Riding the anime wave By Claire Agbayani
Publisher:Philippine Daily Inquirer - Publication Date: 11-07-2007

Anime, or Japanese animation, is a billion-dollar industry in Japan. And just like other Japanese products that have hit our shores, this exciting import has grown more sophisticated through the decades.
Herbeth Fondevilla, an Art and Design graduate student of Comprehensive Human Sciences at Tsukuba University in Japan, did a thesis on “Contemplating the Identity of Manga in the Philippines”.
In his thesis, Fondevilla quotes Jobert Bartolome and Oliver Floralde of the Program Analysis group of GMA TV network as saying that anime has been around since the 1970s and 1980s—in fact, even all the way back to the ’60s—but it wasn’t until the ’90s that its popularity peaked.
The network’s programme analysis group is tasked specifically to watch programmes, analyse and evaluate them, and make recommendations.
Anime is only one of their major purchases—a move obviously in response to its growing appeal, and thus, demand from among its young viewers.
Although they are no longer on primetime in certain channels, in the past three years, anime has taken the top spot in ratings over traditional animation.
Anime has clearly taken over the lives of our youngsters. One mother complains, “My kids are going gaga over Pokemon! They watch all the shows on TV, play cards, play computer game—all Pokemon. Last month alone, I racked up a P1,000 (US$21.76) long distance telephone bill because they were always on the phone with their cousin, talking about Pokemon.”
This same mother admits though that the very popular anime series is what bonds her four children with one another, as well as with their cousins who are several miles away.
Wikipedia defines Pokemon as a “Romanised contraction of the Japanese brand ‘Pocket Monsters.’”. A media franchise owned by the video game giant Nintendo, it was created by Sotoshi Tajiri around 1995 and was originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games. It has since become the second most successful and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the world, ranking second only to Nintendo’s Super Mario series.
Promoting products side by side with anime is nothing new. Bartolome recalls that in the late ’70s, sales of Purefoods hotdogs increased dramatically when Voltes V swords were offered free with every purchase of a pack of hotdogs. The “Voltes V” animation series was the in show then.
In an informal survey of 21 kids aged 7-13, Pokemon emerged as the favourite of most kids—over a third of the youths asked. Perhaps it helps that apart from the cartoon series kids get to watch on TV, there’s a whole range of merchandise available in the market to support the children’s fancy for the cute characters of Pokemon—be it anime, manga, trading cards, toys, books or other media.
Most of those devoted to Pokemon were boys, although 9-year-old Karen Angala Shy swears “It’s the best anime ever!”
The adoration for this anime apparently cuts across ages. Quite a number of the children polled—mostly boys of various ages—also mentioned “Naruto”. “It’s cool and action-packed, with ninjas with cool powers who move, jump and run fast,” says 10-year-old Francis Bunsoy. “Dragonball Z” is also a favourite, Gabriel Joshua Floresca, 12, explains, because of “its cool story and awesome characters”; and Bleach, because “they fight bad guys and monsters, they’re quick to attack, and are funny too,” adds 12-year-old Rene Joshua “RJ” Bunsoy.
What is the profile of anime viewers? Market information and consumer insights from a study conducted by the ABS-CBN Network's Research and Business Analysis group profiles them as kids aged two to 12, who watch three to four hours, and teeners who spend anywhere from two to three hours on TV viewing on weekdays. All these age groups of children watch more cable on weekends than on weekdays.
How popular is anime? The sheer number of anime shows on cable is proof of their popularity: “There’s Animax, Hero TV, Cartoon Network, even AXN. You have an entire channel devoted solely to anime,” Floralde notes.
“Naruto”, which tied with “Bleach” and “Dragonball Z” for the number two spot in our poll, is the top-rating anime series of Hero TV, a 20-hour cable channel that combines anime, cartoons and youth entertainment programmes. Channel Producer Ruel Ferrer says that Hero TV is the first Filipino-dubbed channel that’s packaged for Filipino youths aged 6-18. It targets the ABC and broad C socio-economic classes, and is heavily skewed to boys—what with action-packed cartoons, display of power, and powerful and vibrant colours.
Hero TV has two ways of sourcing shows: it acquires anime and live action shows (“G.I. Joe”, “Power Rangers”, “Masked Rider”), and locally produces "G3" (pronounced “G cube”)—which is all about Games, Gigs and Gadgets.
And when they acquire shows, “We get screeners who evaluate if it fits our channel. We study the plot, the characters, and if the viewers can relate to the content as a whole,” says Ferrer. Hero TV, he says, is viewer-centric.
Although there are more serious anime fans, Floralde says, most of the followers of the series are there simply for the enjoyment of watching the animated characters. “Hindi sila naghahanap ng malalim (they are not looking for anything profound),” he explains.
Ferrer says that this market likes Filipino-dubbed anime because of the following:
• detailed graphics, proper dubbing, conversational Filipino dialogue
• fast-paced and great fight/ action scenes;
• showcase or clash of powers, and various adventures
• the triumph of good vs. evil; and
• interesting and colorful characters and a sense of belonging.
There’s always been an allegation that anime are violent, and one of the theories forwarded by observers was that former President Marcos banned “Voltes V” decades ago because “a lot of the kids were jumping out of windows”!
But Ferrer says, “In our channel, we edit out the gore.” Scenes which are perceived to be inappropriate for children are moved to the 12 midnight to 2am block when children are supposed to be asleep.
Why do certain parents approve of anime? “It stimulates the imagination, has morals and reflects positive values, tones down the perception of violence due to its animated content, dwelling more on the moral side of the story,” says Ferrer. “It also serves as a reward for kids after a hard day at school and gives them an opportunity to bond with other kids.” Ferrer said these were reflected in the market information and consumer insights of their research and business analysis group.
Bartolome thinks the phenomenal popularity of anime is because young people can easily relate to the themes of the stories. To this Floralde adds, “Anime is able to communicate to young people in a meaningful way. It penetrates the psyche of young people.”
Ferrer furthers that anime programs help kids in that they show these: “How did the character display power, overcome evil, help his friends; or together with his friends, how was he able to solve the problem?”
He also notes that the anime programs that rate are usually related to sports, like “Slam Dunk” and “Dragonball Z”. Then there are stories young viewers can identify with, because of characters such as kids and schoolboys. “More than anything though, it’s about kids with power. That’s what really works—and rates,” says Floralde.