end of anime as we know it?

[Aaron Gerow]

>The effect of so much photo-realism may only serve to distance viewers, if
>we are to believe comic theorists like Scott McCloud, who says that the more
>basic and less realistic the character, the more projection from the
>audience and the empathy extended to the character. (Hence why Peanuts is
>more endearing than Prince Valiant--among other reasons, of course).

Teaching manga here at YNU, I use McCloud as a reference text, but I must 
admit I find this contention of his hard to accept with regard to the 
history and reception of manga in Japan.  The post-Tezuka history of 
story manga in Japan--especially after gekiga--has definitely been one of 
greater "realism" (an always contentious term), with certainly the 
dominant style today emphasizing anatomical accuracy (though often in 
order to destroy the body!).  Just witness Ishinomori Shotaro's shift 
from Tezuka-like cartoon characters to the strict realism of Hotel and 
Nihon keizaigaku nyumon.  It is true that an artist like Otomo used a 
kind of photographic realism to, as Natsume Fusanosuke argues, render 
human beings as equally objecs as his precisely drawn backgrounds, but I 
have not found any evidence, however, that these realist manga are in 
general less successful or draw less empathy from the readership.

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171