An investigation into France’s attempt at making ‘anime’

The world saw the plethora of possibilities anime holds with the sudden boom of anime and its international likability. To compete in that environment, countries across the world started making attempts to create something of similar nature as anime, whether it be in terms of visuals or the demographic it serves. One of the leading countries in doing that is France. 

France is the number 1 importer of manga in the world and home to Europe’s biggest anime-related event, the Japan Expo. The hype around anime didn’t come around recently, it has been around since the late 70s. The anime wave in France began way before the pioneers of the anime wave(Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece) in other countries.

This article goes through the developments made by France to create anime or to incorporate Japanese animation and visuals into its animation. This is part of a more thorough investigation by Spiel Anime. This investigative research provides lots of food for thought with questions like what is anime? Is it only made in Japan? If other countries made it, would it still be anime? 

Anime in France

Back in the 1970’s with a record of unsuccessful attempts of introducing anime to France, Goldorak began airing on A2 which was among the top public tv channels in the country. This mecha anime was successful in finally introducing anime to France.

Another initial attempt that made anime in France so prominent was the Japanese-French collaborations, Ulysses 31 and the Mysterious Cities of the Gold. Both of these animations were adapted from source materials and turned into anime by Japanese animators. Even though establishing them and persuading the viewers to give these art forms a try was a difficult task given the political-war history of the two nations. 

The popular animated series Arcane was inspired by the old animation of the late 90s and early 00s anime such as Cowboy Bebop and Berserk. The series was adapted by a Parisian studio, Fortiche under the supervision of Riot Games.

French animation – France’s attempt at making ‘anime’

French animation tries to serve all age groups by tackling serious topics(as seen in Persepolis), providing quality animation using French illustrations, and giving more choices to pick from to the viewer. 

• The triplets of Belleville and the Miraculous Ladybug are examples of complex characters and the use of French illustrations to depict more serious themes in a way to serve both adults and children.

  

• Persepolis is very similar to Japanese animation in terms of production. There was a source material at the center, the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi. The novel was adapted into an animated film. The animation was hand-drawn 2D animation. 
• Blind Willow, sleeping woman was an animated film with a script inspired by various short stories written by Haruki Murakami. The film was directed by Pierre Földes, who made his script a perfect blend of Murakami’s stories and put them together with Japanese animation.

  

• A French manga ‘Radiant‘ written and illustrated by Tony Valente got an anime adaptation. The anime was produced by NHK and Studio Lerche. It was one of the initial attempts of its nature. Foreign material getting adapted by Japanese studios, and that too is as big as NHK. 

 

Conclusion

With anime, masses all over the world were provided with a new source of entertainment. The entertainment was not just one directional with no substance, it was educational, moving, and influential. Anime opened new doors for animation as a whole letting it escape from the idea of animation or cartoons being just amusing or for kids.

The question, ‘If other countries made it would it still be anime’, can be left to individuals, the companies making them, or the networks making them easily and legally available. But the significance of anime for fans and animation, in general, pushes one to ask if anime should be a separate category or if the blurring lines are fine.