That Damn Kimba!
When exactly did my love for Japanese entertainment begin? I’ve thought about that a lot this year, as I’ve worked on comics and felt the influence of Manga in general (and Osamu Tezuka in particular) on my art. And as I taught Drawing for Japanese Animation to teenagers. And as I travelled to Dallas to attend A-Kon to talk with other artists and geek out in the movie rooms. And as I watched my Netflix queue fill up with Anime.
Anyway, I’ve thought about it a lot this year.
Last week I began working on a comics story for a class I’m taking, and decided to go with an old folktale. I remembered the story of The Magic Teakettle from a book of Japanese folktales, a book that I read when quite young and if memory serves belonged to my brother. There was an image of a half-teakettle/half-badger dancing on a tightrope while holding a parasol and waving a fan (perhaps the first openly gay character in my literary experience). I loved that story. An early exposure to a Japanese tale, and one that I remember pretty clearly even now. I looked up the story on the Web to clarify a few points, but it was mostly there in my head already. But I studiously avoided trying to find that picture. I want to do something that’s my own.
But I think my affinity for Japanese pop culture probably originates with after-school television circa 1973. We’d just returned from Germany, where the only television I watched was the Porky Pig show. So when I discovered a white lion cub with black-tipped ears and a catchy theme tune, it was love. Kimba the White Lion, created by seminal Manga and Anime artist Osamu Tezuka, had me hooked with its humor and adventure and heart. I watched Speed Racer, as well, but not with the fervent love I had for the little white lion (I don’t think he was albino, because he had blue eyes).
Warning, a little side note: Perhaps my distaste for the Lion King comes from how blatantly Disney ripped off the show. I won’t try to convince you here, just check this out and decide for yourself. Oh, and there was that Simpson’s joke where a lion appears in the sky to say “I’m proud of you Kimba… I mean, Simba…”. Side note complete.
There was a long period where I paid little attention to Anime and Manga. I had no time for Battle of the Planets, Voltron or the other giant robot stuff of my teenage years (though I did watch Ultraman during the Kimba period). Friends recommended a few Anime films: Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D (the first Vampire Hunter D) are ones I remember watching and not caring for at all. Some of you are gasping at the sacrilege, some of you have never heard of them. But I also discovered the good stuff: Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, Metropolis, and the films of Miyazaki. Check ‘em out, you just might thank me.
Now that I’m drawing again, after a long break in my 20s and early 30s, I find that I’m heavily influenced by Anime. I love the freedom of design over realism, I love the deceptive simplicity, I love the feeling of fun in much of the style. I’m not really drawing in the Anime style, but my style wouldn’t be the same without my heavy exposure to the stuff.
The first drawing I remember doing, and I mean sitting down and really wanting to draw something specific, was Kimba the White Lion. That damn Kimba, as my mother once called him. He was there in the beginning. And it’s nice to look at my latest work and see that he’s still hanging around.