Breaking up with anime

Earlier this year I printed my first comic book. Here’s a sneak peak of what it looks like:

Some of you might be saying – “Oh, so it’s a manga?”

I guess you could call it that. When I started drawing this comic, I certainly approached it like a manga, but as the years went on I began to realize the limitations of this art style. As such, I’ve begun to make a departure from the world of anime art, into a new world.

But first, let’s give some context.

My weeb years

I had a strong weeb phase all through out my adolescence, and as such, anime and manga will always hold a special place in my heart. I still have some of my old drawings from back when I was in the thick of it:

I loved anime so much that I followed my passion all the way to Japan and lived there, off and on, for about two and a half years. Something happened when I moved to Japan. My otaku-tinted glasses began to fade. It should come as no surprise that Japanese culture is not what you see in anime. And that’s a good thing!

But this realization planted the seed for my slow breakup with anime as an art style. Things came to a head when I started working on racially and physically diverse characters for my latest comic book series.

I’ll get into that in a moment, but let me balance my critique with a quick rant about Western comic book art.

My beef with Western comics

I don’t like Marvel or DC art. Period. I’m not into the dramatic black shading, I don’t like the pacing of the panels and I really don’t like how they draw faces.

One of the greatest qualities of manga and anime is their skill at pacing and subtle emotions. This makes sense. Japanese society hinges on the ability to read nuanced feelings from micro-expressions and body language. Sure, there are plenty of wild, over-the-top expressions in anime too, but they absolutely nail tense, emotional or dramatic scenes. They know what to show and what not to show. The silent pauses between dialogue. It’s beautiful.

Orthodox Western comics on the other hand seem to have 6 emotional expressions that they rotate through, and most of the time the vibe is just: gritty, moody, brooding.

I’m not saying it’s bad art – I’m just saying its one dimensional, and I’m not into it.

Hashtag not all Western comics

Surprisingly the style of non-anime art that I’ve fallen in love with exists in modern young adult comics. Some of them are clearly inspired by anime, others not so much, but they’re a clear departure from the traditional super hero comics of yore.

Here are some panels from a few of my favorites:

Stunning, unique, compelling. I love them.

Anime art is limiting

But enough about Western art. Let’s complain about anime.

The kawaiification of women

Listen. I love me a good chibi. I love sparkle eyes, and cute frilly dresses.

But women are so often infantilized and objectified in anime and manga. Even powerful female characters maintain a sticky, gooey, uWu quality. I wouldn’t have a problem with this in moderation, but it’s everywhere.

Homogeny

You can often swap the hair, eye color and clothing of one character, and suddenly they’re another. This is particularly true of female characters. Think of Sailor Moon. With a bit of Photoshop magic, you could turn any one of them into another Sailor Scout.

Am I cherrypicking the most obvious offender? Maybe.

But I dare you to convince me that the majority of anime does not have a problem with homogeny. Convince me it does a good job of representing different body and facial types – particularly with women.

Breaking old habits

I’m working on a new comic now, one with a multiracial cast. I knew from the start that I would need to adjust my style to effectively portray these characters well. These are a few aspects of unlearning anime that I’ve had to pay special attention to.

Lips

Relearning how to draw mouths has been one of my biggest challenges. At first I naively thought that I could just add some arches to the top and bottom of a typical anime mouth and boom: you have lips.

It’s not that simple.

When you include lips, the opening of the mouth has to change too. The way it stretches and contorts is different.

See the difference?

There are some anime styles that capture this subtly better than others, and it adds a lot more depth to the character.

Noses

Dainty, pointy noses are the norm in anime, even for men. This is so limiting! Give your schnozes some dimension!

In particular, in trying to draw characters with broader noses – particularly Black characters – a tiny nose completely erases the distinct, beautiful genetic qualities of people from different parts of the world. You can’t just give a character brown skin and tight curls and call them Black.

Eyes

The biggest irony about the anime style is that it’s extremely hard to portray East Asians. As per my previous statement: homogeny means different races aren’t always well-distinguished, and all the characters kind of blend together.

Eyes are probably my favorite part of drawing people, so experimenting with different styles and shapes has been extremely fun.

And look – I’m not against make believe or creative expression. Anime eyes are beautiful! I love them! I just think they’re quite limiting.

Body types

Show me an anime character that isn’t thin. One that is meant to be attractive. They don’t exist outside of fan art. It’s depressing. Need I say more?

Recent attempts

Unlearning my anime tendencies has felt like learning to write with my non-dominant hand. Things I’m struggling with a lot are lips and bigger, bulkier body types. Here’s where I’m at so far:

There are still glimmers of anime in these drawings. You can see it in some of the eyes, the noses, the head shapes. And you know what? I’m fine with that. Despite my complaints, I’ll concede that anime has an undeniable charm, and I’m okay with keeping some of that. But I hope to keep pushing my boundaries so I can break the mold I grew up with.

I still love anime

Here is where I will admit that I’m not actually breaking up with anime – only in my art. I still watch shows and read manga. Here are a few of my all time favorites:

• Devil Man Crybaby (my #1 fav)
• The Night Is Young, Walk On Girl (movie)
• Chainsaw man
• Full metal Alchemist (the manga)
• Summer Days (movie)
• Japan Sinks
• Beastars
• BNA
• Ghibli, because duh

Oddly, I think the best pieces aren’t series – they’re movies. Nearly every anime movie I’ve ever watched has been incredibly well executed. Like, 10/10. It’s mind blowing.

I will always like anime. Not only is it super fun, it’s also nostalgic to me. So even though my art is moving on, the medium as entertainment gets to stay.