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popularity of anime among p5 gep students

by: claire cheong u-er primary 5l tao nan school

teacher-mentor’s name: mr. ang thiam poh

date: 26th july 2006

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abstract anime has many varieties to suit anyone’s, and everyone’s, needs. i wanted to find out if anime is popular among gep students, so that producers may create a genre to suit our needs better, and make their anime more popular.

acknowledgements

i would like to thank the following people who helped in my project. -mrs. chng, for preparing me for irs last year -mrs. tan, for helping out during the first stages of my project -mr. ang, my mentor for guiding me through this project -my fellow students, for participating in the survey

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content page introduction page 4 background reading page 4, 5 method page 5 findings page 6, 7, 8 interpretation page 8 conclusions page 8 bibliography page 9

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introduction

anime is popular throughout the world and i did my report to find out if it was popular in the tao nan school p5 gep students. i have a very strong passion of anime, and i hope to let others know that anime is as good a pastime as playing computer games or reading. it is also a good way of distressing, so i believe that my peers should know of this outlet for stress. my hypothesis is “anime is popular among p5 gep students”, and i hope that people who see my project will be more interested in anime.

background reading i have read the following books on anime: o the anime encyclopedia o anime: from akira to princess mononoke these books are two of the very few books that make up the section for anime. the books emphasize on the differences between anime and cartoons, information ranging from facial features to language and meaning to the characters’ personality. they helped me by differentiating some major categories of anime. although, as the following abstract shows, it would be impossible for me to truly define what the real genres would be.

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“it is impossible to try and sum up the world of japanese animation. as this book has tried to show, the anime universe is an extraordinarily diverse one, and it would be futile to attempt to pigeonhole it into any single categorizing structure. although certain tropes and themes, such as the dysfunctional family and the changing roles of women, as well as the overarching modes of the apocalypse, elegy, and festival, reappear in many films and series, they are reworked with such variety and richness that it is absurd to suggest that there is one anime “take” on any particular issue. it is important to remember that the issues with which anime deals are universal ones, although some lend themselves more easily into the animated art form. in a discussion of very early american animation, paul wells describes the works of animator winsor mccay as “revealing the deep-rooted fears of the modernist era” in dealing with “anxieties about relationships, the status of the body, and advances in technology.” over 80 years after mccay began producing his works; these anxieties still remain in the forefront of much of japanese animation.” – anime: from akira to princess mononoke, page 235

method i did my research on the internet, mostly gathering information on genres and types of anime. after gathering enough information (e.g. major genres), i created my survey and gave it out to the 67 other tao nan school p5 gep pupils. i found that more people watched anime and enjoyed anime.

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findings websites: •http://www.umich.edu/~anime/ •anime is for everyone, although certain anime have specific audiences. •the differences between anime and cartoons are character features (the large eyes, unusually coloured eyes, and facial expressions), and the target audience, which for cartoons is children. •anime has three formats that are produced: •ovas, original videocassette animation, which have a length of about 30 minutes to 1 hour. these allow the creator more ‘space’ to construct a distinct storyline, and also time to show more characterization. •movies, the highest budget format. these may come as a standalone or as a finale to an ongoing series. •television shows, which air periodically, often once a week. they are usually 30 minutes long, and have a single commercial break in the middle. they are broke up into seasons of 13, 26 or 52. •dubbing may change the meaning of certain speech. •anime characters usually have a lower self esteem, get embarrassed easily and if they do achieve something, they are very humble about it. •usually in anime, belief in kami (gods) is common. the ‘gods’ in these however, may be referred to as sprites or elementals elsewhere. •types of anime that are suitable for 12 and below are: giant robot, boys’,

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draft 3 girls’ and samurai anime. (for added information that is not relevant to this age group, please check source.) •http://www.animeyume.org/series.php?show=genres •relevant major anime genres are: action, adventure, comedy, supernatural, drama, mystery, romance, sports and violence.

surveys 35

30

30 22

25

YES

20

15

NO

15

INVALID

10 5 0 WATCHES ANIME

30

24

25 20

YES

15 10

NO

6

5 0 ENJOYS WATCHING ANIME (OUT OF THOSE WHO WATCH ANIIME)

25

23

Invalid Rom ance

20

Com edy

15

10

Action/ Aventure

10 5

2

Dram a

4 0

2

1

1

2

Supernatural

0

Mystery FAVOURITE GENRES (OUT OF THOSE WHO WATCH ANIME

Sports Violence

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my information shows that more people watch and enjoy anime than not. also, the favourite genre among the tao nan p5 gep students would be action or adventure, as shown in the graph above.

interpretation i did this survey on the popularity of anime to see how many people watched it, as it is widely known in the us. i hope that in singapore, anime is also popular. if not, i hope that those who have seen my project will be interested in it.

limitations on the day when i collected the survey, 15 pupils were absent, so i might not have accurate results. those who remained may have wanted to end the survey faster, and just ticked “no” so that they need not trouble themselves. if anyone were to repeat my study, i would suggest that they increase sample size, and try to get hold of someone to interview.

conclusions the results show that anime is watched and enjoyed more among the participants, but the 15 pupils absent may have made the difference. most of the pupils who did not watch have no interest, and some of them, their parents do not allow. anime actually contributes to japan’s culture and history, and i would

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bibliography 1clements, j. (2001).: the anime encyclopedia: a guide to japanese anime since 1917. berkeley, california: stone bridge press 2napier, s. jolliffe (2000).: anime from akira to princess mononoke: experiencing contemporary japanese anime. new york: palgrave 3http://www.umich.edu/~anime/ 4http://www.animeyume.org/series.php?show=genres

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