Will the crusades against pop culture
ever cease? First, an indie music gig was raided because
it was supposedly a black metal gathering sacrificing
goats to Satan. Then, anime was generalised as “animation
with sex”.
Would the next call be to ban Discovery Channel and National
Geographic documentaries because they supposedly feature
animal fornication?
For those in the dark, let us recap the issue. Recently,
a Bahasa Malaysia daily front-paged a story about anime,
generalising animation with sex as anime.
Unsurprisingly, the article caused a furore among anime
fans, many of whom thought the generalisation of the word
anime was a gross injustice to their passion.
The idea of popular kids anime shows like Doraemon, Pokemon
and Oscar-winning masterpiece Spirited Away as being pornographic
only goes to show the writer’s lack of understanding of
the subject.
Christina Saw, retail supervisor of anime retailers Anime
Tech, stressed that it is inaccurate and unacceptable
to say that “animation with sex is more popularly known
as anime”, and that the writer of the article should have
been more careful with the words used.
“There are lots of explanations and history that define
anime, although it is generally accepted worldwide to
simply mean Japanese animation,” she said. “In Japan,
it basically means anything that is animated, whether
it is in Japanese, English or French.
“Outside Japan, however, anime is widely accepted to mean
Japanese animation.” According to Saw, Anime consists
of many sub-genres, including samurai action (shows like
Samurai X), ninja action (Naruto), mechanical or mecha
action (Gundam), history (Legend of the Condor Hero) and
sports and games (Yu Gi Oh!). Nevertheless, she admitted
that there is also a sub-genre of anime that contains
sexual elements, which is most commonly known as “hentai”.
“There are many terms being used to describe animation
with sexual elements, depending on the type of sexual
content and fantasies involved.”
Saw stressed that Anime Tech stores would not sell any
sexual-oriented material, and neither would any other
legitimate anime retailers.
With five retail outlets in Malaysia, Anime Tech is the
largest retail chain store specialising in anime related
merchandise. Their products range from anime DVDs, CDs,
magazines and manga (Japanese comics) as well as anime-related
toys and accessories.
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STOP GENERALISING: Wholesome and entertaining
anime shows like the critically-acclaimed Spirited
Away and
My Neighbour Totoro are far from being pornographic. |
And based on their success so far, it is perhaps safe
to say that anime has a huge following in Malaysia. In
fact, when the first ever Anime Festival was held in Mid
Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur, in 2003, anime fans turned
up in droves, with more than 70,000 people packing the
exhibition hall. The 25-year-old Saw has been a die-hard
anime fan for five years now. “Anime is creative and challenges
the mind. It opens our minds to whole new worlds and to
different possibilities and it is entertaining as well,”
she said. “To put it simply, when you fall in love with
anime, there is no turning back.”
