Anime HanabiWe Can Be Heroes!: In Anime
I recently had an interesting conversation with my brother. He’s recently gotten into anime (Yay! A new convert!) and noticed that there is so much more variety of characters, stories, and heroes in anime compared to Western media. We were specifically comparing modern Hollywood movies to modern anime series, and we both noted how strict Hollywood movies were in character types, stories, and who is cast as the hero. In contrast, in anime it seemed like anything goes. While in a Hollywood movie, the hero is very easy to spot. They will be about 25 years old, tall, athletic, and often male. In anime, the hero will be . . . anything! Male, female, young, old, able bodied, deaf, blind, in a wheelchair, a hamster, a vending machine. It really could be anything. And that’s what I think the big take away for me was after our conversation. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are, in anime there will be a hero just like you. So here are some heroes that would never exist in a Hollywood movie!
Sakamoto – Sakamoto Days
Story: An former assassin is dug out of retirement for a whole new adventure. Hollywood movie producers might go for this if the “Hero” still had the rock hard body of a twenty year old and has had enough plastic surgery that the older actor still looks youngish. But once they heard that the main character was supposed to be old, gray haired, and over weight the answer would be a hard “No!”. This hero would never exist. Anime’s answer is of course, absolutely! Get out there old guy and show those wipper-snappers how it’s done! And we know this because of Sakamoto Days, an anime that shows us just that, an old, gray haired, chubby retired assassin that was living a pretty happy life as a convenience store owner, is dragged back into his past life of assassin work. And he still rocks!
Hamtaro – Hamtaro
Story: A pet hamster goes on adventures with his hamster friends, in the great big human world around him. Hollywood’s answer would be, “Wait, the hero isn’t even human? Could we make him human? No? Than what about creepy CGI characters that are the size of humans? What, it can’t be creepy?! Than we aren’t doing it!” And of course anime would say, “Hamtaro!” The whole theme of the anime Hamtaro is that even if you are little, so tiny and the world around you is so big, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be a hero and go on adventures too. With the power of friendship and working together, anything is possible!
Boxxo – I Was Reborn As a Vending Machine
Story: A man is reincarnated as a vending machine, and now he has to survive a monster filled fantasy world with all the limitations of a vending machine. Hollywood’s answer would be, “Wait, he’s not even a living creature? The hero’s an inanimate object?! No!” And anime’s reply is, “I was Reborn As a Vending Machine . . .”, a fun and imaginative isekai with interesting and oddly believable characters. And what I’ve always been impressed with, the writers always stayed true to the fact that the main character is a vending machine and has to work inside the limitations of his form. Our hero can’t speak, he can only use scrolling messages across his little screen. He can’t move, he has to depend on people around him for help. And yet he has saved lives, gone on adventures, and been every bit as heroic as any isekai protagonist.
Unwanted Undead Adventurer
Story: An adventurer gets caught in a trap and after a magical accident gets turned into a skeleton. Now he has to hide his true appearance and survive in a fantasy world that sees him as a monster. Hollywood producers might think at first that this was a movie they could make, “Great! We’ll just slap a tiny bit of make-up on our latest male super model-esque actor and call it a day! Wait, he’s actually supposed to look like a skeleton? And he’s supposed to be monstrous looking?! But, that’s ugly!” And anime would make, Unwanted Undead Adventurer. This is another anime where I have to give credit to the creators that actually wrote a believable story about what would happen if you were unrecognizable to your community? What if they would suddenly see you as a monster and hunt you for money? And the result was a heart warming fantasy adventure about trust, bravery, and reunions. And plenty of monster slaying too!
Undead Murder Farce
Story: A beautiful immortal lady is beheaded and gathers people from the supernatural world to help her retrieve her stolen body from an evil organization. Hollywood would be completely on board for this story, up until the sixth word. “Wait, Beheaded?! As in she doesn’t have a body? As is no bikini scenes? How are we going to market that!” And anime would make Undead Murder Farce, an action packed adventure through paranormal Europe featuring none other than the talking head of a immortal lady sleuth who’s quick wit is not diminished in the slightest by not having a body. And to top it off, even without a body, there is still plenty of fan service!
In conclusion
I’m not saying that everything about Hollywood is bad and wrong, but I am saying that Hollywood production companies and writers have a lot of growing to do, and need to broaden their minds on who can be a hero. Not just because everyone is a little tired of the same old hero in every movie, but because there is an entire world of interesting heroes out there just waiting for their brilliant stories to be told. And there is also a vast audience that’s waiting for those stories. The stories just need to be written, and transformed into the movies we will one day love!
#anime #detectiveAnime #hamtaro #heroesInAnime #hollywoodVsAnime #iWasRebornAsAVendingMachine #Japan #JapaneseCulture #paranormalAnime #sakamotoDays #undeadMurderFarce #unwantedUndeadAdventurer
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