Generation Y anime fans, do you remember the likes of Animax? It was the glorious year of 2006 and we would offload our heaps of luggage after a laborious day at the old schoolhouse, procrastinate and switch on the looking glass into an expressive, outrageous and rustic yet modern world of Japanese cartoons. The cultural and linguistic barriers were often a little too overbearing (including the sub-par English dubbing), but man oh man we never had such a fast paced, never-ending stream of entertainment. And then, they cancelled the entire channel due to lack of interest. The market was too “niched”, it seemed …
But that was just television; one medium taken away from a fairly large collection of culture composition. Anime can still find a loving home in South Africa, and the fans of the style are able to engage in fashion retail, aficionado, strategy-based card games, console, PC and online gaming platforms, special events, series streaming, fan-based art and for the die-hard attributors, cosplay. The popularity of anime in South Africa all began with a famous franchise, a truly powerful entity that took childhoods worldwide by storm – Pokémon! (Created by the titan of handheld gaming, Satoshi Tajiri). The “Poké-industry” laid strong foundations for a generation of anime obsession during the turn of the century. Every kid on the Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg block was up to date with the series, desperately searching for the latest holographic playing cards (also known as rares) and spending a good three to four hours a day glued to the tiny primitively pelleted screen of a Gameboy Color, facing the ultimate challenge in life – claiming the title of Pokemaster! (You gotta catch em all, didn’t you know?) As the circle of interest widened, media corporations saw fit to introduce more and more anime cartoons. Dragonball Z, Beyeblade and Yu-Gi-Oh soon followed suit. Any 90’s kid wouldn’t be afraid to admit the soft spot in their hearts for at least one of these franchises.
As the South African kids of generation Y grew up, so did the themes of Anime cartoons and merchandising. The culture was now more interested in showcasing television series that dealt with adult themes such as action, drama and love (Although never loosing it’s roots of whimsical satire and playful scripting). Late at night, one could even see a soiree of blood splatter – a pretty cool commentary on the desensitisation of gore and brutality in animated shows. The “fanime’s” who continued to embrace the quirks and customs of the genre are now throwing their skills to the table and battling it out to the end with the strategy-based card games on the weekends. Take a gander at any Wizards shop on a Saturday for a glimpse of the action…
The lesser fan base that still enjoy indulging can be found with hard drives stuffed to the brim with anything from “Aria the Scarlett Ammo” to “Zaion I wish you were here”. As technology continues to advance, will anime still manage to make a mark on the recreational hobbies of generations to come? Only time will tell…
Contributed by Cameron Smith.
