Ask John: Will the Tsunami Affect Future Anime Development?

Question:

Do you think the whole disaster in Japan will change anime/manga content in any way? Censorship maybe will control some “sensitive” storys? Like the manga Hakuryu Legend yakuza that got stopped due to it focused on the “dark side of the nuclear power industry.” Beside this “change” maybe the type of genres will somewhat take new directions?

Answer:
Speaking as an outside observer looking in, and considering the effect that past disasters in Japan have had on the anime and manga development industry, I have to predict that the “Tohoku Chiho Taiheiyo-oki Jishin” and subsequent Fukushima nuclear power plant disasters are unlikely to have an appreciable impact on future creativity. Immediately following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, scenes of tidal waves were edited out of the Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen television series and Pretty Cure All-Stars 3 movie, but such edits for the sake of tact are not unusual within Japanese anime industry. For example, in 2007 most of the Japanese television networks airing the School Days television series pulled the broadcast of the series’ final episode because a 16 year-old Kyoto girl killed her father with an axe coincidentally only one day before the final episode of the School Days anime was scheduled to air. The final episode contains scenes of a high school girl committing violent murders.

Japanese society is considerate but also resilient. Anime production didn’t noticeably change after the devastating Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 killed over 6,000 people and devastated Kobe, Japan. In fact, the January 1995 earthquake was actually immortalized in the 1997 anime film Chikyu ga Ugoita Hi (The Day the Earth Moved). Considering the number of anime and manga that depict Japan’s reconstruction following WWII, and anime like Chikyu ga Ugoita Hi, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and Taiyo no Mokushiroku that illustrate Japan’s recovery following massive national disasters, tragedy seems to inspire Japanese artists rather than discourage them. Rather than dwell on tragedies and avoid evoking painful memories, Japan’s manga and anime industry have traditionally seemed to use their art to memorialize national tragedies and encourage restoration, healing, and progress. I’d say that it’s too early to know if we’ll see future manga or anime more aggressively examine Japan’s nuclear power industry or reflect upon the tragic devastation of the Tohoku Chiho Taiheiyo-oki Jishin. But at the minimum, I don’t believe that we’ll see anime and manga become more timid or conservative in response to the March 2011 disasters.