*Diversity, protest, and queerness are woven deeply into the DNA of Japan’s illustrated entertainment.*
This is 100% true — take it from someone who’s been a fan of anime and manga since high school in the early 2000s. It was apparent even then.
However, in online spaces, anime and manga are often associated with the political Right. Not because of the messages; Japanese creatives aren’t pandering to political partisans, especially *foreign* political partisans. But because you see things in Japanese anime/manga that you don’t see in US or British offerings as of late — content aimed explicitly at entertaining boys and men. One can hardly imagine a US or British studio openly saying “this is for boys” nowadays; they prefer to do it implicitly using legacy brands like Spider-Man or the X-Men.
What’s interesting here, though, is that there is a lot of *romance* content aimed at straight boys too. Not pornography, mind you, but actual relationship-focused storytelling. The concept of the “shonen romance” has an interesting history here in the US, as commentators in the 2000s noticed that a *lot* of girls read manga as compared to American comics. In hindsight, this is because a lot of the shonen romances were brought over (mostly by Tokyopop), and romance typically appeals to girls and women, so they read them.
But what throws several of these readers for a loop is that in these romances, there is a lot of pandering to guys’ tastes, such as showing female characters in various states of undress, or the girl showing absolute devotion to the guy. This leads to an idea that “something is wrong here”, and as a result you sometimes get commentary on how misogynistic anime and manga romances are (I remember NANA being notable because it *didn’t* do this, as it was aimed at women.) Male-focused storytelling isn’t all battle shonen — it satisfies emotional needs too.
And thus, it attracts right-leaning fans.
Unconventional aspects like this show why anime and manga are popular around the world. It does interesting things like this.
The last chapter of Pure Invention, "The Antisocial Network," deals with this rightward shift of (a certain subset of very online) anime fans in the run up to the 2016 elections. It sparked a lot of controversy, but it's true, and you can't understand the modern media landscape without understanding that shift.
I remember that Joseph Heath once posted an article titled Boys, Sex, Books, Video Games. I believe he mentioned that while YA novels contain sexy depictions for girls, there are almost no such depictions for boys. I think his observation is correct—sexy content aimed at young boys has disappeared in the West.
However, in my view, that gap has been filled by content from Japanese otaku culture. Anime, video games, manga, and light novels are full of works that include sexy depictions for young boys. The same goes for romance elements.
As a result, otaku culture has effectively monopolized young Western boys who enjoy such content.
Not disappeared -- Heath argues that it's all in games. Which explains why there are such existential outcries when fans perceive the boogeyman of DEI coming for their favorite titles. But there's a big overlap with otaku culture and gamer culture, so I think you're on the right track too.
The trick about Japan's pop culture is that it is "polymorphously perverse" (to borrow an academic term): it's very individual-creator driven so you get a lot more niche stuff done more authentically than you do with the big corporate franchises of the west. I think the fact individual creators have so much agency is a far bigger differentiator than "culture" per se.
In his (sadly yet untranslated) book "About the Manga Business," Takeshi Kikuchi writes about how even at the big publishing houses, artists are encouraged to dig deep and let their fantasies run wild on the page. But where a lot of American culture-warrior fans go wrong is in interpreting this as some kind of push-back against "political correctness." It's simply the product of a different sort of creative environment that's peculiar to Japan. Manga aren't made for the outside world.
I will say that I *know* the Japanese creativity is not meant as a “fight-back” against a social or political boogeyman (and even when it is, like *Persona 5*, it’s usually good.)
But I also think that for those who have institutional backing (like a major publication), they don’t have to worry about marketing, so there’s less need for outrage tactics. Even independents have Comiket. And I could be wrong, but I take it that putting someone on blast in public is considered bad form.
I’d say you’re correct in terms of casual observation. Not trying to get into a big culture war thing, but yes, Japanese otaku media is one of the last bastions of professionally made content of this nature.
With Trump in particular, I worry that his bigotry towards Japanese people in particular will drive his policies. Since the 1980's, he railed against the success of Japanese businesses that exported to the United States
This is such an interesting article, what a great insight into how another influential culture uses social media. I didn't know that manga has the role of shaking things up in Japanese society, it's such revelation for me.
Bang on the money as always Matt. I’ve written an Answerman column on manga, LGbQT, censorship and the economic headwinds likely to impact the business of manga fandom, but more importantly, the enjoyment of the medium in general for English speaking and reading audiences outside of Gilead. Countries like Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, Canada, India, Nordic region, Benelux and Netherlands. All of them consume manga and anime with English language localisation, but the English-speaking world publishing is managed out of the USA and primarily for the USA market.
The direct comparison to the US is difficult for the reasons you noted however do you reckon that the lack of culture wars (presuming issues that equally divide society) is partly due to the fact that the LDP has been so exclusively dominant for so long that Japanese society simply isn't divided along politico-cultural lines? In other words is Japanese society so overwhelmingly conservative that there is no other comparably sized group with which to materially divide public opinion?
I do not think that Japanese society is overwhelmingly conservative, nor do I think LDP has much to do with this. Japanese politics is ruled by family dynasties and there isn't much way for the average person to participate other than voting. Since the parties, not the people, choose the Prime Minister you don't see leaders playing to the cameras nearly as much here.
However, there is a lot, and I mean a LOT, of money behind the scenes and that tends to be very conservative (such as, for instance, religious groups including but by no means limited to the Unification Church.) It is those groups, more than citizens, that oppose progressive policies such as gay marriage or what have you that are hot-button issues in divided America.
A lot of Japanese I've spoken to are deeply fed up with the status quo but see no way to change it. So if Japan seems more unified, it's in collective disgust at its political class.
I found your article very interesting. I believe it should be widely read by Japanese audiences. Would you grant us permission to translate and publish it on our website in Japanese?
*Diversity, protest, and queerness are woven deeply into the DNA of Japan’s illustrated entertainment.*
This is 100% true — take it from someone who’s been a fan of anime and manga since high school in the early 2000s. It was apparent even then.
However, in online spaces, anime and manga are often associated with the political Right. Not because of the messages; Japanese creatives aren’t pandering to political partisans, especially *foreign* political partisans. But because you see things in Japanese anime/manga that you don’t see in US or British offerings as of late — content aimed explicitly at entertaining boys and men. One can hardly imagine a US or British studio openly saying “this is for boys” nowadays; they prefer to do it implicitly using legacy brands like Spider-Man or the X-Men.
What’s interesting here, though, is that there is a lot of *romance* content aimed at straight boys too. Not pornography, mind you, but actual relationship-focused storytelling. The concept of the “shonen romance” has an interesting history here in the US, as commentators in the 2000s noticed that a *lot* of girls read manga as compared to American comics. In hindsight, this is because a lot of the shonen romances were brought over (mostly by Tokyopop), and romance typically appeals to girls and women, so they read them.
But what throws several of these readers for a loop is that in these romances, there is a lot of pandering to guys’ tastes, such as showing female characters in various states of undress, or the girl showing absolute devotion to the guy. This leads to an idea that “something is wrong here”, and as a result you sometimes get commentary on how misogynistic anime and manga romances are (I remember NANA being notable because it *didn’t* do this, as it was aimed at women.) Male-focused storytelling isn’t all battle shonen — it satisfies emotional needs too.
And thus, it attracts right-leaning fans.
Unconventional aspects like this show why anime and manga are popular around the world. It does interesting things like this.
The last chapter of Pure Invention, "The Antisocial Network," deals with this rightward shift of (a certain subset of very online) anime fans in the run up to the 2016 elections. It sparked a lot of controversy, but it's true, and you can't understand the modern media landscape without understanding that shift.
Maybe I ought to read this.
https://www.pureinventionbook.com/
Thanks, man.
Thank YOU!
I remember that Joseph Heath once posted an article titled Boys, Sex, Books, Video Games. I believe he mentioned that while YA novels contain sexy depictions for girls, there are almost no such depictions for boys. I think his observation is correct—sexy content aimed at young boys has disappeared in the West.
However, in my view, that gap has been filled by content from Japanese otaku culture. Anime, video games, manga, and light novels are full of works that include sexy depictions for young boys. The same goes for romance elements.
As a result, otaku culture has effectively monopolized young Western boys who enjoy such content.
Not disappeared -- Heath argues that it's all in games. Which explains why there are such existential outcries when fans perceive the boogeyman of DEI coming for their favorite titles. But there's a big overlap with otaku culture and gamer culture, so I think you're on the right track too.
The trick about Japan's pop culture is that it is "polymorphously perverse" (to borrow an academic term): it's very individual-creator driven so you get a lot more niche stuff done more authentically than you do with the big corporate franchises of the west. I think the fact individual creators have so much agency is a far bigger differentiator than "culture" per se.
That’s an angle I hadn’t considered. Individual creators having more agency sounds like an awesome thing that allows for more originality.
In his (sadly yet untranslated) book "About the Manga Business," Takeshi Kikuchi writes about how even at the big publishing houses, artists are encouraged to dig deep and let their fantasies run wild on the page. But where a lot of American culture-warrior fans go wrong is in interpreting this as some kind of push-back against "political correctness." It's simply the product of a different sort of creative environment that's peculiar to Japan. Manga aren't made for the outside world.
I will say that I *know* the Japanese creativity is not meant as a “fight-back” against a social or political boogeyman (and even when it is, like *Persona 5*, it’s usually good.)
But I also think that for those who have institutional backing (like a major publication), they don’t have to worry about marketing, so there’s less need for outrage tactics. Even independents have Comiket. And I could be wrong, but I take it that putting someone on blast in public is considered bad form.
I’d say you’re correct in terms of casual observation. Not trying to get into a big culture war thing, but yes, Japanese otaku media is one of the last bastions of professionally made content of this nature.
Mahalo for your thoughtful article
With Trump in particular, I worry that his bigotry towards Japanese people in particular will drive his policies. Since the 1980's, he railed against the success of Japanese businesses that exported to the United States
This is such an interesting article, what a great insight into how another influential culture uses social media. I didn't know that manga has the role of shaking things up in Japanese society, it's such revelation for me.
Bang on the money as always Matt. I’ve written an Answerman column on manga, LGbQT, censorship and the economic headwinds likely to impact the business of manga fandom, but more importantly, the enjoyment of the medium in general for English speaking and reading audiences outside of Gilead. Countries like Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, Canada, India, Nordic region, Benelux and Netherlands. All of them consume manga and anime with English language localisation, but the English-speaking world publishing is managed out of the USA and primarily for the USA market.
The direct comparison to the US is difficult for the reasons you noted however do you reckon that the lack of culture wars (presuming issues that equally divide society) is partly due to the fact that the LDP has been so exclusively dominant for so long that Japanese society simply isn't divided along politico-cultural lines? In other words is Japanese society so overwhelmingly conservative that there is no other comparably sized group with which to materially divide public opinion?
I do not think that Japanese society is overwhelmingly conservative, nor do I think LDP has much to do with this. Japanese politics is ruled by family dynasties and there isn't much way for the average person to participate other than voting. Since the parties, not the people, choose the Prime Minister you don't see leaders playing to the cameras nearly as much here.
However, there is a lot, and I mean a LOT, of money behind the scenes and that tends to be very conservative (such as, for instance, religious groups including but by no means limited to the Unification Church.) It is those groups, more than citizens, that oppose progressive policies such as gay marriage or what have you that are hot-button issues in divided America.
A lot of Japanese I've spoken to are deeply fed up with the status quo but see no way to change it. So if Japan seems more unified, it's in collective disgust at its political class.
I found your article very interesting. I believe it should be widely read by Japanese audiences. Would you grant us permission to translate and publish it on our website in Japanese?
https://econ101.jp/about/
Please check your direct messages.