This volume extends and develops an aspect of anime studies that is usually peripheral to the plethora of analyses rooted in media and cultural studies. These works often focus on the contents of and various themes and representations within anime productions. By contrast, this excellent volume analyzes what may be termed the organizational and entrepreneurial infrastructure of the anime industry. It does this through a perspective that concentrates on the key actors – the firms, agents, sponsors, and boosters – that factor in the way anime is produced, circulated, regulated and hybridized. Moreover, this exemplary volume written by Daliot-Bul from Haifa University and Otmazgin from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem provides a very detailed and sophisticated analysis of how anime has been globalized through distribution networks and the involvement (not always welcome) of the Japanese state. More widely, the story that Daliot-Bul and Otmazgin tell is of the growth and decline of anime in the US as part of a wider narrative about the media and cultural industries in a globally competitive business environment. Methodologically, their study draws on a rich mix of analyses of anime series, interviews with key industry actors (in the US and in Japan), fieldwork, and a market survey. It is also based on a systematic review of English and Japanese language sources on anime. I would wholeheartedly recommend the volume to anyone interested not only in anime but more widely in popular culture. It is a model academic work combining empirical data, sophisticated use of theoretical tools and a very clear and flowing writing style making it accessible to multiple readerships. Moreover, each chapter also ends with an excellent summary of its contents and the main lessons it bears.
Let me chart out the book’s contents and then go on to address what I see are its two major implications. The Introduction explains the analytical and methodological background to the study and charts out how anime moved to the United States. The main message of this chapter is that the height of success of anime in the US lasted for about ten years (from the late 1990s to the 2000s) and was not a result of intentionally planned efforts of the Japanese industry (nor of the Japanese state) to export its products abroad. Rather, it is quite the opposite: Japanese anime-centered entrepreneurs have been and still are to a great extent risk averse. In addition, the introduction sets the stage for the entire book: a story of large and small studios, state actors, and the transnational transfer of cultural commodities in a free market.
Chapter One charts out the successful decade of anime as one chapter in the long history of anime broadcast on US television media since the 1960s. It also usefully emphasizes that artistic and commercial considerations together explain the creation of new products and demonstrates how “cultural” explanations of the success or failure of anime migration (based say on cultural proximity) are not sufficient, but must rather be complemented by investigations of production and distribution. Chapter Two thus focuses on global distribution structures and their contribution to the success of exported media products. It underscores the differences between the animation industries in Japan and the US and how these shape what is produced and disseminated. For example, Daliot-Bul and Otmazgin show how in contrast to the US, consumers in Japan are sometimes linked into the production cycle via being test markets (so-called “otaku” are the primary one) or being allowed to produce their own productions based on originals.
Chapter Three, one of the best in the volume, explores the actors and business models developed in the two countries. Importantly, it emphasizes the role of entrepreneurs and how their personal networks, the social infrastructure of any business, are crucial for business openings and opportunities. However, I did not understand the authors’ need to bring in the sociological concept of agency here; it does not add to the analysis since entrepreneurship by definition involves active, intentional actions. Perhaps the use of this concept is directed towards the authors’ imagined readerships of critical social scientists. The following Chapter Four, another excellent one, moves to a textual analysis to show how Japanese anime has influenced the content and style of American-made, but anime-influenced, cartoons. It analyzes emulation of visual styles, storytelling techniques, and narration themes but persuasively shows that the anime-inspired products (a new category of productions) were only a transitional product. Their persuasive argument is that the style and content have been internalized and are by now a regular feature of many American cartoons today.
Chapter Five then takes up the response of the Japanese government to the success of anime abroad that sees it as both economically and diplomatically beneficial. The chapter’s main message, however, is that scholars need to understand the inherent tension or even contradiction between the formalized and bureaucratized government agencies and the cultivation of creativity. Chapter Six comprises the conclusion that is significant for the way the volume carries a wider message about media globalization, fierce competition and the opportunities for the emergence of alternative anime centers of production (for instance in China, South Korea or Thailand). In this race, Japanese actors have struggled to find new business models. The chapter ends on a positive note that focuses on the pool of talent in Japan that assures it continued excellence as a center of anime.
Reading the volume I found two main implications and lessons for scholars (rather than for business entrepreneurs). First and most crucially is the comparative angle that Daliot-Bul and Otmazgin build into their analysis. This is not a straightforward comparative study of Japan and the US since it traces the movement of anime between the countries. However, constant comparisons and contrasts make the volume very persuasive and sophisticated. In one example, the volume contrasts studio-driven productions in the US with director-driven ones in Japan, and in another, it compares the differences between company-led or individual-led entrepreneurship that mark the two countries. It is only against this background that we can understand the different dynamics of cooperation between actors in the two countries and the means of mediation and cooperation they entailed. In another example, the risk-averseness of Japanese anime entrepreneurs is compared to the much more competitive and outward orientation of the Japanese video game industry. Here again, this comparison not only shows that a simple “cultural” explanation (a cultural penchant for risk-averseness) does not suffice to explain anime’s relative decline in the US but that industries differ in the way they orient themselves to business opportunities domestically and abroad.
Second, and in contrast to many self-styled cultural studies scholars who use their work to assure readers of their credentials as critical scholars (and their political allegiances) this book is unabashedly pro-business. Thus, it is free of the usual ornamentation of texts with citations of Foucault (or other academic saints) or unnecessary references to such cultural studies staples as gender or race. While some readers may fault the volume for this apparent lack, the analysis of anime it offers is surprisingly refreshing. Moreover, this approach will make the volume appealing to the many students and scholars who teach in academic anime programs with a practical or applied orientation since it tells the story of both success and (relative) failure. In this respect, the emphasis on the changed conditions of the popular and media industries – what is called the convergence revolution, the interaction of grassroots and corporate media resulting in unpredictable forms – implies that the competitive dynamics of business are still very much alive and developing in new ways. In sum, this is an excellent volume that combines empirical research with analytical sophistication and presents its contentions in a clear and accessible manner.
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Eyal Ben-Ari
Eyal Ben-Ari is senior fellow of the Center for Society, Security and Peace at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee. He has carried out research in Israel, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. His main areas of research are the sociology of the armed forces, early childhood education, and popular culture in Asia. Among his recent books are Japanese Encounters (2018), (with Zev Lehrer, Uzi Ben-Shalom and Ariel Vainer) Rethinking the Sociology of Warfare (2010), (with Nissim Otmazgin) The State and Popular Culture in East Asia (2012), and (with Jessica Glicken Turnley and Kobi Michael) (2017) Social Science and Special Operations Forces.