. (for whatever reason, despite his ordinary looks and talents. ...yes, there may be a certain amount of wish fulfillment on the part of both creators and fans here.) In Tenchi's case, the women in his life are all aliens (cute, human-looking aliens) of various stripes who are marooned on earth each for a different reason, and all of whom end up living in his house. The details, I'll leave to the show. (and yes, this is what is referred to as a 'harem' title, in that we have the one guy and a bunch of chicks-- but I'll discuss that in length later, too.)

"So far, you're not explaining anything, really"

Well, it's a lot to get into, Mitch. Let's just say there's this anime, Tenchi Muyo, that a lot of folks have seen, even if you haven't, and it makes a good place to start.

[Mitch shrugs]

Well, in Tenchi's case, his dad is an idiot. Even though one of his parents is around, it's more of a hinderance than a help. (his grandfather is also around, and his grandpa kicks ass-- in keeping with anime rule #1-- but grandpa has better things to do than get involved in the sort of crap Tenchi gets himself mired in once an episode)

If you were a fan of Campbell or Lord Raglan, you might notice that this alienation from family & support seems like a necessary step. Our hero can't set about on his journey if he has a happy home life. (even if he were content and complacent, he must voluntarily leave to save said happy home. that's the mythic structure for you...)

We might take a step back from myth, however, and look at a couple of other reasons for our lonely teenage protagonists.

First, the main consumers of anime (in Japan and abroad) are teenagers. This is the target market. Even though most will be living in completely ordinary homes, how many teenagers do you know that are 100% happy with that? [insert editorial here on teenagers.] It's a complex thing, raising a child, dealing with the need to support young men and women while allowing them their space...

setting aside the parenting angle-- for the purposes of a fictional narrative, we have to accept that the kids are on their own. In real life, a teenager could appeal to his or her parents if things really got bad, but for the sake of story, we can't have our hero taking that kind of shortcut. (if they do try it, they're going to get shot down, obviously.)

Second, a promising but untried hero makes a good protagonist. We don't know if he or she can save the world, but we're willing to watch them try. While someone could write a story about a 60 year old grandma that suddenly finds the power within herself to defeat alien invaders, it's a bit of a stretch. There is something about the potential inherent in the young... Besides, our grandma doesn't look anywhere near as cute in a school uniform...

which will bring me to my third point: All the heroes are teenagers, because they look good in school uniforms. This has something to do with the mentality of Japanese creators, animators, and fans (and myself) and very little to do with story necessities or mythic structure. It's just more fun to watch a cute girl in a miniskirt save the universe. (or spandex. spandex is good too) (though... OK, spandex is universal; western comic book heroes wear it, too. But why are western comic heroes in skin-tight spandex virile males, while japanese equivalents are underaged females? Actually, I don't think I'll argue that point one way or the other, but my preference is for the Japanese model)

"*snort*"

Yes, Mitch?

[laughing, tyring to hide it] "Oh, nothing"

And you, Prof?

"Well... are you trying to say that no matter how we parse it, using fallbacks like 'mythic structure' and 'universal storytelling'... in the end it comes down to high-school girls in skirts?"

Hm.

[beat]

...and for our next topic, we'll look at sidekicks.

"copout!"

Shut it, Mitch.