From the beginning, anime and manga have explored many themes, two of which I find particularly interesting, the future and the supernatural. Dr. Tezuka's Astroboy and the proceeding giant robots set the stage for the former, the crow spirits in his manga "Dove! Fly Up to Heaven" and numerous other spirit creatures out of Japanese folklore. the latter.
Many anime bring the two together in ways ranging from comedy to horror. The numerous series about Tenchi Muyo and friends were all about the future and the supernatural, not to mention love found, love lost, friendship, lonliness and a few other subplots thrown in for good measure mostly with comedic overtones. Throw in a good dose of violence and you can say the same for Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star and many others.
A completely differnent take on the future is explored in anime like the Macross series with a computer generated, holographic pop singer, Sharon Apple, and the implications involving artificial intelligence. Can A.I. be taken too far? Can A.I. beings take over and controll their creators?
Anime and manga have envisioned the future in ways both comedic and tradgic, idylylic and apocalyptic. Appleseed followed by Akira then Ghost in the Shell complicated the concept further by adding government control, A.I., cyborgs and the enevitable revolt of the oppressed into the mix.
One of my personal favorite takes on the supernatural (and the future if you count flying saucers as belonging to the future) is a South Korean animation, Yobi, The Fivetailed Fox. Anime, of course has it's share of fox spirits. Kagome's friend and Inu Yasha's tormentor, Shippo for example. Even intelligent life that has no specific shape, form or appearance and a seeming time traveller that can communicate with them are standard fare for anime (Mushi-shi).
Just like anime's take on the future, the supernatural is portrayed in ways from lighthearted to serious, comedic to an all out battle between good and evil. Anime and manga very seldom narrow their focus to just a simple subject matter or storyline. More often than not , it is complex, over the top and taken to the extreme. Somewhat like the real, present day world of Japan.
Randy Patton
www.budurl.com/RandyPattonArt
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