Week 5: Anime I

Is it a high or low cultural genre, according to Napier (2005)? What are some of its subgenres?


Anime is a very unique Asian influenced culture that has developed into something that most young people today will most definitely recognise and be familiar with. For me, I grew up with Anime watching the immensely popular Pokemon series after school. For others it could be Digimon, Princess Mononoke, or Sailor Moon? Whatever it was, everyone has had some dose of Anime and can relate.

To answer the question “Is it a high or low cultural genre”, one must look at where it exists in society and where it came from. Anime originated in Japan. This must be why Napier (2005), states, “The "culture" to which anime belongs is at present a "popular" or "mass" culture in Japan, and in America it exists as a "sub" culture.” This is because America would have taken on Anime after seeing its popularity and seeing how unique it was in Japan. “Otomo Katsuhiro's Akira is a complex and challenging work of art that provoked, bewildered, and occasionally inspired Western audiences when it first appeared outside Japan in 1990.”

Because Anime is a very high cultural genre, it of course has many subgenres that are associated with it. Like I said, I grew up with a very obvious one called Pokemon. But the popularity has grown past the television and past Japan. Napier states, “Anime clubs continue to attract growing numbers of members. Anime is shown on the Sci-fi Channel, is available at such mainstream video venues as Blockbuster Video, and has a whole section devoted to it at Virgin Megastore in London. Anime's influence also extends beyond Japanese exports of actual video tapes to include everything from the Pokemon toy give-away in 1990 at Kentucky Fried Chicken.”

Other genres include Dragon Ball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and of course Princess Mononoke. Anime is and probably will remain in my opinion a very visibly popular genre in Asian and Western countries for years to come.


Napier, S. (2005). Why anime? In Anime: from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle pp.3-14).
Hampshire: Palgrave/ Macmillan