Comments on: Illustrated Man, #2 — My Neighbors the Yamadas

By: Marilee Genest

Marilee Genest — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:38:55 +0000

I came across this blog while googling the haikus from My Neighbors the Yamadas. I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading it! I hadn’t made a connection between the early Simpsons and the Yamadas, but I do see it now that you’ve pointed it out. I am a mother of four, and we adore Studio Ghibli. The Ghibli repertoire has given me opportunities to talk to my children about bravery, responsibility, good stewardship, industrialism, politics, life and even death. They offer thought provoking films, versus widely available and easily consumed children’s entertainment. I have even made a comparison between them and watching Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood as a kid. Ghibli films take time to develop characters and even when the action in a movie may be intense, the story is not jumping all over the place, and the plot is easily followed. I wondered what your thoughts were on The Secret World of Arrietty. I would love to find some venue in which to discuss these films more, and maybe you might have a good suggestion. Thank you.

By: hmm

hmm — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:01:40 +0000

The style is just an animated version of an older comic-strip style. Not particularly rare in Japan, it is actually pretty mainstream–think Sazae-san, Chibi Maruko-chan, Crayon Shin-chan, etc.

It is only rare in the context of the kinds of youth-targetted anime that became popular outside Japan.

By: Eklart

Eklart — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:18:49 +0000

Thanks Matt, fantastic article.

By: Kerim

Kerim — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:47:56 +0000

Thanks for this post. I wasn’t familiar with the Yamadas. I’ll have to check it out.

I was very sad to learn of Satoshi Kon’s passing last week. His Paranoia Agent TV series was wonderful. I also found this statement he made before he died to be quite touching:

http://www.makikoitoh.com/journal/satoshi-kons-last-words

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:35:31 +0000

“Infantile” in the sense that on an infant the eyes are proportionally larger to the rest of the head than in an adult. This is just me using figurative language to say that anime characters have big eyes. Do they not?

There are some anime conventions that carry over to the Yamadas, for example deformation to show intense emotion. In most other respects it does not resemble any anime feature I’ve ever seen, it certainly doesn’t look like any other Ghibli feature I’ve seen. It’s sufficiently different that I feel it belongs under some other generic banner or label.

Or maybe I’m wrong. At any rate its somewhat boring to police such boundaries. What’s the difference between hip-hop and rap? What’s the difference between electronica and techno? I don’t care.

What makes the Yamadas interesting from an anthropological stand point is its strategic use of fantasy and poetry to underscore the realism of everyday life. Great and momentous events may draw our attention but the bulk of life, arguably the most important parts of life, are ordinary. The Yamadas uses an ordinary artistic style to tell those ordinary stories. That artistic choice is intentional.

By: grad student guy

grad student guy — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:50:10 +0000

“In place of anime’s infantile, doe-like eyes and expressive hair on long and lean bodies”

Seriously, infantile. Wow. I’m really sick of all the people who supposedly “know something about anime” who apparently can’t parse stylistic differences between various animes styles.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:24:25 +0000

Look for Illustrated Man, #3 — The Stuff of Life. I’m teaching it this fall, so I hope to include student feedback too.