Modern anime is dominated with right wing ideology, just like the original anime industry (before anime was even a word in the west) from decades ago were dominated by left wing ideology. In many ways it’s a reflection of the transition in Japanese society as well.
On the one hand this will attract those who are already right leaning, and on the other hand it can implant their underlying one-sided narrative and logics to people in general making them increasingly sympathetic. You might notice this is how a lot of “harmless” ideological “soft power” works.
Decades ago you had tropes like characters were going back to Japan in the 40’s and happily telling people how our country will be horribly defeated soon to a brainwashed society who didn’t react well and clearly still on the wrong side of history. Today this will get the author cancelled and death threats in under an hour.
Instead today you have tropes like how the bad guys that genocide millions deserve your sympathy actually. How only a few supreme individuals can save society, and actually maybe the masses are stupid and vile and does not deserve your effort and kindness in the first place. How I can commit a million crimes but I’m just trying to protect my friends, butchering the entire world for bros is honorable actually, oh especially if the bro died or something, who knows right from wrong anyway? You can’t judge me!
Of course white supremacists love it. If I supported my blonde haired aryan taking revenge on millions of jews because something something my bro died fighting one, or my wife or kids died totally because one of them stole my jobs or something, I would be attacked for being a POS. But if I’m just supporting my blue haired anime boy losing his cool and taking revenge on millions of rat people or something because his bro died, it’s quite touching actually and oh don’t you just agree how horrible those rat people are, pretending to be good all this time while it turns out it’s all an act and one of them could actually do this one bad thing this one time.
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Modern anime is dominated with right wing ideology, just like the original anime industry (before anime was even a word in the west) from decades ago were dominated by left wing ideology. In many ways it’s a reflection of the transition in Japanese society as well.
On the one hand this will attract those who are already right leaning, and on the other hand it can implant their underlying one-sided narrative and logics to people in general making them increasingly sympathetic. You might notice this is how a lot of “harmless” ideological “soft power” works.
Decades ago you had tropes like characters were going back to Japan in the 40’s and happily telling people how our country will be horribly defeated soon to a brainwashed society who didn’t react well and clearly still on the wrong side of history. Today this will get the author cancelled and death threats in under an hour.
Instead today you have tropes like how the bad guys that genocide millions deserve your sympathy actually. How only a few supreme individuals can save society, and actually maybe the masses are stupid and vile and does not deserve your effort and kindness in the first place. How I can commit a million crimes but I’m just trying to protect my friends, butchering the entire world for bros is honorable actually, oh especially if the bro died or something, who knows right from wrong anyway? You can’t judge me!
Of course white supremacists love it. If I supported my blonde haired aryan taking revenge on millions of jews because something something my bro died fighting one, or my wife or kids died totally because one of them stole my jobs or something, I would be attacked for being a POS. But if I’m just supporting my blue haired anime boy losing his cool and taking revenge on millions of rat people or something because his bro died, it’s quite touching actually and oh don’t you just agree how horrible those rat people are, pretending to be good all this time while it turns out it’s all an act and one of them could actually do this one bad thing this one time.