First of all, anime and manga are not simply just Japanese versions of American animations and comics. According to the definition from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, anime and mangas are far different in that they are more story-orientated they are more like novels than cartoons and comics which are episodic and tend to not have a singular, overarching plot. Also, the art style within mangas and animes tend to be unique in their “huge hair and large eyes”, which certainly differ from Western animation and designs. Ultimately, however, in many Asian cultures and some Western views, manga and anime are made for different age groups and aren’t just for kids, unlike Western comics and cartoons, which do tend to be geared towards younger audiences. In short, anime and manga are unique, Japanese forms of entertainment that, although are confused with cartoons and comics and stereotyped as such, are designed for all ages and kinds of people (Izawa, "What Are Manga and Anime"). Anime are typically adaptations of mangas, similar to how movies are made from books. However, from the general consensus, people view anime and manga as weird and condemn otakus, who are people who are obsessed with anime and manga, especially in the United States. While many may say that anime and mangas offer too much fan service and in a way “objectifies” women, they are shown to be a medium of entertainment that boasts incredibly strong and independent women. Also, anime offers great entertainment for all age groups and interest groups that cartoons and comics simply can’t compete against, while mangas offer improvements to academics. Overall, anime and manga should be watched, read, and respected and shouldn’t be discouraged as “taboo” or undesirable.

Often times, anime and manga sexualize women and portray women for their body. It is not uncommon to run into “fan service” or sexual treats for the audience. These include accidental nudity and other “mishappenings”. For these cases, they often appear in anime and manga with tags such as harem or “ecchi” (perverted) tags. These are what often push people away from anime, especially women, who see anime as a whole as a method of fulfilling male fantasies. In fact, Isaac Hunt from PJ Media states, “entire series are dedicated to being fantasy fuel,” (Hunt). For example, information from myanimelist, a popular website for reviewing and previewing manga and anime, ecchi manga and anime series such as High School DxD, No Game No Life, Kill la Kill, and others, are shown as highly perverted and popular series that offer high amounts of fan service. People often see them as examples that over-arch anime, which steer people away from watching or even trying anime and manga. However, unlike most mediums of entertainment who depict women as damsels-in-distress, anime and mangas often times depict women as strong and as cool as any man that comes on the screen or page. According to an MIT study on gender and the gender relations in anime, “Yes, there seem to be some of these, too. Some of the more recent girls' comics seem especially to be picking up on this theme. Usually (not always) the male is assumed to be stronger, but the female is often smarter (at least academically) and/or more stable. There's a balance here, and both sides have a respect for the other, personally and sometimes professionally,” (Izawa, Gender and Gender Relations in Manga and Anime). The MIT study clearly supports the notion that there is equality among the sexes in mangas and therefore, anime because anime are usually adaptations of mangas (Izawa, Gender and Gender Relations in Manga and Anime). In these cases, women are sometimes even shown to beat men. For example, Kirishima Touka from Tokyo Ghoul and Akane from Kanshikan Tsunemori Akane, or more commonly known as, Psycho-Pass, are depicted as strong, independent women who beat up bad guys all the time. They boast the idea that anime and manga series do support strong, female characters, and therefore, gender equality (Makowski). It is also unquestionable that women are depicted as more sexual in any form of entertainment. For example, sex is very prevalent in popular shows such as Jessica Jones, The L Word, Game of Thrones, and many other shows. In shows like Game of Thrones, they often show actual nudity from real women if not worse than fake, censored 2-dimensional beings (Barnes and Pasternak). They do not include sex scenes for the actors! They are for the audience’s enjoyment! It is hypocritical to solely judge anime and manga on the basis of sexual fantasies when shows, advertisements, and even women themselves sexualize the female body as well. In fact, anime and manga curtail this by showing equality between the capabilities of the sexes equally as much as their depiction of the bodies of the sexes. Anime and manga demonstrate that women aren’t only sexual images but are strong and independent human beings. Though some genres are geared towards male fantasies, those shows don’t represent the anime community as a whole, in fact, many more popular animes have less fanservice than they are cool. For example, according to data from myanimelist, the most popular “ecchi” anime had only around a million members, while the rest were all below a million, on the contrary, shows that were not labeled as such, such as Death Note, Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online, and other popular anime, each garner over a million members each without having to be perverted at all.

On another note, anime boasts support for all age groups and interest groups. There are anime for sports, school life, romance, action, comedy, tragedies, almost anything one could think of (Makowski). For example, anime and manga are split into five main categories: Kodomomuke, Shonen, Seinen, Shojo, and Josei. Kodomomuke is anime directed towards young kids, while Shonen and Shojo are directed towards male and female teens, respectively. Also, Seinen and Josei are simply adult counterparts of the previous categories. While cartoons and comics are generally geared towards younger audiences, anime and mangas offer and feed a far more diverse audience (Eisenbeis). This is what leads to their great successes even now. They pull in ideas that any animation or live-action shows can do and adds a touch of Japanese animation and “magical realism” (Makowski). In fact, anime is so popular that even Netflix and Hulu are trying to mainstream it in order to profit off of such a lucrative form of entertainment, while cartoons and comics are increasingly losing ground in the industry due to the higher potential that anime and manga can offer (Idehen-Amadasun)! For example, from an analysis of worldwide data from Google Trends from 2013 to the present day, anime has been a higher searched topic than both cartoons and comics!  Furthermore, when adding the topic of television shows, anime only lags behind around twenty percent and have even exceeded television shows a few times before. It could be concluded from this global data that anime is a surging topic that is not uncommon or taboo that most people make it out to be. The trends are only false when the data is geographically restricted to areas that socially condemn otakus such as the United States, showing the intolerance of anime. However, as global data has demonstrated, anime is viewed globally as fine if not even better than their “popular” competitors. Overall, anime should be considered mainstream and shouldn’t be looked down upon due to its expansiveness of audiences and statistical support of its popularity!

Finally, mangas shouldn’t be looked down upon because of their role in education. Many Japanese teachers make their students learn themes and author’s messages from reading and analyzing mangas. Mangas, unlike most comics and cartoons, have actual overarching plots and themes that aren’t episodic and don’t change as often. Furthermore, Katsumi Yamaguchi, a manga instructor, states, “ Completing a piece of work or learning drawing skills peculiar to comics/animation … will help students enhance their concentration and broaden their perspectives,”. Yamaguchi states that not only does reading manga sharpen the drawing skills of students, but reading manga also help open the eyes of people (Swift). For example, themes of the need to reconcile between dissenting parties are shown in the strong and tragic story of Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida, where the protagonist Kaneki Ken loses his humanity due to a medical transplant and is turned into a “ghoul”, considered an undesirable to humans. Ken and his newly-found ghoul friends are then chased by an exterminator group called the “CCG”. The themes of the manga reflect the dissenting nature of human beings and offer a source of eye-opening ideas to its readers (Ishida). Furthermore, in Katie Monin’s Teaching Graphic Novels: Practical Strategies for the Secondary ELA Classroom, Monin says, “Reading a cartoon and a comic strip is analyzing a set of universal symbols and bringing into play all of a reader’s skills: inference, deduction, projection, interpretation,” (Monin XI-XIII). Monin explains that manga, a type of comic, can teach young readers skills that traditional reading may be too complex to teach. Furthermore, Monin also says, because manga and comics are visual, that they offer more entertaining reading material, which helps garner reading interest in kids (Monin). Overall, visual reading materials benefit the academics of people, especially manga, which offer cohesive stories that are filled to the brim with themes and symbols similar to movies and novels, while remaining simplistic enough to be understood.

In conclusion, while anime and manga may sexualize women and portray them for their bodies, in actuality, anime and manga are two of the most prominent mediums that demonstrate the independence and strength of women. It is also hypocritical to be blinded that only anime and manga portray women as such because almost all media forms outside of anime and manga portray women as sexual if not even worse than what anime and manga casually do. Furthermore, anime and manga aren’t uncommon and are popular for very good reasons. They offer a wide range of appeals to all ages and interests, while other similar media are falling in popularity and have been surpassed by anime and manga. Ultimately, however, manga has been backed as a useful tool in academic learning both in Japan and is crossing overseas. Anime and manga are rising in popularity and will soon even reach the levels of popularity of TV series. People need to embrace anime and manga and not be afraid of showing their geek side. Although the common consensus states that anime and manga are for fulfilling male fantasies and consider them taboo, ultimately, their popularity shines over such false claims. In general, people shouldn’t be discouraged from watching anime or reading mangas and doing what they love, especially if it isn’t even something to be discouraged from in the first place.

Works Cited

Makowski, Chris. "10 Reasons To Watch And Respect Anime." The Odyssey Online, 27 Aug. 2017.

Hunt, Isaac A. "6 Reasons Why People Avoid Anime." Lifestyle, 17 Oct. 2014.

Eisenbeis, Richard. "How to Identify the Basic Types of Anime and Manga." Kotaku, 7 Mar. 2014.

Swift, Matthew. "In Japan Manga Teaches Tough Lessons." ASCD: Professional Learning & Community for Educators.

Idehen-Amadasun, Ehenneden. "Why Anime Is Getting More Popular in The U.S. (Again) -- Who Cares?" The Odyssey Online, 13 Nov. 2017.

Ishida, Sui, et al. Tokyo Ghoul. VIZ Media, LLC, 2017.

Izawa, Eri. Gender and Gender Relations in Manga and Anime.

Izawa, Eri. "What Are Manga and Anime." MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Miyoshi, Hikaru. Kanshikan Tsunemori Akane. Shueisha.

Monnin, Katie. Teaching Graphic Novels: Practical Strategies for the Secondary ELA Classroom. Maupin House Pub., 2010.

Barnes, Zhara and Pasternak, Hannah D. "15 Netflix Shows With the Hottest Sex Scenes You Need to Watch." SELF, 21 Dec. 2018.