Japan is a nation well loved and respected for its many types of unique and fascinating culture, long and brutal history, and long-standing traditions, such as geishas, tea ceremonies, samurais, gardens, and numerous ancient festivals, which have existed for centuries. It is also well known for cars, fashion and computer games. None other than what most people can refer to as anime is one of the biggest contributions from Japan that is still iconic to this day. Anime, which originally originated from the English word animation, has contributed so much that people around the world who enjoy any kind of genre feel the overwhelming urge to go and visit the country of its birth, and sometimes even learn Japanese.
Anime is a term used to characterize the Japanese animation style and has been around since the beginning of the 20th century. Today, with an industrial value of over 15 billion US dollars, anime and its comic book equivalent, manga, are hugely popular in Japan and beyond. Anime does not only include childrens TV series, but even TV shows for adults and even movies. Anime comprises childrens TV programs, TV shows and films for adults. Although the concept of anime and manga is widely debated, in my view anime is animation and Manga is comic books originating in eastern Asian countries, typically Japan, but now South Korea and China more recently, but all of them have roots in a specific Japanese style.
The themes of anime and manga have changed as the world changed. With freedom of speech in any genre and for any audience, Anime has become one of the greatest prospects today to tell stories in an animated form, which contrasts with conventional cartoons that are mostly targeted at children. When early series such as Dragonball, Astro Boy, Sailor Moon, and Slam Dunk aired, Anime gained popularity in other countries. There are many people who, after watching some of these series, have started to become interested in Japan. They are also motivated to learn Japanese, often. As a reaction, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) was established in 1984 (SOAS University of London. 2020). As they wrote about their and other social issues and problems, the ever changing world was followed by the writers, not just those that have endured over the years, but also those that are new to our modern society. Anime and manga have often had themes and subjects that they discuss in their works since its beginning in 1952. For instance, to explore how ethical artificial intelligence and cybernetic improvements can be, the first recognized anime,Astro Boy, looked at the theme of robots and androids.
There are various works that have addressed several different subjects, and there are a number of issues that could be suggested for review with the wide variety of anime already developed and the new series beginning each season. This essay will concentrate on 5 different topics and themes: suicide, schools and their strictness, loneliness and exclusion, loss and relationships, with different anime and manga examples associated with each subject. The purpose of this essay is to illustrate how various writers are telling us how to improve society and how to solve these problems. To do this, I will have to state the numerous themes they illustrate and how this is an issue. In order to clarify what my essay is about, I have found some websites that I have searched and I will sum up every study to get directly to the point.