Daily Archives: April 28, 2022

Prompt-2: What is today’s most popular (in term of audience) Japanese animated TV show in the US? What genre does it belong to? What is the general storyline? On what platform is it distributed? Why do you think it resonates with American audiences? Is it as popular in Japan?

Attack on Titan is a Japanese dark fantasy anime television series adapted from the manga of the same name by Hajime Isayama that premiered on April 7, 2013. It has aired on NHK General TV in Japan, and Aniplus Asia in various Asia-Pacific countries. In the USA and Canada, the series has streamed on Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu, in addition to airing on Adult swims’s Toonami programming block in the U.S.
Main storyline: Set in a post-apocalyptic world where the remains of humanity live behind walls protecting them from giant humanoid Titans, Attack on Titan follows protagonist Eren Yeagar, along with friends Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert. When a Colossal Titan breaches the wall of their hometown, Titans destroy the city and kill Eren’s mother. Vowing for vengeance, Eren joins the elite Survery Corps, a group of soldiers who fight against Titans. Attack on Titan chronicles Eren’s journey with the Survey Corps as they fight against the Titans while investigating their origin and history. According to the popularity chart listed on the official website of IMDb, Attack on Titan is the most in-demand show currently airing in the United States. I love the thrilling and intense storyline of it, unlike most other anime this anime shows the ultra-realistic consequences, psychologically complexed with a lot of twists and most importantly no good or bad sides.

Prompt-2: We see that animated advertising became more prominent during this period. Pick an animated current commercial. Write about why you think it works, or doesn’t work, in terms of movement, color and storytelling. Include screenshots.

Coca-Cola created this iconic animated ad back in 2006. It takes us on a journey through a Coca-Cola vending machine into a magical world full of wondrous characters that work to bottled and chilled the coke before it being delivered to the outside. The images convey to the audience how much effort is put into every single bottle of Coke. The advertisement gives the idea of a brilliant and happy place that the coke is made, it shows a place filled with happy workers that all live to make the drink. Besides the intriguing fantasy storyline, the main point of this ad is the incredible execution of the 3D animation and the details.

Prompt-1 : After WWII the world could be divided (broadly) into two worldviews: that of the Western (capitalist) and Eastern (communist) blocks. How were these differences expressed in animation? What were some of the thematic, aesthetic, and financial differences between Western and Eastern national productions?

We can see how the differences between communism and capitalism were expressed in animation films if we review some of the animation films created between 1940’s to late 1960’s. “Animal Farm” (1954) by John Halas & Joy Batchelor was based on George Orwell’s anti-communist parable. George Orwell’s novel ‘Animal Farm’ was a fable that worked as a bang-on critique of the Russian revolution and Stalinism. In it a group of mistreated farmyard animals rise up against their owner and overthrow him. Different animals represent different people. The wise old pig Old Major represents Karl Marx and the beginning of communist teachings; Farmer Jones is Czar Nicholas II and represents the old regime; Napoleon and Snowball the pigs are respectively the ruthless Joseph Stalin and idealistic Leon Trotsky; the pack of dogs are the secret police and violent state enforcement; Boxer represents the hard working peasants; Benjamin, the wise but powerless individual; the sheep the unthinking masses. “It’s Everybody’s Business” was produced by John Sutherland. This film does a great job of demonstrating the basic concepts of capitalism. It explains how business and competition works.

Some other animated films were made to glorify anti-capitalism. Including Interplanetary Revolution which depicts a Communist triumph over free-market forces on Mars; China in Flames warns against capitalist interference in the Chinese Revolution; The Shareholder proclaims the superiority of the Soviet economic system; and Proud Little Ship takes on capitalist aggression.