Friday, October 27, 2023

Frankenstein needs more Anime

My Halloween Anime recommendations post at the start of the month wound up being dominated by Vampires to a large extent, partly that may be the lingering influence of my personal involvement in the 20tween Vampire craze, but I think it's largely that Vampires and Pointy Hat Witches are the most popular iconic Halloween monsters in Japan.  

And a good number of Vampire Anime includes Dracula himself in some form.

It doesn't surprise me that Mummies are not as popular in Anime because Japan simply wasn't subject to the recurring bouts of Egyptomania that the West has had.  Japan knows enough about the popularity of Egypt to often use it as the basis for a generic desert setting which may include Mummy style enemies in video games.  But taking those Egyptian things outside of the desert isn't something Japan is as keen to do.

However the lack of Anime representation for Dracula's greatest rival does surprise me.  Frankenstein in Anime has had that Toei TV movie in the early 80s, a very unconventional insertion into Fate/ lore and similarly with some other more niche shows that also amalgamize a bunch of Victorian classic literature together.  Dracula in Anime has Frankenstein dwarfed and even Carmilla makes more appearances.

I am one of those who likes to observe that in the original Novel of Frankenstein in the grand scheme of things Victor's real Sin isn't artificially creating life but abandoning it right after he creates it for not being exactly what he expected or wanted. It's about the moral responsibility that comes with bringing life into the world.

And that is why the lack of direct Frankenstein adaptions in Anime surprises me, because that moral theme is in Anime frequently, in fact it's embedded into Anime as we know it from it's foundation.  Yes I am arguing that Umatarou Tenma is an echo of Victor Frankenstein in more then just the vague way every mad Scientist gets compared to Frankenstein, as is Precia Testarossa.  And then of course there is how Mewtwo can be compared to The Creature.

So I would like to see Anime take it's distinct approach to these issues and apply it back to the original.

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