Depth in Anime? The Aftermath

Initially, with this follow-up, I wanted to address everyone's articles and share my thoughts on each. But, like most the readers, I'm totally overwhelmed by the wealth of opinion produced. Each article deals with a multitude of facets relating to the topic -- so much so that to respond to each one properly would require massive collection of independent posts. So I intend to cop-out a bit and talk in general terms with my own post being the central concern. To make up for my shameless laziness, however, I'm going to reread every article involved and post a comment on their respective sites. That'll quell the guilt a little, I hope. :3

All in all I thought this event was quite successful in what we were aiming to do. One thing we didn't make particularly clear was that none of the original contributors discussed what they would write about. The aim was simply to see how we all tackled the main contention of the statement "anime isn't deep, it's just entertainment" independent from outside influences. Some took a more concentrated approach and used magnified examples to present their case; others took a broader, generalised tact. I think I placed mainly in the latter, trying to express a generalised view while using various examples to justify it.

How well did I accomplish this? I'm not sure. The article probably could've done with more definite statements. I fell victim to the dreaded essay phenomena known as 'waffling' and the chief thrust got diluted somewhat by tangents. My main point was basically this: depth can exist in anime like it can exist in any form of fictional story telling, but it's really the emotional depth that dictates whether it is successful with its depth or not. Hidoshi, seemingly, shared the same belief, as did Bateszi towards his conclusion. The main intention behind my argument was to explain that emotional depth is the key component in the success or failure in anime-generally-considered-to-be-deep.

Impz left a comment criticising the lack of defining my own terms for depth,

"Well, the issue with the topic is that you have to actually define the meaning of deep in your own terms. However, I believe that the context of the topic is a dichotomous between deep and entertainment, which usually means an active and passive viewing and involvement in the very artwork that is presented.

Using your definition, it is clearly true that the anime that you have mentioned has depth, but to use it in the two parallel terms that is presented in the topic, it seems somewhat inaccurate."

My response to this (sorry for being impersonal and doing it through an entry rather than a reply comment!) is that I feel I did define my terms, albeit in a fairly implicit fashion. I didn't open my article with a dictionary definition and then explain how my own perceptions related to this. Instead I drew out two notions of depth (intellectual and emotional) and then went on to explain which I felt to be the most important. The dichotomy between depth and entertainment wasn't explicitly addressed because I didn't feel it to be that much of a dichotomy. Entertainment and depth are not mutually exclusive in my opinion (a sentiment echoed by Bateszi's conclusion); that there isn't middle ground between these supposedly opposing factions. My use of the two terms may only seem inaccurate if you believe them to be independent from one another, which I don't agree with. I could've taken the angle that depth equals intelligence and entertainment equals shallow fun, but again this didn't represent my feelings on the matter. I wrote my article with the intention of deconstructing successful examples of deep anime, not to argue semantics.

"In addition, as much as we like to mention about the deepness of anime, the many anime that you have mentioned are perhaps a rarity in the forest of anime that is available. A small boat does not make a fleet, and it simply shows that anime, on a general context, is still a quick fix of entertainment."

The first point is fair - the amount of deep anime is in a minority compared to the amount of non-deep anime. But really I wasn't trying to talk in blacks and whites - "all anime is deep/all anime is shallow" - I simply wanted to analyse the specifics of how multi-layered, highly regarded anime successfully (or not) came across as deep. I wanted to take the minority and tackle the specifics in how they came to be known as deep anime.

Regarding the final sentiment, I think it's lazy to talk about anime 'in a general context' when there's seemingly enough examples of it not just being 'a quick fix of entertainment'. Considering the intentions of the mainstream, popular anime, that might be true, but why should we out-right dismiss the anime that isn't disposable simply because it's in the minority?

In another comment Mike disagreed with my dismissal of Evangelion's use of psychoanalysis,

"I actually do think that the psychoanalytic stuff in Eva was meaningful in the context of the story. The entire story can be read in light of the Oedipus and Electra complexes, and seems intentionally structured so, particularly as you get closer to the end. Jung's idea of selfhood also makes notable apperances. It's also notable that Carl Jung was one of the original modern people who was fascinated by Kabbalah, and Kabbalistic imagery is everywhere in Evangelion."

And I admit I did that, more than anything, for the sake of rhetorical flourish. I think if I was more informed on the stuff it utilised I'd be more sympathetic to the way in which it was used. But my main intention in dismissing it was to underline the argument that intellectual depth only goes so far if you know what it's talking about. I wanted to really push the opinion that emotional depth is the thing that makes deep anime really worthwhile in a populous sense, because it's the thing that we can all appreciate as human beings rather than academics.

So, I'll leave this rather selfish aftermath report at that. Like I say, I'll now go and reread the other articles and comment on specifics there. Doing so here would just take so much time if I wanted to honour them all properly. I'm really pleased with the outcome of this event, though; initially for what the original seven contributed and then how others added their own thoughts afterwards. The anime community really did themselves justice with this. Good work, guys!

Comments

[jacobroder]

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Check out the video they have on the page.

Cheers

Jacob Roder