- Archives
- Categories
“Japanese Anime” - Dept. of Redundancy Department?
Call me uptight, but amongst my ever-increasing number of pet peeves (which are more like good, lifelong acquaintances you’d smoke a pipe with and slap on the back than pets per se) is the ever-increasing usage of the phrase "Japanese anime" when referring to Japanese animation, a.k.a. anime. Now I suppose I should be happy that people are talking about anime at all, as at one point back in the "good ole days" fandom was more esoteric and the only thing you could find at your local Blockbuster was the Orange Road OVAs, the BGC OVAs, Akira, Harmageddon, and MD Geist. Since then, yes, anime has reached an uncomfortable yet ultimately beneficial ubiquity and popularity. But even with this increased acceptance and cultural assimilation, still we hear people speak of "Japanese anime"…
You probably wouldn’t say:
- "I really love those Mexican tacos!"
- "I’m hungry for a French croissant!"
- "There’s far too much dancing in them Indian Bollywood movies!"
- "They killed the Roman Caesar!"
Or any number of similarly inane statements with superfluous localizing qualifiers, now, would you? Whenever I hear people speak of "Japanese anime" I feel like butting in and informing them that if they really wanna see some hot shit, the Zimbabwean anime is where it’s at. It’s equally as redundant to speak of Japanese samurai, Japanese sushi, or Japanese karaoke, as all of these are Japanese words that describe Japanese things. You don’t really hear anyone do that, however, as I suppose those words have become so well assimilated that they don’t need to be clarified. For my money, anime has reached that level too. I think part of the problem is that the perfectly acceptable "Japanese animation" sounds similar, so people run the two into one another and form this chimera of redundancy almost sub-consciously.
I also suppose that, until enough time has passed to grant anime the same acceptance as other indoctrinated Japanese terms, we’ll have to endure the phrase, while hoping for a better tomorrow… and bitching about it on blogs…
14 Responses to ““Japanese Anime” - Dept. of Redundancy Department?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
July 5th, 2005 at 1:21 am
Or we could just give up and switch to Afganistanimation.
Ugh, I can’t believe i ripped a SuperTroopers joke…
I agree, though.
On a similar note, I despise the word “cartoon”. Its connotations are severly outdated in the context of modern animation (American, amongst other).
Maybe I just like Teen Titans too much.
July 5th, 2005 at 3:26 am
Couldn’t have said it any better myself. And another thing that peeves me… They put all the anime under the “action” section in video stores. I guess it’s gonna take a while for people to get past these prejudices.
July 6th, 2005 at 12:53 pm
well, maybe I’m surrounded by more stupid people than you. I’ve heard “Mexican Tacos” several times as well as “Spaniard Paella” (Typo?). I think redundancy is fun, In my opinion.
July 6th, 2005 at 5:54 pm
If you truly think redundancy is fun, consider a job in the purchasing department of a Federal agency…
July 7th, 2005 at 1:39 am
Zi…ng?
July 9th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
It’s okay to zing the federal government, though - it’s a national pasttime, and almost mandatory if you work for state or local government, as I do.
July 11th, 2005 at 8:32 pm
“Equally redundant.” That one never gets old.
July 12th, 2005 at 9:45 pm
Kind of like “PIN Number” and “ATM Machine” >_>
July 12th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
…there’s nothing wrong with saying “equally redundant” , that I see - something can be more redundant or less redundant. For example, “Japanese Anime” is fairly redundant. “Japanese Anime Animated Animation from Japan” is more redundant. This has been a public service announcement from the people at djpretzel.com…
October 21st, 2005 at 12:28 am
Actually, the Term “Japanese Anime” Is very relevant. It’s to make the distinction between Japanese anime, the good stuff, and AMerican Anime, the . . . abominable kind. Saying Japanese Anime implies classics suchas Sailor Moon, Cowboy Beebop, Ghost in the Shell, Inuyasha, and Full Metal Alchemist, Rouni Kenshin, and Gundam
American Anime, well, I don’t remember any of that stuff, probably because I forced it out of my mind. There’s a ton of “American Anime” around these days, and most of it, at least artistically, sucks.
Thus the term Japanese anime isn’t redundant, but actually necessary. It’s the difference between a Britain and an Irishman, Both from western Europe, but white skinned, and both human beings, sharing the same basic morals. But put them right next to each other, and the difference is noticeable.
December 30th, 2005 at 4:03 pm
I hate to bust your bubble but croissants aren’t actually French. They were invented by the Austrians.
January 1st, 2006 at 4:10 pm
It’s “burst”, not “bust”… as for who invented the croissant, and where, Wikipedia and most encyclopedias seems to indicate that no one knows 100% for certain, so my bubble would only be partially burst. Furthermore, the modern croissant, and the word itself, are pretty universally accepted as being ‘French’, regardless of any (clouded) 19th century etymology.
Regardless, I admire the gumption required to incorrectly correct random, supporting factoids on the INTARWEB…
April 15th, 2006 at 4:06 am
Better than “Japanese anime” is the contraction formed with the two: Japanime. I understand the contraction “Japanimation” for “Japanese animation,” but things have gone too far.
February 16th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
I don’t get online often enough, just happened to come across this site. Now, this is just a personal opinion, but I figure the people who say “Japanese anime” are using the phrase from the JAPANESE point of view–as inuko has already pointed out. (Talk about being redundant; I already wrote most of this post before realizing that inuko’s covered most of what I wanted to say….)
Quote from Wikipedia:
Linguistically, the anime definition is subject to interpretation. In Japan, the term does not specify an animation’s nation of origin or style; instead, it is used as a blanket term to refer to all forms of animation from around the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime
In short, to the Japanese, “anime” is “animation,” regardless of where it comes from. The people who use that perspective are perfectly justified in saying “Japanese anime,” but the Western fans of anime, who see anime as only that of Japanese origin, are equally justified in thinking the phrase redundant.
(Same thing with manga.)
I also subscribe to Shonen Jump, and while I don’t recall the issue or the exact wording, it says basically the same thing.
Oh, and sgtrama?
How about LCD display, or RPG game?