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Anime/Manga’s Good Influence on Children: How to Maximize it

Outline
1. research question
How can children overcome the negative influence of anime/manga and gain the good influence?
2. thesis statement
Children can learn many important things from anime/manga. They can avoid much violence by watching anime rather than reading manga, and they are not confused by the differences of the reality and the anime/manga by considering them.
3. body
a. The good aspects of anime/manga
b. The difference of manga and anime
c. The negative aspects of anime/manga and the solution

Introduction

When I was really into one shonen anime/manga, I watched it for more than ten hours per day. What made me forget time? There must be special power which attracts people especially in shonen anime/manga. Shonen manga means manga especially for boys. In this essay, I focus on shonen manga which includes violent acts or fighting scenes.

In many shonen anime/manga, children can see a lot of violence. Moreover, many justice heroes do violent acts to punish the bad guys(Masima, Kishimoto). This may make children think that violence is not so bad. However, there are many affirmative comments about shonen anime/manga, for example, “it’s cool!’, or “I really like the anime!”. Many popular anime, like Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail, show justice. Many of the heroes try to keep the peace or try to save their friends(Mashima, Kishimoto). Also, Anime/Manga is now very famous and popular not only in Japan but also over the world. According to NAVER, the number of Naruto volume 1 to 57 sold was 113030000 and it was translated in more than 30 countries and sold and the number was 30000000 in the survey in 2009(NAVER). According to Oricon Style, the number of Fairy Tail volume 30 sold in Japan was 196406(Oricon Style). Moreover, in 2006 Naruto, who is the hero of Naruto, was chosen as one of the most respected Japanese.(Newsweek).

Children can get a lot of good influences from anime/manga. When it is too violent, they can avoid them by choosing anime, not manga. Also, they are not confused by the differences between anime/manga and their real life by thinking about them.

1. The good aspects of manga/anime        

Anime/manga has a lot of good influence to children. Many shonen manga/anime  teach the importance of friendship, forgiveness or the importance of never give up mind. Even if children cannot learn them easily in their real life, they can learn them through manga/anime.
Analysis of  Fairy Tail

First example, "Fairy Tail" includes a lot of violent scenes, however in that anime/manga the importance of friendship, the power of friendship or forgiveness are really emphasized. This anime/manga is written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. The story is fantasy adventures of wizards. This anime/manga includes a lot of violent acts. For example, in volume 28, page 52, one girl beats her enemy by her sword (Fig.1). However, what is impressive around the scene is no the violence, but why she has to beat the enemy, and why she can defeat him. She has to fight  against him because she wants to protect her friends. She can win the enemy thanks to the friendship. Even her enemy thinks “ON THE TIP OF THAT SWORD FLASH, RESTS THE HOPE SHARED BY EVERYONE...” (Mashima 52) This proves how strong their friendship is. As this example shows, Fairy Tail contains much heart touching scenes than violent scenes. According to Amazon Customer Reviews, 25/26 reviews say it is a great anime/manga. On Yahoo Answers, ally, who is a girl in New York, answered  that Fairy Tail is the best manga in the world, the story is based on friendship, and it tells us we can do anything with our friends, to the question, “Is Fairy Tail manga good?”. Here, the point is friendship. Around episode 22, one girl causes a war between one group of wizards and another for some reasons. She almost gives up fighting because she does not want to see her friends suffered. However, all the wizards in Fairy Tail never give up. It is all because she is their friend(Mashima 60). It must be touching, and it is what children cannot learn easily in their real life.

              Fig.1. Eruza killing Azuma. Illustrated by Mashima.
Analysis of Naruto

Second example, "Naruto" also includes much violent acts, but the violents acts which heroes or his friends do are all for justice. “Naruto” is written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The hero is a boy called Naruto, and he tries to become the leader of his town by overcoming his sad past experiences. Looking at one fan page of Naruto on facebook, 1,106,268 people cliked “like”. What is really touching is that Naruto never tries to revenge to people around him after he gets very strong. On the other hand, one of his friends, Sasuke tries to revenge to the people in the town. All people except for Naruto decide to kill him, but Naruto never thinks about that. He tries to save him and to make him mend his way. Naruto seeks the real peace. One man who tries to get the peace said that the revenge causes another revenge, and the sadness causes another sadness. However, Naruto argues that he stops the revenge not to cause another revenge(Kishimoto).Children can lean how important never-give-up is, and how to deal with people who do not treat them well from Naruto.

Therefore, anime/manga tells children friendship and never-give-up mind, so children learn that important things not only from the real life, but from the anime/manga life.

2. The comparison of anime and manga

When some manga is too violent to children at some ages, it is a nice way to enjoy the stories by anime, because the violent acts in anime are not as shocking as in manga in many cases. In Naruto manga, some scenes are very violent. In volume 4 page 62, the scene which one man kills his enemy is so shocking (Fig.2). However, on anime, the same scene is not so shocking (Fig. 3). On manga, the man’s arm goes through the enemy’s body, but it does not happen on anime. This kind of things often happen between manga and anime. In Rave Master manga, one man cuts his arm, but in anime he explodes his arm and it is hard to see what happens to his arm. As these examples shows, the violent scenes in anime is less shocking than those in manga. What children can gain from anime/manga is important, and it is worth watching or reading. Thus, watching anime is the best way to enjoy the story sometimes.

Fig.2. Kakashi killing Haku on manga. Illustrated by Kishimoto.

Fig.3. Kakashi killing Haku on anime. Illustrated by Kishimoto.

3. Anime/manga’s big negative influence and the solution

An anime/manga’s big problem is that it may make children confused in the differences between the anime/manga life and the real life, but it can be overcome by thinking about the differences. According to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, children are likely to think that everything on TV is true. This must cause children’s behaviors which are unbelivable in the real world(American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry). Moreover, Dowshen, who is a chief medical editor of KidsHealth, says that when children watch heroes do violent acts against their enemies, they respect that. Also, because of this, children can not judge what is wrong and what is right(Dowshen). Also, Kirsh, who is studying psychology said  “Violence in cartoons is an integral part of cartoon content” (Kirsh 548). However, there are some solutions. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry also says that parents can choose the programs and let children think about the differences between the real world and the TV world(American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry). For example, characters in anime/manga do not die easily(Mashima). When children think about this, they can see that the characters are still alive but it is impossible in the real life, and they learn that they should not do that then. By thinking about that, they must learn what causes humans’ death, what hurt people, or what people should not do.

Conclusion

Children can learn friendship, never-give-up mind or something from anime/manga when they enjoy it in a proper way, considering the difference of anime/manga and themselves and choosing anime not manga in the case where the manga contains too much violences. As I showed in the examples of Fairy Tail and Naruto, anime/manga teaches children that it is important to protect their friends, to believe their friends, and not to give up. Even when children cannot learn them in school, they can do from the anime/manga world. Sometimes, manga contains shocking violent scenes. In that case, children choose anime, because the violent scenes are not so terrible. The big negative influence of anime/manga is that it may make children violent or do some unbelievable things. This is because children are confuse by the differences between the reality and anime/manga. However, they can overcome that by considering them well. It is true that anime/manga has negative impacts on children, but it really help them grow up when children overcome the problems.

Works Cited
         American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Children and Watching TV.

n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2011.

Ankou. NAVER. Sekai de NARUTO Ninki Bakuhatsu! Kaigai Ninki no Himitsu [The reasons why NARUTO is so famous in the world]. 12 Sep. 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.

Cartoon Network. The Weapons Known as Shinobi. YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.

Cartoon Network. The Demon in the Snow. YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.
           Dowshen, Steven. KidsHealth. How TV Affects Your Child. 2011. Web. 20 Dec. 2011.

Funimation Entertainment. Eruza vs. Azuma. YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2012.

Kishimoto, Masashi. NARUTO. Vol. 3. San Francisco: VIZ Media, 2004. Print. 58 vols.

Kishimoto, Masashi. NARUTO. Vol.4. San Francisco: VIZ Media, 2004. Print. 58 vols.

Kishimoto, Masashi. NARUTO. Vol.5. San Francisco: VIZ Media, 2004. Print. 58 vols.

Kirsh, Steven. Cartoon violence and aggression in youth. ScienceDirect. 28 Nov. 2005. Web. 22 Dec. 2011.

Mashima, Hiro. Fairy Tail Vol. 28. New York: Kodansha Comic USA, 2011. Print. 30 vols.

Oricon Style. 26 Dec. 2011. Web. 10 Jan. 2012.

What I want to improve in my essay

・I need better title. My current title is Anime/Manga’s Good Influence on Children: How to Maximize it. However, the first part, Anime/Manga's Good Influence on Children looks a little bit longer. Also, How to Maximize it is a little bit shorter.

・I need more example in "comparison of anime and manga", such as "in this manga violence is terrible but in the anime violence is not so terrible. Or, I have to find some statistic or expert opinion which shows that violence in anime is not as terrible as that in manga.

・I need more specific example in Anime/manga’s big negative influence and the solution, such as "In Fairy Tail, the hero does not die even when he falls from the top of the building, but if that happen to the man in this world, he will die for sure" or something.