Anime Influences Music

Research Memo 2

Research Memo 2

                In order to learn more about my research topic I went to look up a few articles to help me understand everything better. The first article is called “The History of Anime and Manga” by Marwah Zagzoug, which does discuss the history of modern manga. The second article is “Manga AND Anime”, by Jonathan Mays, this two gives the history of modern manga. It also gives some very interesting facts about the creation of anime and cartoons from America to Japan.

                The first article that I will dissect for information will be “Manga AND Anime” by Jonathan Mays. It does begin with an ancient history of Japanese art. But it doesn’t begin to talk about Osamu Tezuka , or comics during that time until after World War II, which is where the story beings. Osamu Tezuka is the creator of modern manga. He was a factory workers and an aspiring doctor, who noticed the popularity of Japanese comic strips and then took it one step further. He did this by his love of American cartoons like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, which were in his father’s movie projectors. He took the black and white color scheme, and then added the story telling of Japanese comic strips to create the revolutionary graphic novel type comics, manga.

                His first big hit was in 1947 with “New Treasure Island”, which was a two hundred page graphic novel, and the first modern manga to hit the market in Japan. He used the type of cinematic cartoons that he saw in the Disney movies and shows like close ups of characters, which the readers loved, and rewarded him with 400,000 copies sold. He then began to open the world for more than just comedies that the Japanese people knew; he opened the door for dramas and action type comics. Then as his audience grew, he and all of the people that followed him began to create stories that would appeal to both the adults who loved them as kids, and the kids as well. So that by the 1980’s manga had evolved to be a “popular Pastime).

                With the stories people got the idea to move these graphic books into animated features called anime. With the success of his stories, Tezuka opened the first anime studio, Mushi Productions. And as he did years before, he kept reinventing new idea for anime, creating fast-paced tales that no one had ever seen before. It wasn’t till years later that a director named Hayoa Miyazaki, won an American Oscar award for his movie Spirited Way. Now days, there are even some anime that is created just for Americans like IGPX (Immortal Grand Prix).  

                The second article “History of manga and anime” goes through the same basic information as the previous article. With the history of Osama Tezuka and his first work of “New Treasure Island”, along with his multiple other stories like Astro Boy, or Black Jack. It is said that because of his medical background that he used allusions of those to characters names in his own manga.

                Even though this does not discuss my exact topic of trying to find out the exact allusions of manga  and anime to other cultures of the world. I did get a small taste that Osama Tezuka was a fan of Disney movies. With that small piece of information we can say that America helped inspire manga. Another example is of his first novel “New Treasure Island”, which is based off of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.”  So for the next and finale research memo using videos, I hope to find more strong information to help prove my case.

Work Cited

·         <a href="http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=19483877&site=ehost-live">Manga AND Anime.</a>

·    Zagzoug, Marway. "The History of Anime &Manga." http://novaonline.nvcc,edu. N.p., April. Web. 17 Nov 2011. <http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/Anime62/Anime62.html>.

·    Disney, walt. "Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse." Mickey Mouse. 1930's. Print. <http://blog.buycostumes.com/halloween-costumes/happy-birthday-mickey-mouse/>.

·    Tezuka, Osama. "AstroBboy." Wikipedia.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AstroBoy1963.jpg>.

Research Memon # 1:

Hypothesis:

For my questions, I choose the two questions that  are a mirror to the other. They are the ones that ask: “Do you think that Anime and Manga have inspired TV shows, movies, or novels out of Japan”, and the reverse of that, “Do you think TV shows, movies, and/or novels (out of Japan) inspire an Anime or Manga?” These two questions are the heart of my research, so I feel these to be the most important. As for a prediction, for anyone who is unfamiliar with anime or manga, then they would think that they wouldn’t think it would. But to someone who studies those things like myself, do knows that they play off of each other.

Context:

Do to the in light extremes of the anime and manga world; it is hard to pick a target audience. So, in order to get as close to results as possible I would have to research many people in order to try to get both sides of what I am trying to answer for my research question. Only also, because of this, the results may move from two sides, so in some way they are skewed do to the fact that if they enjoy it, then they, a lot of the time know what is being said, while the opposite can be said about the other side. But generally, my questions were as least biased as possible, with multiple options to pick what they feel the best answer is. 

Results:

Questions	Response Percentages
1: Have you watched/ seen anime or manga		Yes: 84% No:  16%
2: Anime/ Manga inspire Other cultures		Yes: 61% No: 24% Maybe and IDK: 15%
3. Other Cultures inspire anime/manga		Yes: 38% No: 23% Maybe and IDK: 39%
4. Do you know anyone who reads manga/ watches anime?		Yes:92% No: 8%
5. What ages of people read manga/ watches anime?		Kids-to-Pre-teen (1-12): 38% Teens: 47% Adult: 0% All: 15
6. Age groups that make anime/ manga		Teens: 7% 20-30: 38% 31-40: 46% 41+: 9%
7. would you read a manga/ watch anime to try.		Yes: 46% No: 30% Maybe: 24%
8. How long has anime and manga existed in other countries?		1960’s: 30% 1970’s: 23% 1980’s: 23% 1990’s: 24%
9. How many different types of anime and manga are there?		A Couple: 07% A Handful:  30% A Plethora: 23% To Many to count: 40%

10:

Genre’s	Total
Action	8
Sci-fi	5
Romance	4
Drama	6
Suspense	5
Detective	4
Fantasy	6
Comedy	6
Other	5

                               

Data Analysis:

·         Finding One: most of the people surveyed actually had already watched anime or read a manga prior to doing this survey.

·         Finding Two: Most people think that only younger kids and teenagers only watch anime, or read manga.

·         Finding Three: Most people do know someone who does read manga or watch anime.

·         Finding Four:  A Majority of people that took the survey thought there were too many types and kinds of manga to count.

Conclusion:

For my two research questions, I was surprised, and that my hypothesis was wrong based on my surveys. I had predicted most people would not know, or would not think that they did at all. So, after looking at my answers it is clear that most people think that they do inspire each other, while then most people did not know, and then a tie between that they didn’t know, or they didn’t inspire each other.

Follow Up:

For my next part of research, I will research what exactly influences there have been between the Japanese entertainment world and other countries own entertainment. I will also research the history of what we think of as current manga and anime. 

Context

Do to the extremes of the anime and manga world; it is hard to pick a target audience. So, in order to get as close to results as possible I would have to research many people in order to try to get both sides of what I am trying to answer for my research question. Only also, because of this, the results may move from two sides, so in some way they are skewed do to the fact that if they enjoy it, then they, a lot of the time know what is being said, while the opposite can be said about the other side. But generally, my questions were as least biased as possible, with multiple options to pick what they feel the best answer is. 

Hypothesis

For my questions, I choose the two questions that play off of each other. They are the ones that ask: “Do you think that Anime and Manga have inspired TV shows, movies, or novels out of Japan”, and the reverse of that, “Do you think TV shows, movies, and/or novels (out of Japan) inspire an Anime or Manga?” These two questions are the heart of my research, so I feel these to be the most important. As for a prediction, for anyone who is unfamiliar with anime or manga, then they would think that they wouldn’t think it would. But to someone who studies those things like myself, do knows that they play off of each other.

Resaerch Questions

The main point of my research is to show people how we, the Western culture have inspired the otaku (anime/manga) culture, and how in return, they have inspired Western culture.  So some of the main questions I have are: How was current types manga created, and what inspired the person  to create them(?),  Where do manga and anime authors get their inspiration for their own series(?),  How was  America’s culture re-inspired by the anime and manga that was introduced into our society(?), and finally, Do American’s realize the impact of anime and manga in what they see in everyday life(?).  These are the inside questions for my main research question which is: How did western culture inspire anime and manga, and in return, how they inspired us. That is what I am trying to find.

Story behind my reaserch

Whenever someone mentions the terms “anime” or “manga”, most people associates those terms with something only nerds and the people who live in their parents basement watch and read. As if it was an underground thing that only a handful of what people know, then you are wrong.  Many of the biggest named movies are based off anime and manga. Such as the movie The Matrix, where it mentions the plugging into machines was first mentioned in the anime movie Ghost in the Shell. They also influenced American comic writers as well. For example Stan Lee a large America comic book writer is part of a manga called Karakuri Doji Ultimo, and also is also part of a robot genre anime called Heroman. But we also give them ideas, for example,  the hero in one of the most popular anime and manga Dragon Ball, Goku, the protagonist,  who came from another planet and landed on Earth, and is a great fighter, is similar to a well known superhero, Superman. So I would like to show people how powerful anime and manga are to our society, and how we have helped them.


Picture Sighting:

"Goku VS Superman." Graphic. Anime Baths: Goku VS Superman. First Last. 2011. Web. 27 Oct 2011. <http://animebath.blogspot.com/2011/04/goku-vs-superman.html>.