Report
on Manga & Anime in Australia
published in Commickers No.6, Tokyo,
1997
Let's face it: most manga and animation is fanboy fodder.
The successful MANDARAKE stores could easily be called OTAKUDARAKE.
They are usually full of worshipping fans trapped in juvenile
flights of fantasy. In the West, identical facets govern
fandom. Over the last decade, the most popular Japanese
animations in the West resemble sitcoms (from RANMA 1/2
to TENCHI MUYO) or heroic sagas (from GUNDAM to DRAGONBALLZ).
Only recently - with works like GENOCYBER and GHOST IN THE
SHELL - has there been a growing awareness of the thematic
depth and multicultural complexity that hides in much Japanese
animation.
I
often find myself caught in the middle. I know that Sonada
Kenichi is hardcore otaku, but I also think there are profound
moments in both the GALLFORCE and BUBBLEGUM series. But
this awkward middle ground does have its advantages. It
allowed me to curate a major exhibition (called KABOOM!)
on postwar American and Japanese animation for the Museum
of Contemporary Art in Sydney in 1994. The exhibition profiled
the work of Tezuka, Miyazaki, Sonada, Otomo, Takahashi,
Terasawa and others and was seen by over 79,000 people.
This 'high art' profile of animation has had some impact
locally in diffusing the typical Western view that animation
can only be puerile and bereft of value.
Japanese
animation, of course, had filtered through to Australia
well before this. The comic stores first into Japanese manga
were in Sydney (THE LAND BEYOND BEYOND and COMIC KINGDOM)
and Melbourne (MINOTAUR and ALTERNATE WORLDS). They stocked
translated publications from VIZ, MARVEL, EPIC and ARTIC
PRESS. These were eventually augmented by imported American
NTSC videos. (Australia uses the PAL system.) Across this
same time, the Chinatowns of both Melbourne & Sydney developed
thriving Asian fan networks. The largest is in Melbourne,
serviced by HOBBY JAPAN's two stores which specialize in
garage kits as well as running a membership video library.
Most of the titles are subbed in Mandarin, but one can either
get friends to translate them, or download translations
off the Internet. The past few years has seen these Asian
stores expand considerably. The Western comic stores meanwhile
have become narrow and more obsessed with nostalgic Marvel/DC
superhero drivel and novelizations of the exceedingly facile
STAR WARS trilogy.
Outside
of the "dasai" (uncool) world of garage kits clubs and comic
book stores (the Australian slang is "daggy" - it refers
to the shit that hangs off the arse of sheep), Japanese
animation is very hip in the techno nightclub scene. From
nights called BUBBLEGUM CRISIS to live acts called GUYVER
to the fashion label DANGERFIELD using a copyright-infringing
image of Tetsuwan Atom on its sale bags, Japanese animation
is visible and celebrated. AKIRA and the proceeding hard-sci-fi
animations have been a huge influence on this future-dreaming
scene. In 1995 I curated a retrospective on the work of
Osamu Tezuka for the Melbourne International Film Festival
which was wildly successful, more due to the techno scene
more than the fanboy scene. Last year's festival kept tapping
into this audience with screenings of MEMORIES and SILENT
SERVICE, though they were nowhere near as popular as Tezuka's
work.
The
SBS network - the Special Broadcast Service which shows
subtitled programmes from around the world - has also picked
up on the growing interest in Japanese animation. SBS aided
in some of the subtitling for the KABOOM! exhibition, and
has since screened SPACE ADVENTURE COBRA, NINJA SCROLL and
PATLABOR 1. Though not as high profile as Hong Kong action
cinema, Japanese animation is certainly broadening its audience
through these broadcasts. Concurrent with this, the Australian
branch of MANGA Video started releasing titles from the
UK label in 1995. Numerous video stores around the country
now stock a wide range of their titles, from parts of the
infamous UROTSUKIDOJI series (censored versions in Australia)
to the more respectable GIANT ROBO series. KISEKI followed
suit in 1996 with the remaining instalments of UROTSUKIDOJI
and titles like THE SENSUALIST and PLASTIC LITTLE.
The
main problems with watching Japanese animation in Australia
is (a) the time it takes for the product to reach here in
English, and (b) the costs involved in transferring masters
from NTSC to PAL. Unless one is plugged into the Asian fan
networks, one has to wait until - usually - an American
company (like US MANGA CORPS, VIZ or ANIMEIGO) does a dubbed
version which is then purchased as a translated-product
by an English company who the makes a PAL master which is
then easily picked up by an Australian distributor.
Interestingly,
the local comic scenes in Melbourne & Sydney - small as
they are due to resources and the high cost of printing
in Australia - have not formally incorporated Japanese animation
& manga into their style. While most of the underground
comic artists are huge fans of Japanese animation and manga,
their drawing skills render them incapable of executing
such a style in their own work. As such, Australian underground
comics tend to be more influenced by the American underground
work of Dan Clowes, Raymond Pettibone, Jim Woodring, Julie
Doucet & Richard Sala. Clearly, the high level of draftsmanship
in the work of Otomo requires great skill and committed
practice. Underground comic culture does not so easily provide
one with a living to hone one's skills to that degree.
All
in all, the presence of Japanese animation and manga is
noticeable in Australia, though there is still room for
a fuller understanding of its history and the culture from
which it comes. Through comic and video stores importing
translated manga for a small but enthusiastic clientele,
and cultural events like the Melbourne International Film
Festival programming Japanese animation, the popularity
and appreciation of Japanese manga and animation will continue
to grow. Our appetite is strong.
