Customer Reviews

Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Levi's book is a good introduction to anime 'fandom' in America. However, while it presents one somewhat interesting way to 'read' Japanese cartoons, it wholly fails to live up to its title. This book is not qualified to help readers "Understand Japanese Animation" (as if that were a straightforward question waiting for a simple answer). On the other hand, it does give us a good example of how Americans often choose to categorize and view cartoons from Japan (and even Japan itself). The book focuses on titles that have been translated and released on video in North America; titles not released in the U.S. by the time of the book's printing (even many of Japan's most influential anime titles) are all but ignored. MIYAZAKI Hayao, for years the most popular director of animated films in Japan and a household name even among non-Japanese anime 'otaku', is barely mentioned. There are also several minor factual errors, and when the book edges toward sociological reporting on Japan (the chapter on women, for example), the results are confusing and misleading to say the very least. This book places an exotic veil over Japanese animation that serves to color standing Western assumptions rather than open ideas for cross-cultural understanding. Not recommended.

Academic criticism of anime has a long way to go in the West, but Schodt and Schilling may be able to offer more "understanding" (and better researched) glimpses into this area of Japanese media and literature.

I read this book while working on a college paper comparing Manga and American Comic books, for a class which focused on American Culture influences on American comics. I found this book to be informative and useful in the respect that it helped me see where japan's culture has influenced its anime and manga. As a college student myself, I'd have to say the book read like a college paper, with some loose ends and a few contradictions, but overall I thought it was much more helpful and informative than troubled. I was a little irked that the author chose only to use older translated titles for examples, but I can see her point in doing this, ie, it's too hard for the casual reader to get ahold of the newer or non-commercially released titles. to me it seems like this book was written by an otaku primarliy for anime newbies, who have just gotten a tiny glimpse of anime and want to better understand it. In this respect I think it works really well, if I knew someone who had just gotten into the hobby I would highly reccommend it. Also, I really liked the author's writing style; it was not dryly academic, but rather, personable and entertaining, and I liked that (though other people may not appreciate that, since they like their info cold and hard). It made the book a very quick read, and it was easy to absorb the information. This is no reference book, by any means, but it's a good general overview of anime.

To begin with the positive comments, Ms. Levi's book is one which America very much needs. She gives a good overview of anime, describing the characteristics which distinguish it from American animation, explaining that it's not all perversion and violence, as seems to be the belief of many less-informed Americans, elucidating some of the cultural symbols used by anime creators, and, most importantly, stating forthrightly that anime is _not_ "cartoons." Drawing her examples from a good mix of films and series both more and less known in America, she attempts both to explain the appeal of anime to many "Gen-X" people and to introduce the artform to a wider audience. That said, the work has several serious flaws. First off, it should have had tighter editing. At several points, Ms. Levi repeats information which she has given just a few paragraphs earlier. At others, she contradicts herself within the space of two pages. Secondly, she seems to have a curious lack of knowledge about Western cultures. While this is a characteristic I have noticed in some other Westerners who have made intensive study of Asian cultures, it is hardly excusable in an author who attempts to make comparisons between Asian and Western traditions. Particularly irritating is her obvious bias against Judeo-Christian beliefs; most notably, she tries to blame the refusal of American entertainment to deal with death, particularly by killing off a "good" character, on a supposed fear that this would somehow weaken the commitment of viewers to Judeo-Christian morality. This is patently ridiculous, as this tendency has far more to do with the secular pseudomorality of American consumerism than any religious tradition. Anyone more familiar with the true spread of Western cultures, beyond the shallowness of American pop culture, will note that many of the attitudes she attempts to claim as uniquely Japanese, such as admiration of heroism independent of the cause it supports and an understanding that heroic persons don't always win, are found throughout Western tradition. Has she never heard an old soldier speak respectfully of his former foes? Has she never heard of the Easter Rising, the Battle of Culloden, the Lost Cause?

I've never liked Japanese animation. I missed out on "Astro Boy" and "Speed Racer" when I was a kid. To me, "Kimba the White Lion" represented Japanese animation. Something about the oddness in the characters voices (they always threw in extra syllables at the end of their sentences, "We have to go save him, huh?") and the gender ambiguity of the lead character (these things are important to uptight pre-pubescent kids) really bothered me.

By the time Japanese animation took hold in the US cartoon market with shows such as "Voltron," or "Robotech," I was done with cartoons. By the time Japanese animation started showing up on the shelves at Blockbuster Video, I learned that one should refer to Japanese animation as "Anime." In the years between, I found that the same kind of geeky know-it-all kids who dominated the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons scene and who lingered too long at comic book stores discussing the outcome of a battle between the "Teen Titans" and "Alpha Flight," were the same folks who loved Anime.

Have you ever disliked a band because of its fans? This was the same kind of thing. I have yet to listen to anything by The Misfits merely because of all the losers in leather jackets who would come to concerts and stand in my way or push people around in the pit. Nine times out of ten they'd have on some sort of Misfits paraphernalia. No one's written a book explaining the music of the Misfits from an outsider's point of view.

Thankfully, Antonia Levy's book Samurai from Outer Space is the perfect guide for jerks like me who've dismissed an entire animation style out of dislike for its diehard fans. Subtitled "Understanding Japanese Animation," Levy takes the reader through the history of Anime and Manga (Japanese comic books). She explains common themes explored in these media, helping to put them into cultural and historical perspective.

Levy's book isn't a lofty dissertation on the integration of Shinto myths into modern Anime. While she covers those subjects and more, Levy quickly gets to brass tacks. In her first chapter, she addresses one of my burning questions about Anime and Manga, "Why do these Japanese characters have exaggerated Anglo features?" According to Levy, the characters are not thought of as belonging to any one particular race. Instead, those big round eyes are more of a stylistic flourish of Manga - just as big eyes are trademark in the U.S. to those annoying Precious Moments statuettes.

In Samurai from Outer Space, Levy addresses the appeal of Anime and Manga to Easterners and Westerners. More than cheaply made adventure stories, Anime and Manga are often steeped in the rich culture of their homeland, just as U.S. storytellers sweeten their narratives with references or by playing off of common cultural themes. Just as a viewer not entirely familiar with Greek mythology might not get as many laughs watching "Xena: Warrior Princess" as someone who really knows their Homer, without a substantial understanding of Shinto myth one might scratch their head at "Ranma ½." A thorough and well-written tome, Samurai from Outer Space convinced me to give Anime another chance. (ISBN: 0812693329)

Ms. Levi's discussion of Japanese animation has a two-fold purpose: she wants to explain why Americans find anime so fascinating while she dissects the symbolism behind anime itself. Ms. Levi obviously has great affection towards Japanese history and religious culture, and if she were to write a book on those subjects exclusively, she would probably have a winner. However, Samurai From Outer Space shows a careless disregard for the facts of many anime. Some mistakes are so blatant that it brings the author's own knowledge of anime itself into question, and it undermines the credibility of the other material in the book. According to the book's cover, the author has written books "on subjects ranging from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to the Japanese Communist Party." This diversity may be why her actual anime knowledge seems quite limited. Nevertheless, the author's attitude can be read as haughty, and disrespect for Christianity and Western culture in general is also very apparent. Finally, the book takes an outsider's view of Generation X--it's full of speculation on why this group enjoys anime so much, but there is never a sense that the author actually sat down with modern non-Asian anime fans and discussed the topic at length. This is not to say that the book is without merits--indeed, it is very informative about Japanese legends and ancient culture, and good chunks of the book are useful if that's what you want to learn. Bottom line: it's a decent book on Japanese tradition, but a lousy book on anime.

This book was originaly written back in the year 1996 before the anime boom had hit America. I know anime is still not a word known in every household, but it is more popular now than what it was five years ago. I found this book to be quite an interesting read although most of the information seems to be for those who are only interested in Japan because of anime, which is not a rare thing to say the least so things such as literature and religion get pushed to the side because of a superior interest in Animation. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, but fo those who have a deeply rooted interest in Japan in other things besides anime might find the book to be lacking in new information, but overall the book is quite enjoyable and might help make sense of some of the "strange" stuff that some viewers might see in anime. such as what figures of folklore the Urusei Yatsura characters Benten and Oyuki were derived from. I found a couplke of errors in the book as well in anime refernces. The first is obviously a mistype on page 51 Dr. Levi calls the manager of Maison Ikkoku Ryoko. The character's name is Kyoko. Maybe she was thinking about Tenchi Muyo! at the time. the second on page 131, Dr. Levi says that Akane cut her long hair of intentionately. This is not so her hair was accidentally cut off by Ryoga. She had her sister Kasumi even it out for her, but besides these little errors the book is an enjoyable read, but only scratches th e surface of the deeper meanings within anime. A better book to read would be Anime: from Akiira to Princes Mononoke by Susan J. Napier.

When I picked up this book, I was looking fora history of anime. You know, facts about how it started, viewer statistics, time slots and channels it aired on, when it was first imported outside of Japan, how the styles have changed, etc. I didn't find very much of that in this book, but what I did find was a fascinating look at how Japanese traditions have influenced manga and anime (specifically anime). It is very interesting indeed. It is the best anime book I've read, but I haven't read much because there isn't much available. It doesn't have a directory of anime movies made, thankfully - those things are best left for websites.

It definately needs an update, though. With the popularity of shows like Digimon, Pokemon, Card Captors (C.C. Sakura in Japan), etc., not to mention the massive success of Cartoon Network's line up, as well as Sci Fi's and Action Channel's occasional anime showings, anime in the States is more popular than ever. it'd be nice to see what her take is on that, and to stop referring to Generation X. I'm old enough to have grown up on 80's dubbed anime on TV, but people my age are not Generation Xers....and today's Pokefans are younger than us.

Good for me: I'm Italian and I'm doing some studies about otaku in my country: it's useful to understand difference between Usa and Italy, for example about otaku. For me otaku are one of the most interesting youth group: I'm an otaku myself and I would like to discuss about otaku in the world

Levi's book is precisely the wrong thing to read if you want to know something about anime: after you read it, you'll know less than you did BEFORE reading it. Levi's culturally ignorant mistakes makes it clear that she knows little or nothing about japan; further, her references and the context of same make it clearly obvious that her 'sources' were American releases DUBBED INTO ENGLISH. Since these dubbed releases are commonly not translated but essentially rewritten, they are worthless as an accurate indication of what the original work is really about...and it shows. Pretty much everything she says in her book is wrong, inaccurate, or an excellent example of acculturation: the process where a person from a foreign culture makes assumption about another culture assuming that their culture is the same. Obviously, since Japanese culture has little connection to the west, this is a huge and childish mistake when examining Japanese pop culture. Levi also copied the format and style blatantly from earlier ORIGINAL works on the subject...proving that not only can't she write a book on japan, she can't even format a book at all herself. If you read the other reviews, you will notice that the more knowledgeable reviewers mention that it is riddled with wrong information and mistakes throughout...which unfortunately the more ignorant reviewers don't notice. Even worse is its ideological assumptions, the most blatant being her assuming western feminism is universal , even in cultures like japan with no connection to it. Don't buy this book. Don't read this book, you'll pick up nothing from it but ignorance.

From the title and the beautiful cover art from Starblazers, I couldn't wait to read this book. The subtitle is "Understanding Japanese Animation". Quotes on the back call it a "guide" and claim it reveals " a lot about contemporary Japan", and that the author uncovers the "hidden meaning" of Japanese animation, and "the symbols and stories drawn from Shinto, Buddhism, and Japanese art". That made me want to read it more.



Let's start with the givens. This book is almost ten years old, and shows signs of being edited to reach a wider audience. It also seems to consist of a number of papers or essays tied together. The author blurb on the back is about how she has a PhD in Japanese history and all her credentials for writing about things Japanese. That wouldn't be germane to the issue, except for the slant in the book. And it's very slanted.



The opening chapter is extremely intriguing and asks, in essence, "Are you Otaku?" which is to say, a fan of anime. Then the author defensively asserts her chops, a tendency which becomes far more prevalent as the book goes on, continually saying "I know more than you do." Or sometimes, "You think you know what's going on, but you don't." It reminds me of the love- hate relationship sci- fi writers have to Star Trek conventions. The only time she mentions Star Trek, incidentally, is to point out how later anime fan writers sneak in references to anime and opt for more ambiguous story lines.



Almost every chapter (or essay) ends with an unstated thesis that would have made an interesting book: that Gen X (so called) viewers are drawn to anime because of ambiguity in their own lives. However, she usually outshouts that thesis with another one-- that this proves they're not the attention deficit slackers they're often written off as. Even that would be an interesting thesis were it supported by even one example.



The Otaku viewpoint is significant because the author judges a work based on its audience. While she pays the necessary tribute to Osamu Tezuka, she nevertheless dismisses Astro Boy (Mighty Atom), one of the early popular anime shows in the US, because the audience didn't know it was Japanese. That would seem to be in its favor, but it conflicts with another hidden thesis that anime is made for Japanese and not Westerners. To support that thesis requires ignoring all other early anime offerings, including Speed Racer, Gigantor, and Battle of the Planets. It also ignores the long history of live action films like Godzilla in the West.



But then, the West is, of course, the problem. The author's way of explaining the Japanese view of anything is to contrast it to the "Judeo- Christian" view we in the West all believe. Never mind that a great number of people in the West don't believe these views which are held by Judeo- Christians, whatever those are. The author is so sure "we" believe these things that she never checks facts, and is therefore content to repeat one sentence myths about the Middle Ages, long discredited, that we all know. All this does is make me wonder about the Japanese views the Western views are contrasted with. Since again, not one example is given of any Japanese thinking this way, they seem at best inconclusive.



Quick! Retreat into the I know more than you do mode (or transform into it, for Mecha fans). The Japanese word is, of course, untranslatable. I, genius that I am, think this, whereas stupid fans-- that would be you watching the show-- mistake it for that. Ha ha! Aren't those Otaku amusing? It's like a Star Trek convention.



The parts about Shinto stories inspiring anime are intriguing. You knew something like that was going on in Pokemon, and with eight million gods, souls or spirits to choose from, the results are endless. But again, the author must assert a hidden thesis which eventually seems based merely on personal preference and Freudian double speak. You can't possibly enjoy this advanced anime because you don't know a nosebleed always represents something else. If it comes to that, you wouldn't notice this god from this ancient story because the gender has been changed and she is an executive in Tokyo (no, you probably wouldn't notice that). But when she admits an obvious connection in a well-known and much studied anime like Dragonball, she then asserts there's no relation to its source material. Freudian lit analysis plays the same game of now this gun represents something else; presto! now it's just a gun.



The one place to connect with the casual viewer is in the section on mecha. But the author's thesis that the Japanese have a horror of cyborgs since they involve replacing body parts in no way explains something that far more puzzles and intrigues Western viewers-- their fascination with giant robots. Her way of explaining this is to not explain it, and instead concentrate on exoskeleton suits.



This is the sort of pop cult book by an academic that is all answers and no questions. You learn a lot more about the author than you do about anime or Otaku. You learn, for instance, that she likes (or at least chooses to continually write about) Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Bubblegum Crisis/ Bubblegum Crash, Doomed Magalopolis, and grudgingly, Akira, which was, of course, changed to accomodate Western audiences, who ruined it by making it popular, but fortunately didn't understand it. Transformers is conspicuous by its absence. Neither did Battle of the Planets, or its Japanese original, Gatchaman, make the cut.



Of course one can't cover everything, and one doesn't need to. But if the author hoped to convince readers to watch new anime, as maintained in the Preface, the effect on this reader was the opposite. By ignoring anime I am familiar with, and which has long been available in the US, by stereotyping the "West" in one sentence dismissals, and by expressing continual disdain for the unlettered, unwashed anime audience, she's convinced me to stay away from her favorite anime, which I otherwise might have watched. After all, even ten years ago there was plenty of anime to choose from, and no lack of zealous Otaku eager to share their favorites.