Narrative Warfare: When They Don't Hate You

Yesterday I talked about the Pop Cult and its run-in with its reality of being a front for the Death Cult. Let's compare that with the Japanese counterpart.

Legendary Creater Leiji Matsumoto Returns For A Brand New Captain Harlock Series! https://t.co/OJiaqnA8JY

— Bounding Into Comics (@BoundingComics) March 19, 2021

The key difference between Tokyo and Hollywood is this: Hollywood hates you, and Tokyo does not.

That sounds like oversimplification, but it's not. There are valid similiarities to be found, chief among them being the reliance on franchise properties and atomization of the people, but merely having a corporate establishment that doesn't hate its customers makes things seem like night and day and it shows on the balance sheet. Oh, and that's one of the more noticible differences: Tokyo cares about the balance sheet, and Hollywood does not, so Tokyo still cares about satisfying its audience--its customers--while Hollywood does not.

This care isn't just not treating customers with contempt. It's also making sure that their marketing, soft and hard, maintains sufficient distance between the two parties in the exchange. The entertainment business in the East still adheres to norms that were abandoned in Hollywood sometime between 1970 and 1990, and social media did not change this; those Twitter accounts of idols and actors are even more carefully managed than their Western counterparts- you won't see the insanity famous Death Cultists or the forthright speech of famous gainsayers either.

Image and persona are very important in that business, so everyone involved acts to stay on-brand and there are consequences that only a functional culture can inflict. This translates in very managed media appearances; this two-part promotional appearance of the upcoming Macross Frontier film show it. (Sorry, no subs.) These are carefully scripted appearances, moreso than you see in the West, and make no attempt to be otherwise; count on the audience knowing this is the point, as this is soft marketing.

The key to why the franchises of Japan, more or less, remain vital enterprises is that their creators remain involved. In those above-linked videos, Macross creator Shoji Kawamori--who was very involved in Frontier--is right there talking with his two key female leads. None of the Western creators remain involved in the zombie franchises that the Death Cult wears as skinsuits to preach their heretical propaganda; they're dead or sidelined. See the above tweet; the creator of Harlock is involved, so even if it sucks at least it will be done in good faith.

The same applies to Sailor Moon, Hunter X Hunter, Attack On Titan, and so on. As these creators die, the same vulnerabilities will appear, but they aren't so easily exploited at the present time due to Japanese corporate stewardship still valuing good customer relations. (e.g. Getter Robo, as its creator has died and the upcoming Getter Robo Arc is made based off his notes for what wasn't finished.)

Also, unlike Hollywood, Japan hasn't yet abandoned the regular creation of new IP knowing that most won't hit well enough to take to the franchise stage; that's why they can still create new popular culture and Hollywood has forgotten how.

Oh, and I've been talking in terms of anime and manga. Nevermind their live-action counterparts, which is heavily franchise-driven and yet because they refresh on an annual basis you never see things get stale; some things work, some don't, but you never get bored because each series is a thing to itself- and that's not accounting for long-running IPs like Ultraman.

Must be nice to have mega-corporations that don't hate you, but instead appreciate your business and wish for you to come again.

Once that's gone, it'll be time to walk away from Tokyo too.