Anime, J-pop should join forces – now

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Patrick Macias, above, and Otaku USA magazine finally got wise and hired Zac Bentz as a J-music contributing editor. Now give the man some space!

The single most stunning aspect of Amine Expo 2008 was the incredible disconnect between anime and Japanese pop music and even J-rock. Yes, AX 2008 had its usual array of impressive musical guests, but to talk to supporters and fans, you would think J-pop and anime were two separate universes.

Anime fans are ambivalent about J-music. J-pop and J-rock fans tend to be less-impressed by anime. But for the good of all, these universes need to be joined.

This divide was discussed nonstop throughout the July 3-6 AX 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, though the left hand didn’t necessarily know what the right hand was saying. For example, the brilliant Patrick Macias, editor of the outrageously fantastic Otaku USA magazine, only recently added a J-music editor – but the music segment is but a tiny sliver of the August edition, a grand total of four pages out of 152.

Macias has long been an expert in Japanese pop culture and his body of work – including the phenomenal 2007 classic book “Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno” – reflects that. His earlier TV work in Tokyo dug deeply into the “Tokyo teen fashion subculture” that is further described in his book, and everything he has produced has shed great light on Japan’s staggeringly intense cultural scene.

But where are the tunes?

“There’s only so much you can do,” Macias said during the convention at the Otaku USA booth. “I’ve always tried to stay with the larger, overall picture.”

A short-sighted picture which, to this point, has marginalized the Japanese pop-music culture, especially in relation to the awe-inspiring visual elements of anime, and how that applies to the exploding videogaming world. But even with video games, music is integral but receives neither attention nor credit for making such games come alive.

Anime’s braintrust at AX 2008, from left: Chase Wang and Trulee Karahashi, Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation; scholar and journalist Charles Solomon of the New York Times; Adam Zehner of Funimation; and Laura Yoshioka of videogame software giant Tomy Corp. They could all use a lot more J-pop in their lives! (Photo ©2008 by G.A. Carroll)

In sum, if the major anime producers who complained loudly about piracy and other ancillary issues would spend more time on studying Japanese music and how J-pop and J-rock can inject new enthusiasm into what appear to be sagging sales of anime globally, then what are they waiting for?

Zac Bertschy, executive editor of the excellent Anime News Network, struggled to define the role of music in anime and the anime-related media world during the convention.

“If we are going to accept [freelance] material on J-pop, it has to be connected to anime in some way,” Bertschy said.

Well, yes, that makes sense – except for one thing: Anime needs an expanded market base. Anime needs to reach pure J-pop fans, many of whom to this point care little for anime for the most part. Conversely, J-pop fans need to be drawn into exploring anime more thoroughly. Both sides might learn something in the process.

But right now, anime needs J-pop more than J-pop needs anime. J-pop and J-rock are exploding the world over. If X Japan's global, Led Zepplin-level tour ever gets off the ground, the tidal wave will be inevitable. All bets will be off.

Anime — and manga, for that matter — should grab at J-pop’s coattails and hang on for what could be a wild, but profitable, ride.

Morning Musume performing ‘Bomb Girl,’ January 2008: Time to invade AX 2009 at the Staples Center.

Let’s start by having AX 2009 invite Morning Musume to perform in the Nokia Theater – better yet, the Staples Center. Can you imagine what would happen if this alliance is struck? A largely non-anime music group, albeit the most famous female performing company in Japan, jackstomping that 2009 convention and drawing all those fresh, rich, curious newbies to anime? Hmm.

It’s a match made in Japanese cultural heaven. Let’s do this.

This is Rad signing off – for now.