Cartoon maturity

by Jon Billinge and Aaron Jolly

Cartoon animation is an art form often misconceived as mere child’s play. In Japan, these presumptions have long since been cast aside due to cartoon entertainment created with an adult audience in mind.

Japanese animation (known as ‘Anime’) has managed to retain its popularity due to its all-encompassing nature.  Tired of transformers? Try Gundam Wing. In need of some heartfelt drama? Try Tokyo Godfathers. A Hitchcock-esque thriller? Try Perfect Blue; there is even a popular anime about the business world - Salaryman Kintaro.

Animation is a serious medium for adults, having its roots in early Japanese art. Today in Japan more people read ‘manga’ comics – a term used to describe comics originally published in Japan – than any other kind of book.

Cartoons allow for a greater sense of freedom, where the creative boundaries are extended to allow for fantastical situations. Japanese animation pushes these boundaries to limits unmatched by home efforts.

Anime classics such as Akira – a cyberpunk-style film based on a manga comic – was incredibly visually violent at the time but simultaneously incorporated themes of post-war reconstruction, most noticeably Hiroshima, allowing for an intelligent anti-war dialogue. Another famous example is Grave of the Fireflies by the famous Studio Ghibli, who are beginning to enter Western cinemas.

An interesting sub-genre of anime is Hentai, which literally means ‘sexual perversion’. A form of pornography, Hentai is similar to its live-action counterpart, though some genres – most notably ‘ero guro’ overstep the boundaries of taste, exploring everything from taboo fetishes to tentacles.

Mature audience

Adult cartoons in the Western world, while not as visually extreme as some anime and manga, rely heavily on satire and social reference, drawing in a mature audience. The American show South Park is a perfect example, with foul-mouthed children cleverly drawing parallels to our own fast-living, sexed-up culture.

There is even a cable TV channel dedicated to adult-oriented cartoons called Adult Swim. The comedy displayed is more absurdist and has themes more in keeping with anime, including fantastical creatures and slapstick humour.

For example, Aqua Team Hunger Force follows a group of personified fast-foods through their daily lives. Metalocalypse, another popular comedy show that follows an extreme metal band also shares the more violent themes of anime, with a huge bodycount at the end of nearly every episode.

With such little programming dedicated to adult cartoons in the Western world, it is clear that the acceptance of animated features and series as serious works remains out of sight. Let us cast aside these rash assumptions and allow ourselves to experience an untapped world where anything is possible.