Ubiquity of Manga

I sometimes feel I lack the right reference points to really understand the worlds of manga and anime and would not have considered myself to really subscribe to these categories. The more I read, the more I realized (especially in my younger years) how much of it I did consume, although off hand I didn't feel as though I did. Here are a few examples, mostly recollections from my youth, but I'll start with a more recent example:

The 'Ghost in the Shell' franchise follows a fictional counter-terrorist organization, set in a sort of cyberpunk world. The idea of cyberpunk itself is an interesting look at hybridity as it combines the high tech world of cybernetics and information technology and 'low life' especially in regards to 'punk' as those looking towards a change in social order. The setting as I am imagining it immediately reminded me of the film PUSH that came out in 2009. Although it is an American movie, it is set in Hong Kong (which of course is not Japan, but I feel that Hong Kong as a city has borrowed from manga, anime and elements of Japanese culture). The film, in my opinion, had a very hybrid-anime type feel, in terms of the way it was shot and the way in which it showcased the city as another character in the story.

On the topic of hybridity, I think that manga culture lends itself very well to the idea: Manga-->anime series--> films--> novels--> video games. This is a great segue to discuss Manga and Anime as a business. Clearly, over the years it has become a viable part of the world market, being that it is a billion dollar industry, extending its influence not only over Asia but to the West and beyond.

As a tween, I remember absolutely loving Sailor Moon (in fact, and I probably shouldn't be sharing this, but I still know the theme song). It definitely had that element of cute that Japanese pop culture is known for that I think is very appealing and easily marketed to the pre-teen age group anywhere, which is why it was so successful in the U.S.

I also remember spending my summers in Libya as a child and young teenager, and I remember my cousins all being obsessed with Captain Majid, which was clearly a Japanese import. In this globalized society, it is clear that Japanese pop culture has an element that makes it successful around the world, not just in Asia and youth culture in the states. Although soccer is a major staple in Arab pop and youth culture, the way it was done originally was as a video game [Captain Tsubasa (Famicon)] and then adapted into a television show. Its popularity was so immense in the Middle East that it was bootlegged and dubbed in Arabic.

This brings me to post-pop in the US and artists like Jeff Koons, and recording artists like Gwen Stefani who are clearly influenced by Japanese pop culture in their own work. We are consuming it at times without direct realization (although this is not the case with Stefani), it's become the dominant post pop art of our time...