4 ms·

"Being born in France, I was immersed in Japanese culture from a very young age." I fail to see how these two things are connected?

karatinversion 4y ago
Japanese cultural exports (anime and manga) are quite popular in France, tapping partly into an existing comic book culture.
- thegeomaster 4y ago
  Not just France, I think the majority of Europe is like that. Here in the Balkans, local dubs of anime (Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, DBZ...) were 90% of what we watched on TV as kids.
  - Izkata 4y ago
    Add on Pokemon and Sailor Moon and that also describes the US.
    - anthk 4y ago
      In Spain we finished DBZ in ~1993 or so. That makes me smile when some Americans say "in the West, in early 90's, no one knew about manganime/Japanese video game"... while in Spain, France and Italy in the 90's we already had a long way along that culture. By 1998-9, go figure, we were watching Dragon Ball GT. Yes, we saw DBGT before Pokémon. In the West. Something very odd to explain to Americans, often they didn't believe me. Until I show them the printed proofs of Spanish magazines about DB with a clear Copyright date, which is understood from nearly anyone in the world.
- nicolas_t 4y ago
  Yes, for a very long time France was the biggest market for Manga outside of Japan. It's partly due to the fact that France has a thriving local comic book industry and partly due to the fact that we were inundated with imported Anime in the 80s and 90s so there's an entire generation who have been raised with Japanese animes.
  - anthk 4y ago
    Spain, too. We followed the French way since the Bruguera school in the 50s/60s copying the Franco-Belgian comic books (ahem, Francisco Ibañez and Spirou) and then Mazinger Z in the 70's and Captain Tsubasa in the 80's, along DB in 1989. This craps me up in Reddit: While we, Western Europeans (France, Spain, Italy, Germany...) have been watching manganime since forever Americans keep lying about DB and manganime availability in the West in early 90's as if the West was just the US. For instance, the big lie on DBZ knowledge on SNES/MegaDrive games from the West. Fore sure the US didn't know nothing at all. Meanwhile, we were nearly finishing the Buu saga. So we were pretty aware of DB games in arcades, the SNES, the MD and any platform.
- flanbiscuit 4y ago
  To add to this, France holds one of the largest Anime conventions in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Expo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Expo
monkeycantype 4y ago
Given than English is not the author's first language, and he finds it chaotic, perhaps he actually meant, {despite} being born in France, I was immersed in Japanese culture from a very young age
- iraldir 4y ago
  no no, see other replies. My wife jokes about this love between France and Japan so much that I tend to forget it's not common knowledge
  - monkeycantype 4y ago
    oh I didn't it was france -> japan too, I know about the japan -> france fascination from the old japanese prints that feature the eifel tower, and hot air balloons, and of course the stories of japanese tourists being overwhelmed by paris
iraldir 4y ago
sorry it's almost a meme at this point that France has a thing for Japan and vice versa. The 90s in particular were ripe with animes on the main French channel, lots of collaboration between France and Japan. We got Japanese movies in the cinema much prior the rest of the world and even today you can find gigantic sections for mangas and anime in bookshops, cinemas...
- seanmcdirmid 4y ago
  I wonder if the French experience Tokyo syndrome like the Japanese experience Paris syndrome?
  - iraldir 4y ago
    Yeah very much so, maybe even more. As noted, the main lense that people use to discover Japan is animes, which is obviously pretty far from what real Japan is like. Especially the work culture in traditional companies is a massive shock for a lot of French expats. Personally I still find a whole lot to love in Japan, which could be an entire post by itself.
- amiga386 4y ago
  From my childhood, it was obvious the French had a love of anime from series that made it to the UK, like Ulysses 31 [0] and The Mysterious Cities of Gold [1], co-productions between French and Japanese TV companies. I also thought Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds [2] was French, but it was produced in Spain. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_31 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_31 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtanian_and_the_Three_Muskehounds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtanian_and_the_Three_Muskeh...
  - karaterobot 4y ago
    Tangentially, Mysterious Cities of Gold played in the U.S. in the 80s, on the children's cable network Nickelodeon, along with another French show they called Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea, evidently titled Les Mondes Engloutis in France. I also loved these shows as a kid!
pmontra 4y ago
Others answered about France but everybody born in Italy in the late 60s was exposed to anime before becoming a teen. I remember that the first one was Grendizer (Goldrake in Italy), followed by Mazinger Z (yes, reverse order), Gundam, Lupin III, Future Boy Conan and a zilion of others.
louhike 4y ago
Just to put a number on the « France love Japan », France is the second market in the world for manga after Japan. Despite being a country producing a lot « bandes dessinées » / comics.

karatinversion 4y ago

Japanese cultural exports (anime and manga) are quite popular in France, tapping partly into an existing comic book culture.

thegeomaster 4y ago
Not just France, I think the majority of Europe is like that. Here in the Balkans, local dubs of anime (Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, DBZ...) were 90% of what we watched on TV as kids.
- Izkata 4y ago
  Add on Pokemon and Sailor Moon and that also describes the US.
  - anthk 4y ago
    In Spain we finished DBZ in ~1993 or so. That makes me smile when some Americans say "in the West, in early 90's, no one knew about manganime/Japanese video game"... while in Spain, France and Italy in the 90's we already had a long way along that culture. By 1998-9, go figure, we were watching Dragon Ball GT. Yes, we saw DBGT before Pokémon. In the West. Something very odd to explain to Americans, often they didn't believe me. Until I show them the printed proofs of Spanish magazines about DB with a clear Copyright date, which is understood from nearly anyone in the world.
nicolas_t 4y ago
Yes, for a very long time France was the biggest market for Manga outside of Japan. It's partly due to the fact that France has a thriving local comic book industry and partly due to the fact that we were inundated with imported Anime in the 80s and 90s so there's an entire generation who have been raised with Japanese animes.
- anthk 4y ago
  Spain, too. We followed the French way since the Bruguera school in the 50s/60s copying the Franco-Belgian comic books (ahem, Francisco Ibañez and Spirou) and then Mazinger Z in the 70's and Captain Tsubasa in the 80's, along DB in 1989. This craps me up in Reddit: While we, Western Europeans (France, Spain, Italy, Germany...) have been watching manganime since forever Americans keep lying about DB and manganime availability in the West in early 90's as if the West was just the US. For instance, the big lie on DBZ knowledge on SNES/MegaDrive games from the West. Fore sure the US didn't know nothing at all. Meanwhile, we were nearly finishing the Buu saga. So we were pretty aware of DB games in arcades, the SNES, the MD and any platform.
flanbiscuit 4y ago
To add to this, France holds one of the largest Anime conventions in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Expo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Expo

monkeycantype 4y ago

Given than English is not the author's first language, and he finds it chaotic, perhaps he actually meant, {despite} being born in France, I was immersed in Japanese culture from a very young age

iraldir 4y ago
no no, see other replies. My wife jokes about this love between France and Japan so much that I tend to forget it's not common knowledge
- monkeycantype 4y ago
  oh I didn't it was france -> japan too, I know about the japan -> france fascination from the old japanese prints that feature the eifel tower, and hot air balloons, and of course the stories of japanese tourists being overwhelmed by paris

iraldir 4y ago

sorry it's almost a meme at this point that France has a thing for Japan and vice versa. The 90s in particular were ripe with animes on the main French channel, lots of collaboration between France and Japan. We got Japanese movies in the cinema much prior the rest of the world and even today you can find gigantic sections for mangas and anime in bookshops, cinemas...

seanmcdirmid 4y ago
I wonder if the French experience Tokyo syndrome like the Japanese experience Paris syndrome?
- iraldir 4y ago
  Yeah very much so, maybe even more. As noted, the main lense that people use to discover Japan is animes, which is obviously pretty far from what real Japan is like. Especially the work culture in traditional companies is a massive shock for a lot of French expats. Personally I still find a whole lot to love in Japan, which could be an entire post by itself.
amiga386 4y ago
From my childhood, it was obvious the French had a love of anime from series that made it to the UK, like Ulysses 31 [0] and The Mysterious Cities of Gold [1], co-productions between French and Japanese TV companies. I also thought Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds [2] was French, but it was produced in Spain. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_31 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_31 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtanian_and_the_Three_Muskehounds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtanian_and_the_Three_Muskeh...
- karaterobot 4y ago
  Tangentially, Mysterious Cities of Gold played in the U.S. in the 80s, on the children's cable network Nickelodeon, along with another French show they called Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea, evidently titled Les Mondes Engloutis in France. I also loved these shows as a kid!

pmontra 4y ago

Others answered about France but everybody born in Italy in the late 60s was exposed to anime before becoming a teen. I remember that the first one was Grendizer (Goldrake in Italy), followed by Mazinger Z (yes, reverse order), Gundam, Lupin III, Future Boy Conan and a zilion of others.

louhike 4y ago

Just to put a number on the « France love Japan », France is the second market in the world for manga after Japan. Despite being a country producing a lot « bandes dessinées » / comics.