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SUPERVERSIVE: Why are Shonen Anime the Best? – castaliahouse.com

SUPERVERSIVE: Why are Shonen Anime the Best?

Tuesday , 2, July 2019 6 Comments

See the source imageOh yeah. That’s a serious question.

Think about shonen for a moment. We have “Fullmetal Alchemist” and “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”, two of the greatest shows of all time. The former has deeply complex characters and hauntingly effective direction on every level. The latter is incredibly tightly plotted, covers a massive cast of interesting and well thought-out characters, and is one of the most philosophically deep shows arguably ever made.

Then you have “Death Note”, whose first half, at least, is probably the most carefully plotted I’ve ever seen, and whose original manga has spawned a franchise so massive it’s even extended to musicals, of all things.

Okay, I started with the best of the best. Let’s go down a peg.
“My Hero Academia”, then. THIS show has a massive, sprawling cast of unique and colorful characters and incredibly exciting action set pieces in a constantly evolving world. But more than that, the characters are complex and interesting, with powerful arcs rarely seen outside of the most critically acclaimed TV dramas. I mean, Todoroki’s backstory, and the way it was integrated into his fight with Deku, and how what happened in that fight reverberates throughout the rest of the series, is astonishingly well done.

And holy crap, ENDEAVOR? Is there ANYBODY who is doing anything as ballsy as what Horikoshi is doing with the character of Endeavor? It’s actually kind of amazing.

Hmmm, okay, this is a beloved show, maybe this is still unfair. Let’ go down even further. The show “Magi” had two seasons and has mostly been forgotten, though I adore it. THIS show takes place in a colorful fantasy-Arabian world, has a large cast of unique and interesting characters, and deals with complex socio-political issues with astonishing tact and intelligence.

The character of Ali Baba is one of the best drawn characters I have ever seen, vacillating between cowardice and bravery, crushed by guilt but driven to do right by his people, afraid to lead but ultimately more afraid not to. What shows have characters as interesting or complex as Ali Baba? What shows deal so well with massive geo-political politics, or deal with social issues with so much intelligence and humanity without oversimplifying any of them? Are there any?

Okay, shonen is really an age range, not a genre. Let’s take a look at another perennial favorite, the sports anime. I am not a big connoisseur of these but I am a big fan of “Kuroko No Basketball”. Once again, this show focuses on a large and colorful cast, has great character arcs for not just its leads but many different characters, and man, the animation and choreography of the games themselves is stunning. What shows outside of shonen put so much effort into making the actions of the characters look so dynamic and interesting?

I can go on. In fact, this is REALLY scratching the surface. I mean, “One Piece”? Holy freaking crap, “One Piece”? What story of any kind has done the sort of worldbuilding that “One Piece” has made its bread and butter?

See the source imageAnd then there’s the Chimera Ant arc of “Hunter x Hunter”, a brutal, elegant, and moving commentary on humanity with some of the best characters and character arcs of all time, portrayed in a unique and powerful way. It is awe-inspiring on sheer ambition alone, but that Togashi cashes all of his checks is nothing short of astonishing. Not since “Breaking Bad” has there been either television or cinema that has matched the power and tragedy of the climax of the Chimera Ant arc.

And JoJo’s! What is there even to say about it? Is there anything JoJo’s HASN’T done? The artwork of JoJo’s has actually ended up in the Louvre!

So here is my question:

What happened that made massive, sprawling adventure stories with huge, complex casts and interesting and well-developed characters get stuck as “Kid’s stuff”? Why do we almost never see the sort of grandeur and complexity of shonen in stories designed for adults?

Don’t give me “adults don’t have enough time to get invested”. If there’s anything the streaming era has shown us, it’s that yes, they do.

I don’t have an answer to this. I’m just raising the question.

I will say this. In anime, there is one exception to this rule – only one. That is space opera. For some reason space opera is allowed to be marketed towards adults while still having huge casts, interesting worlds, and grand adventure – see (especially) “Legend of the Galactic Heroes”, “Crest of the Stars”, or even the Gundam franchise, whose robots are marketed towards kids but whose stories, mostly, aren’t.

But – in anime – outside of that?

What the heck happened?I really am not sure. I have no idea how we reached this point, just like I’m not sure why the west has reduced animation to adult comedy and children’s media. But I do know this:

Shonen is the best anime, and until I see the same sort of storytelling become mainstream among shows aimed at older viewers, well, you can pry “My Hero Academia” out of my cold, dead hands.

See the source image

6 Comments
  • Paper Doll Mary says:

    Overall: heartily, heartily agreed. It’s also interesting how shounen is generally better and more varied than shoujo.

    Nitpick: The Deathnote manga, not the anime, spawned the franchise and is considered definitive. Pedantic of me to say, yes, but it wouldn’t be accurate to say that the live action movies, musicals, light novels, etc., derived from the anime. Your criticisms of the second half (as stated in earlier posts) also don’t apply so much to the manga.

    • Anthony says:

      You are correct about Death Note. I was going to argue about the 2nd half but as I haven’t read it I can’t in all honesty.

      That said, the larger point is that Death Note is a shonen that spawned a massive franchise.

  • JD Cowan says:

    Much of it has to do with relegating animation to being “for kids” in the West and being policed by the likes of ACT. Otherwise we would still have an animation industry not run by manchildren and their clique.

    As for live action, that’s a whole pile of problems. From the obsession with “procedural” plots, shows that go on well beyond their expiration date, and now with relying on soap opera storytelling and characterization, there is no chance to have anything like anime out there.

    I still remember when Person of Interest moved away from procedural episode of the week format to focusing on its story in season 4 and endless people complained. They didn’t want the larger storytelling. So it had to end early in a truncated season 5.

    I’m not sure we’ll ever get that sort of thing in the west. Not enough people apparently want it.

    • Anthony says:

      People DO want it, though, just not in that context. Like it or hate it, one of the reasons GoT made such a big splash was that actions had consequences, and there was this vastly shifting political landscape in a huge, well-realized world.

      Breaking Bad was very much a character drama but one of the defining characteristics of the show was that actions had consequences and the status quo changed constantly – which, though people often don’t realize it, is really a hallmark of shonen anime.

      So there is a market, but it seems to be limited to historical dramas and fantasy dramas in the west.

  • Spells Of Truth says:

    Hey Castalia House reread (or watch 2011 version) of Hunter X Hunter as if the entire story is real life. I believe HunterXHunter is the universal conspiracy theory hiding in plain site. Its how our world actually works. Im serious. Its mind blowing when you reread it in this manner. For example the phantom troupe represent every secret society and the spider represents the snake that runs the world with LUCIFER at the head (lucifer is a hunter that got out hunted by God in space/dark continent). All secret societies have certain similar characteristics, they are ‘phantom’ as in they work in ‘secret’ and remain in communication on a spiritual level(like a phantom), and they are a troupe because they are all essentially actors with 1 iron rule ‘never break character’, aka never break the 4th wall, aka never admit anything to the normies. The rule is punishable by death, its the only rule they enforce or give a shit about, every other secret society rule is nonsense designed to create willing puppets that can easily picked and molded into replacements for the ones at the top. The 13 members of the spider are the 13 families of the holy serpent in our world. Both have Lucifer at their head. Both operate as if they are ‘wild humans’ and their rules are never let the snake be destroyed, and you can only become a member of the snake by killing a current member. Nen is real it is based on shingon esoteric buddhism(very hard to find any info on shingon buddhism, neteros martial arts school is shingon ryu). Nen is manipulation of our etheric aura. The water divination test 100% works… Watch or read again as if it is real life (or a mirror to real life).

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