‘Naruto’ And ‘Bleach’ Anime Studio President Rejects Idea That Anime Should Conform To Western Standards: “If You Make Animation With That In Mind, It Will Become Increasingly Boring”
Spencer Baculi
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In adding his voice to the increasing number of Japanese creatives who have found themselves unhappy with the ever-growing demands that their works be altered in order to accommodate Western sociopolitical standards, anime production studio Pierrot Co. Ltd. President and CEO Michiyuki Honma has warned that, should his respective medium change its core identity in order to attract overseas audiences, the results will “become increasingly boring”.
Honma, who during his thus-far tenure at the studio has overseen the production of such anime series as Bleach/Bleach: Thousand Year-Blood War, Naruto/Naruto: Shippuden/Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, and Kingdom, offered his thoughts on this hot topic while speaking with Japanese entertainment news outlet Comic Natalie for their anime studio-staff centric interview series, Anime Studio Chronicle.
Eventually turning to reflect on how popular the aforementioned Naruto trilogy has been with overseas viewers – at current, roughly 30% of Studio Pierrot’s video sales come from overseas audiences, with the trio of series and their related films being by far their best sellers – the studio boss asserted, “I am endlessly grateful to have had the opportunity to meet and produce a great work that will become a long-term series that will last for years. However, it is difficult to make a work that will be popular overseas or that will become a long-term series.”
To this end, Honma explained, “Of course, you can aim for the top half, but if you make animation with that in mind, it will become increasingly boring.”
“We don’t make characters smoke in order to take some series overseas,” he continued. “We have to make the violence a little less violent, and avoid sexy expressions. If Japanese animation is bound by such restrictions on expression, there is no way that people overseas will want to watch it.”
Drawing his thoughts to a close, Honma ultimately affirmed, “Works that are a hit in Japan are also a hit overseas. I believe that we must not make the mistake of approaching anime production in the wrong way.”
As noted above, Honma is (thankfully) far from the first Japanese creator to speak out against the ongoing attempt by Western audiences to force the Eastern country’s various entertainment mediums to appeal to their own tastes and sensibilities.
Asked during an April interview with video game news outlet Automaton if he was taking “care not to let your series’ identity become Westernized”, current Mana series producer Masaru Oyamada declared, “I think the visuals of the Mana games are a distinctive characteristic, therefore it is best to deliver the game based on the developers’ creative vision.”
“For example, there are many different types of characters in the Mana series,” he said. “I think the fun of the game is encountering this mysterious world and its inhabitants and because of that, we don’t have a strong focus on a particular audience. However, we do work on the game while bearing in mind that the Mana series is loved by fans from all over the world.”
Weighing in on the discourse surrounding the heavily altered localization seen in the English release of Vanillaware’s Unicorn Overlord, Final Fantasy Tactics director Yasumiu Matsuno opined,
. “I believe that it is unacceptable for someone to alter a work without considering the original author’s intent. However, when the market or language is different, a direct translation may not convey the intended meaning accurately. This is especially true for humor. Therefore, I think some degree of alteration is unavoidable.”
“The issue lies in whether the original author has consented to these alterations. Has anyone confirmed whether the author of Unicorn Overlord has approved its English translation?” he then posited. “In any case, I think both arguments have merit: translating faithfully to the original and allowing some degree of adaptation. I encourage discussion on this matter, as I do not intend to take sides. However, if the original author approves, I believe that should be respected. That’s all.”
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