Narrative conventions of Anime

Above: Howl's Castle from the Film Howl's Moving Castle

When it comes to Anime there are endless topics that have been used. Many people believe that Anime is for children. This is really not the case, in fact in some Anime's it would be advisable for children not not watch. Do not get me wrong there are many children's Anime but there are Anime's that have very deep storylines, violence, sex and drugs or a mixture of all three.



Above: an example of an Anime that has an adult storyline and has a 15 certificate - Ghost in the Shell.

I have to say I do not think there is a set narrative to Anime "Anime allows for understanding identity as not whole through its narrative and generic leanings". This is because there are so many different sub-genres of Anime that there can not possibly be a set narrative. I will go into possible sub-genres in my next blog post. I am not saying there are no narrative conventions at all but there are definitely narrative conventions in different individual sub-genres.

For example in the children's Anime such as Pokemon. The classic narrative storyline would be that the main characters face a dilemma which is generally solved by the end of the programme. This is just a vague example.

Reference

Caroline Ruddell - Breaking Boundaries - The Representation of Split Identity in Anime - 2007