Does it Convey?

Animation and particularly anime seem to have a way of conveying deeper subjects through various means. I know this sounds like a repeat of a blog posts we did a couple weeks ago, but I feel this cannot be stressed enough. While we have introduced quite a few different anime titles on our podcast, this is not to say western animation cannot do the same; but there aren’t that many instances (in my opinion) where it has done it to the caliber anime has.

For example, let’s take the TV show Teen Titans (not to be confused with Teen Titans Go!), it is an action-packed series that had a good run on Cartoon Network. Teen Titans wasn’t just an animated action series to the like of Batman, He-Man, G.I. Joe, etc…; it did have its heart moments that made us feel emotionally connected to the characters. I appreciated the back stories and the time that was spent on them in this series. However, the heartfelt/emotional moments seemed to be undercut by jokes that took away the impact.

Now let’s take a look at a series called Jujitsu Kaisen. This is albeit a much darker series, it is also an action series. Jujitsu Kaisen has the fighting, the character development, the backstories and all that great stuff. The difference between Jujitsu Kaisen and Teen Titans, is that the Kaisen lingers on the emotional aspect and allow us as the audience to dwell in that place too. This also makes us appreciate the story overall, the emotion is made to evoke and of course the characters.