Online Warriors

There’s a recurring joke online about how modern American animation tends to make its characters look well… at best goofy and at worst, downright hideous. Across the Pacific Ocean though, we can see an animation style that has been nurtured for decades, one that puts more emphasis on beauty and worldbuilding as part of its storytelling. This is, of course, the world of Japanese anime. Anime and Japanese pop culture, in general, have skyrocketed in global popularity since the 1980s. While these forms of media have managed to attract consumers and bring awareness to Japan and its culture generally, they have also incurred large-scale quarrels online over the role of Japanese culture post-World War II. In the Before Anime Era (BAE), people might have thought about Japan’s expansionism, imperialism, and lack of a satisfactory public apology towards the countries it exploited. Now, Japan incurs thoughts of Pikachu, Shinjuku, vending machines, and other quirky qualities. To combat this, there’s a subset of people who are trying to keep the image of Japan’s less-than-savory history alive and who are fighting it out online. 

After World War II, Japan found itself in a unique position, with the image as both a global aggressor as well as the victim of the world’s only nuclear attack. To be accepted again by the international community, the former empire began to portray itself as a peaceful nation both domestically and internationally. In China, Taiwan, South Korea, and the Philippines, however, people were not so quick to forgive and forget. This led to the importation of Japanese music, movies, and television programs being banned for long periods. In fact, in South Korea, it's still illegal to broadcast Japanese music and television shows over terrestrial signals. With the rise of the internet, however, many of those within these countries could bypass these bans by pirating Japanese content. Once the bans were lifted, Japanese companies were ready to pounce on this new consumer base and the popularity of Japanese pop culture abroad has been an ever-increasing snowball ever since. This influence can be still felt through sites such as Bilibili, one of the biggest video platforms in China—which was initially founded as a fandom community dedicated to Japanese Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku. Even today, most videos on the site are about anime, manga, and Japanese video games.

Over in the States, there a multitude of reasons that Japanese pop culture became the obsession of many. For one, the mainstream Western public doesn’t perceive the Japanese media industry as promoting cultural imperialism or Japanese superiority. Unlike Hollywood films, which have strong qualities of individualism, capitalism, liberalism, and/or democracy, Japan’s cultural products are perceived as highlighting themes of beauty, peace, and harmony, which paint Japan with a more positive and friendlier appearance. 

However, a lot of people feel that Japan’s darker past is being lost to time— as many opt for a cooler and more hip version of the country that doesn’t tell the whole story This feeling was articulated by English philosopher Simon May who said that Japan, armed with the elusiveness of cute or “kawaii”, has managed to avoid direct answers to questions of morality, responsibility, and sincerity regarding their past actions from the hegemons of the modern world. One could say that there are two Japans: the one that people see from the media and the state itself. 

Like any political issue, there are varying degrees for how people view the political complications of manga and anime. For a certain subset of users online, they see anime as Japanese imperialism repackaged for modern-day consumption. Others simply wish that Japanese authors and artists and their consumers would be more considerate when it comes to handling stories of the past. Neither of these groups has a lack of controversial material to work with— there are more than enough examples of media that have been plagued by controversy over their messaging. 

There are two kinds of anime that handle topics relating to World War II: those set during the war and those who discuss it a la symbolism and allegory. Most anime movies set during World War II tend to focus on the sufferings (or heroisms) of Japanese people at the time rather than about the atrocities the government committed. The first Japanese full-length animated film was a World War II propaganda film called “Momotarō: Umi no Shinpei” or “Momotaro: Sacred Sailors.” Shows and films that do handle themes of fascism and imperialism tend to be sci-fi and fantasy which depict Japan’s history and collaboration with Nazi Germany by way of symbolism. That’s where things get sticky for anime fans since a lot of the meaning is either incredibly vague or gets misconstrued which kicks off the dreaded online discourse.

For example, the infamous webcomic “Hetalia”, in which the characters are personified versions of countries, has been long-embroiled in online debates over whether the manga depicts nationalistic elements or not.

One of the most controversial mangas and shows is “Shingeki no Kyojin” (“Attack on Titan”), in which the subtext of the show’s alleged anti-Korean sentiments has been a major topic of discussion online since its debut. A lot of the drama comes from the fact that the manga’s author Hajime Isayama wrote in a blog post that a supporting character was based on the Japanese general Akiyama Yoshifuru, whom he found admirable. Yoshifuru, who served in the Japanese Imperial Army from 1916 to 1923, was responsible for countless atrocities against Korea and China. Of course, there’s always another side to the discourse and it must be mentioned that there are other interpretations of the show that dispute the idea that the show is flooded with nationalistic and imperialistic sentiment. 

The anime “Jujutsu Kaisen” was also hit with controversy because a character's attack is called Bird Strike but its kanji was written the same as kamikaze (神風 - “holy wind”). Many took offense because some Koreans long ago were said to have been coerced or forced to commit kamikaze and sacrifice themselves for the Japanese Empire. 

The more recent hit phenomenon manga and anime “Kimetsu no Yaiba” or “Demon Slayer” is set in the Taisho Era (1912 - 1926) of Japan, a period in which Japan’s military police took over South Korea’s governance. In the distribution of the series and movie in South Korea, a character’s earrings which resemble the Rising Sun Flag were edited out. Even with this controversy, however, the film still did incredibly well in the country.

I won’t use this space to settle on who is on the right side of history as that’s beside the point. What is clear, is that these reactions are remnants of a history left relatively unaddressed by the Japanese state. The popularity of Japanese pop culture is truly a global phenomenon. Its fan base comes from all across the world, with a lot of fans coming from Asian countries that Japan once occupied. A lot of these fights and complaints take place in the usual online spaces: Twitter, Tumblr, and other obscure message boards. Teenagers and young adults beefing it out online is commonplace on sites like Tumblr, the site that infamously gave birth to Your Fave is Problematic, amongst other avenues of moral grandstanding. However, these discussions over the atrocities that were acted out in the name of the Japanese Empire aren’t anywhere close to trivial and continue to affect diplomatic relations and families today. 

While there’s no denying anime’s popularity worldwide— anime still largely sits in the realm of the “other” when it comes to media at large. Developments in manga, anime, and other Japanese media goes largely ignored (excluding Ghibli films and a few others) by most American and Western media outlets. To put it simply, a lot of Americans just still refuse to consume media for which they might need subtitles and aren’t familiar with Asian history. While discussions over English-language movies’ and TV shows’ politics are regularly discussed in mainstream spaces, foreign-language content doesn’t often get the same treatment.

Armed without a larger cultural narrative to tie themselves to, fans are left to go on the offense or defense online. Since they’re talking about topics that aren’t regularly discussed by mainstream sources, they see themselves as people bringing truth to power— fighting for those whose voices have been suppressed and broaching topics that they see as being hidden from widespread knowledge. I think it’s important to clarify that a lot of these young people talking about Japan’s place in history and how it’s related to pop culture tend to be hyperactive consumers of Japanese pop culture and more than anything, care about its place in the global culture. Like the J.K. Rowling controversy, fans are trying to understand how to interact with media and artists that they don’t feel represent their politics, values, or them as individuals. The internet may not be the most fruitful place to hold these conversations but they’re simply not being had in public anywhere else. Their online conversations might be messy, convoluted, and come across as incoherent infighting, but they must take place. 

This isn’t to say that Japanese culture is monolithic and that all Japanese people feel the same way about their past. It’s because of the long-standing silence between the Japanese state and its victims, that this trauma can’t help but seep into popular culture, which then shoves it into the circus that is the internet to become fodder for endless debates. Without a sufficient government response to its militaristic past, art is left to handle the wounds left upon victims and their descendants decades ago. These fights will likely continue to last as long as Japan continues to maintain its stance, authors and creators continue to stay mum regarding the subtext of their art (which they usually tend to do), and as more people discover Japanese pop culture on the internet. And thus the cycle and discourse will continue.