One thing I like about Twitter and Facebook is the ability to have random conversations with readers, and often when working on these J-List posts I’ll throw out a question and ask for feedback about what people would like me to write about. One random person asked me, “We spend so many hours watching anime from Japan, but do they watch our animation as well?” The answer is sure, there are many Japanese fans of Western animated TV shows, from Power Puff Girls to My Little Pony and “SpongeBob.” (They remove the “SquarePants” from his name part because, well, pantsu.) The terminology can be a little odd, of course. Just as Japanese above the age of 40 often refer to animation on TV as “manga,” because the term anime wasn’t coined until the 80s, they see no problem in referring to Disney or The Simpsons with the term “anime” (shudder). My daughter is a huge fan of Adventure Time, and J-List’s employee Mai (who keeps our site stocked with bento boxes and Sailor Moon products) taught herself English in part by watching Family Guy and South Park. I was especially surprised to find the 1960s Hanna-Barbara anime cartoon Wacky Races is very well-known here, to the point that Japanese today still imitate Muttley’s unique laughing style (though they call him Ken-Ken) and make Touhou crossover fanart. As a fan of the concept of “World Peace Through Shared Popular Culture,” this pleases me greatly.
Many Japanese love Western animation.
