The Guardian (London) 

February 1, 1993 

SECTION: THE GUARDIAN FEATURES PAGE; Pg. 12 

LENGTH: 418 words 

HEADLINE: BLOOD AND GUTS AND BAMBI EYES 

BYLINE: MARYA BURGESS 

BODY: 


THE Japanese animated cartoon Akira enjoyed great success last year at London's 
ICA, but many were shocked by its violence. Following up on Akira's popularity, 
Island World Video have released more Anime - the films which have grown out of 
Japan's huge comic, or Manga, industry - and violence, in particular violence 
against women, continues to characterise them. One film, Legend Of The Over 
Fiend, shows sex in its opening scene and rape soon after. 

Japanese anthropologist Dr Juniko Miyanaga defines such films as Adult Anime, 
primarily aimed at men. "Men's Manga is quite different from women's. It is 
dedicated to the themes of success, violence and conquest and to attraction to 
the female body - to romantic love with a very submissive type of woman. Women's 
Manga is dedicated to fantasy - perhaps domestic, marriage or becoming a ballet 
dancer." 

Only the male side of the genre has arrived here, but Clare and Chris in 
London's Forbidden Planet shop dispute its negative portrayal of women. "There's 
much better representation of strong female characters than in most US comics, 
which have a fixation on women with large breasts and skimpy outfits running 
about." 

There seem to be plenty of skimpy outfits in the Japanese imports, if not many 
large breasts. The heroines are characterised by Bambi-eyed pubescence; the 
heroes are improbably endowed hulks. Helen McCarthy, editor of Anime UK, relates 
these features to an attempt to tie in popular Disney forms with elements of 
traditional Japanese folk art when Anime was created after the second world war. 
She points out that films such as Akira are moving towards Japanese physical 
types. But Dr Miyanaga acknowledges that Western types mean that "the whole 
image becomes more fantastic" and, because it is so distanced from daily life, 
women do not find their representation in male Manga offensive. 

In Japan, which has the lowest violent crime rate among developed countries, 
"pornography isn't considered a cause of violence towards women. It's understood 
as a reflection of man's deep desire which might need some kind of mild outlet. 
Repression is more feared, as a cause of sudden outburst." 

Here, questions about debased images of women elicit exasperated groans from 
Manga enthusiasts. 

"Why damn an entire innovative art form because of a pornographic element?" asks 
Clare. "And remember, these are only cartoons. If someone gets turned on by 
them, well, they must have a sad life - and good luck to them."