I'm redoing this because these subjects means a lot to me. It's historical, but not in the sense of who killed who or territories being invaded. This is about two counties, who little did they realize, inspire each other constantly and in turn inspired others. For bad or good.
Because of the subject matter, it's a given to say anything mentioned here that has a copyright attachment to it is not mine. If you see anything wrong: spelling, grammatical, OOC-ness and historical, please correct me!
Secretly, or not so secretly depending on your view, America and Japan admired each other. Even if they made no dammed sense of one another. In entertainment, nudity was something unashamed in Japanese entertainment, while in America everything was covered up. Sex was considered heavily explicit in Japan, but in America it was tossed everywhere. France never bothered to ask why. I mean, doesn't one have to get naked to have sex? If nothing else, it did stroke his ego that he was the best lover than any of the other countries. Greece can just kiss his-
Actually yes, he wouldn't mind asking Greece over some time just to prove it. "Well see who sings the highest note when I'm through." he grinned to himself.
But this story isn't about France (as you may have noticed, the story isn't rated M), so witness as this story abruptly changes to the right subject, whatever the title of this chapter is:
Moving Art: Animation
Alright, that makes things easier.
For those who don't know, animation is the optical illusion of a sequin of images giving the appearance of movement. So that one poster or creepy stuffed animal that used to wink at you at night would be the cheapest example.
"Dad! Dad!" Hearing the sound of the concerned child, England couldn't help but burst into the room.
"What is it, America?"
"Can't you tell Canada to get rid of that? It's freaking me out!" England's eyes followed America's finger to the large white teddy bear tucked under the sleeping Canadian's arm.
"It's just Kumajiro you moron, go to sleep." England rolled his eyes.
"No! Dad, you don't understand!" But England closed the door, leaving America in the dark. Clutching his pillow tighter, he looked back to where his brother laid.
And the bear gave a toothy grin right back.
"I hate bears." America mumbled.
The earliest attempts at creating animation can be found in old cave paintings. But since Himaruya did not make a personification of the stone age screw them.
"Why?" Cried the personification of Homo heidelbergensis. Who didn't really say 'why' but possibly, "Grugh?"
There is no specific country that managed to invent animation. For a while everyone had their own takes (have fun pronouncing these, it's certainly made my spell check cry): China invented the Zoetrope, Austria had the Phenakistoscope, UK the Thaumatrope, Germany the Electrotachyscope, the Praxinoscope and the flick book, from France. The Kinetoscope was a French/Scotland deal. The Flick book was later sold to an American and was renamed the flip book. I don't know why this was.
France grins, "Ah, I see you couldn't get rid of me!"
And about earlier, I lied. France is going to pop in and out a lot. Because he's France that that's what he does.
The Zoopraxiscope was invented by Eadweard Muybridge during a time when no one gave a damn about spelling laws. He was English, but like America got sick of England and moved to San Francisco.
"Bite me bitch!" He seemed to say as he drove away in his Lamborghini. Did I say Lamborghini? I meant Ford truck. GO AMERICA.
Georges Méliès, also French, was the first to discover stop motion animation. Purely by accident, he was filming a bus when his camera broke. He fixed the camera in time to catch a hearse going by, the resulting film gave the appearance of a bus transforming into a hearse. Historians say this could be the first inspiration for Transformers, robots in mild disguise.
"What are you talking about? He blends right in!" America tries to defend Sky Lynx, the most undisguised Transformer ever.
Also the inspiration for the cheapest special effect in Doctor Who, the TARDIS.
"Well back in my day it was high quality!" England snaps, America butts in-
"Wait! You mean there was a time you were not old?"
No one can decide what was the first animated film due to art's ability to stretch a dictionary meaning and history being old. But it is more wildly agreed (by those who are sick of the French and Scottish of getting all of the credit) that the film 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' was the first. Created by an American in 1906.
"Please," America raised his hands in mock surrender, "don't hold back your applause."
Animation takes a lot of forms and for the sake of not trying to be boring here are the basics:
Cel animation, hand-drawn (traditional) animation: I don't why it's called traditional, it's not like they can historically prove what part came first. The flick book is the cheapest example.
"Oo la la!" France flicks away before America plucks it from his hand. Sadness occurs.
Spirited Away is a pricier example.
France sighs as Japan goes to his Hayao Miyazaki shrine to pray, "Show off."
Stop Motion: Sneaking on a sleeping England, France sets the camera to hang over England's head. Uncapping a pen, he takes a photo before adding another brow line to England's forehead. Taking a picture again, add another line. Taking a picture, again. And in doing so, when the camera plays back, will give the appearance that England's eyebrows are growing at a fast rate all over his face and must be stopped at all costs.
"I shall call this film, La Cheveux Horreur." England opens his eyes,
"You are so fucking dead!"
"You know me! I wouldn't die any other wa—auck!"
Computer animation: This one is cheap, because it just says what tool you used to make the animation. Computer can be used to do both cel and stop motion. It is not necessarily cheaper than traditional cel or stop motion, but it definitely takes less room.
"And in this microchip-" Japan holds up something that cannot be seen, "holds all of your dreams..." the camera closes in on his darkening face, "and nightmares."
When animation first came about, everything was R or M rated (without the help of France). It was considered high class (read: rich) and not for kids (read: porn). When Walt Disney came around, he was both a boon and a curse to this wonderful art medium. He opened and invited more possibilities, and made the first family movies in great succession after another.
Japan, hiding in the bushes of the eastern coast was holding binoculars to his eyes. Aiming them at the ocean, he saw a mouse driving a little steamboat out of a harbor. Yes, the binoculars he owned were incredibly high-tech.
'Why do I find this really cool?' He wondered to himself.
The mouse in the steamboat was Walt Disney's first and Mickey Mouse's first animation. A lot of people talk about how anime just consists of big eyes and whatnot, but the first ones were inspired by Walt Disney... who is American. All the same, for some strange reason this threw America into an animation ghetto of sorts. "Cartoons are only for kids."
"Whaaat?" America blinks and stares at Japan with a gaping mouth. "What are you doing?"
"I am making an anime, which in pure translation just means animation. Not 'Japanese animation'. It's still a cartoon-"
"Yeah, sure. But look at all that blood! You can't show that to kids!" America took a step back as Japan gave him the oddest look.
"Excuse me, but who said it was for kids?"
"Uh..." America gulped, he hated awkward foreign moments, he never knew what to say. Quite a coincidence, as Japan had no idea what to expect from him. "I... did?" Japan held back a laugh. It wasn't an evil one, but more of a laugh of disbelief.
"Detective Conan is a family show."
Oddly, and thankfully, America's quirky attempts to be as open minded as possible brought about bringing other animations from overseas.
"You do not mind, honestly?" He held the stack of tapes in his arms curiously.
"No, not at all. I hope you will enjoy them." Japan gave one of his rare smiles, it was small, but it still stood out. Little did America know of Japan's eagerness and fear of what he, America, thought of his county's work.
"You don't mind if I dub them in my language, do you?"
"No, I do not mind at all. We in Japan watch the story in my language, it only makes sense that you watch it in yours."
Of course, Japan was assuming that America had voice actors that weren't radio talk show hosts or car sellers. People who could make a living only doing voice acting was beyond America during this time. It wasn't his fault really, because while in Japan it was cheaper and easier to make an anime than a live action show, it was the opposite in America. Different country, different resources.
"Hey, since we are doing this..." America crammed his hand down his jacket pocket and produced several films of his own, "Enjoy!"
"Yes, I will." Japan bowed deeply as he took the videos. "Thank you very much!"
"Don't thank me until you watched them!" America waved off the bow.
It's obvious to say that while there was well translated works, there were also quite a lot that were so badly done that some fans wished the dubs would burn in whatever hell they happened to believe in. But the blame is not entirely America, even Japan would cut scenes and change the dialog to anything that was questionable.
"So um..." Japan blushed as he resisted shifting his feet in embarrassment. "How did your people like it?"
"Some people got a huge kick out of it!" America, like Italy, talked with his hands, waving them about.
"Some?" Japan cut it to the point. America dropped his arms in a car salesman defeat.
"Others well..." He scratched the back of his head, "It was very... uh..."
"Please just say it."
"Different." America flinched inwardly, even this felt rude to him. "But do not worry Japan!" He pumped his fist trying to bring the happy atmosphere back, "I'm sure-"
"It is alright." Japan closed his eyes in apology from interrupting a second time, "The same thing happened here." It was quite for a moment, but then America thought of something,
"You know how long it has taken all my people to accept African Americans as true citizens themselves?" He laughed nervously, not used to bringing himself down to cheer another up, this was something he would never do for England (especially after the Doctor Who 'movie' incident), and he hoped he would never have to do it again. "It's just something we both have to work on, that's all!" He patted Japan on the back, "Now what I care about is what you think of them." Put on the spot, Japan blushed.
"They were strange," Japan bit the inside of his cheek, "but I... I loved Tom and Jerry."
"Awesome!"
But no matter what the fans say, truly, the quality varied depending on how much the original creator and his/her publishers/editors cared.
"So, my bosses are wondering about about Pocket Monsters..."
"My boss says do as you wish, it's just a RPG parody anime."
"Really?" America was taken back, he trusted him that much? He was about to grin, but then remembered who his bosses at this time were. "Can I watch the original at your house?" Japan blinked in surprise.
"If... if you wish to."
Little did Japan or America understood why Pokémon became so popular. In fact, the rest of the world didn't get it either. Except for Mexico: "It's really fun! Do you play? Want to trade?" She managed to say before she was removed completely from the rest of the story.
As back before the Internet was a common household tool, American and Japanese companies didn't think that there were any people that were already fans of the original. It was difficult and hard for fans who couldn't travel at the time, but as the medium became better known even fans were getting say on not just their dubs, but assuring that the DVDs also had the original voices and subtitles... most of the time.
"So this show... it's all about card games?"
"It's what?"
4kids! is another horror story in itself, for another time.
If the original creators cared enough...
Some time back, around the 1980's, Studio Ghibli gave rights to New World Pictures to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and was shocked to find out that not only did they change the name to Warriors of the Wind, but it was heavily edited. More than thirty minutes of the movie was removed and the dialog changed from what was previously an anti war, pro environmental film into a film about... pro war. Ironically.
"What are you doing?!?" Japan found himself shrieking.
"I don't know!" America shouted back. This was new to him, Japan never made a fuss over what happened to Digimon and Card... something Sakura. But that one was totally Canada's fault anyways!
"Miyazaki is one of our greatest directors!" Japan felt a panic attack coming. "What are you doing?!?"
"I don't know!" America cried out again.
"Get over yourselves!" They could hear China's voice being carried by the eastern wind.
"Bloody wankers!" Came from the west wind.
Later, Miyazaki would ask that everyone would just forget that such a thing happened.
"I'm cool with that!" America sighed with relief. Japan looked ruffled, but quiet.
Since then, Studio Ghibli and their fans hold a strict 'no edits' for any future foreign releases. When Co-chairman Harvey Weinstein of Miramax asked to take Princess Mononoke but suggested to cut pieces off of it to make it a PG rating, one of Studio Ghibli's producers (and a close friend of Miyazaki) sent a present...
"Will you please give your boss this?" Japan held a long, thin box to America.
"Sure." America said absentmindedly as he took it and peeked inside. It was an authentic katana, with a piece of paper lying on top saying, 'No cuts'.
"Think they will understand?" Japan's eyes softened as he saw a grin grow on America's face.
"Oh yeah!" Japan couldn't help but feel a smile growing on his face too.
Thanks to the Internet and stronger/smarter fan bases, stories that aren't so lucky to have the backup of their creators have gotten comebacks. For America, the examples come with Sailor Moon, Mach a GoGoGo and Jungle Emperor. Japan had a fit making sure the live action Lord of the Rings had perfect subtitles and voice actors. In fact, the Japanese VA who does Frodo you all know very well. It's Namikawa Daisuke, the same guy who does Italy.
"Hey! Hey Germany~!" Italy waves a light saber around, cutting innocent plant life, "Guess who I also play! His last name starts with Skywalker!"
"Italy! Vhat are you toing? Put zat avay!"
Distributing companies share a lot of ground with others. The Canadian company Nelvana (who was responsible for the horrendous censoring of Card Captor Sakura. He's really sorry about it, eh.) is also spread out to France and Ireland.
Because of this and what Hetalia represents, wouldn't it be fabulous if the APH DVD would have a dub and sub of every language possible? And among the audio tracks to listen to they would have a special one where each character spoke their respective language (maybe a gag reel of them speaking in their accents instead). So each episode you would be hearing at least seven languages.
"I don't understand why you like our stuff." America said to Japan one day on his porch step."It's so... stupid."
"I don't find it stupid at all." Japan took a sip of his coffee before deciding to add more creamer to it, giving it the color of light caramel to the blackness of America's cup. "It's so lose and fun, you can't predict what will happen next."
"What? It's very predictable!" America looked over to where Japan sat on the bench."The hero always gets the girl and the bad guy always gets it." Being unable to resist it, he stood up and walked over to Japan. "But yours has plot... character development! Cowboy Bebop made me cry! Me! America!" He emphasized by pointing at himself.
"Yours predictable?" Japan rose an eyebrow. "All you have to know is the genre of the series and the director in my country and then the plot writes itself."
"Please, if I'm not predictable how do you explain Paprika?"
"How about The Neverhood?"
"Touché." America giggled as he sat down beside Japan. "That entire premise is whacked." Japan didn't quite understand why the claymation would be chopped, but then he figured it was yet another slang term he would have to memorize. "...more open than me." Japan looked over to America, feeling silly that he didn't catch him starting again. He's normally so obvious. "I'm supposed to be all about equality and yet when things like Brokeback Mountain comes out, some of my churches screamed hellfire. When your people come out with another anime that involves a cast of entirely gay characters (hello, forth wall), none of your people even blink."
"I still see you as someone full of possibilities." Japan looked away, holding tighter to his mug. It felt odd to have such praise given to him, by America of all countries. "You may not have it all now, but you always leave a door open."
"Your stuffy, but you keep me thinking in perspective." America gave Japan a playful nudge on the shoulder. "And not in my face bitching like with England." He leaned back against the bench. "Heh, I remember a time when you hardly spoke a word to me."
"I remember a time when you talked more than you listened." His tone was a bit stern as he placed his mug aside, but it was mainly for the unwanted nudge. "If you really mean it, and your people truly care, I'm sure one day America will be a place of freedom."
"J-Japan..." America gulped, to shocked to do anything else. He would occasionally hear it echoing from other people, nice things about America. But never from other countries themselves. "Sometimes... sometimes you are really awesome."
'Sometimes?' wondered Japan, but he kept that to himself.
"Thank you." Japan gasped as he was taken into a gruff hug.
"Uh... y-your, your welcome."
It's strange, is it not? Most animation fan bases would dump their own countries work just to get the taste of another's. Both claiming one has it better than another. It almost sounds like politics. Personally, I think no side is better, just different. And after living in your own country for awhile, who doesn't want to try something different? Any excuse to listen to French rap.
"I know what brings all the boys to the yard!"
France seems to have no trouble getting what they want from Japan. Or at least, from what I've seen.
Germany's laws on what is appropriate for children or for television entirely still leaves a lot of anime censored silly to this day. And when I mean silly, I mean amusing (unless you are an anime fan who is stuck in Germany). An example involves one ninja show, but they censor all of the blood and weapons. It was almost as if they were trying to pull a 4kids...
"Japan, you should be ashamed of yourself!" Germany begins painting red x's on every cell he doesn't like, which is about fifty-three percent of them. "Are you trying to taint our youth?" Japan stares as he sees the ground becoming littered with all the rejected pieces.
'Sometimes, I wonder why I try...' He would inwardly sigh. He flinches as he feels a familiar hand squeeze his shoulder.
"Hellllo Japan," France purrs behind him, "I'm baaack! I hear Kazuya Minekura made another oneshot and I'd looove to possess it!"
"Even America-san doesn't concern himself with one shots..."
"Silence! If Kazuya Minekura made it then I want it!"