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Sinophobia - Blog Posts
To those saying that it’s okay to call To Be Hero X “anime” because the Chinese equivalent term “donghua” (动画) literally also means “animation” don’t get the point.
Would you call your English breakfast tea “chai” even though “chai” is just the Hindi word for tea? Or any bread “naan” even though naan also just means “bread”? Café au lait and café con leche both literally mean “coffee with milk” in their respective languages, but their traditional preparation method and taste is very different. There’s also American comics vs Filipino komiks.
But most of all, would you call your Japanese anime “cartoon” even though that’s the actual English word for animated shows?
You won’t.
So when you borrow a term from another language to describe one thing, you’re actually saying that that thing comes from a particular country or culture.
Calling To Be Hero X an “anime” is like saying it’s from Japan.
“Oh chill, Miya, it’s not that serious—” But it is.
It’s bad enough that a lot of people already think that the show is from Japan and don’t bother to watch it in the original audio, but it’s even worse when you see the sinophobic comments online about people’s resistance to the original version despite learning it is from China (insisting the jp dub is better even though they can’t understand Japanese).
Calling TBHX an anime would be acquiescing to the erasure of the Chinese background of the show and saying that it’s actually Japanese when it’s not. (And if you just pause for a second to think about it, that is such a fucked-up thing, considering what Japan did to China in WW2. But let’s not delve too deeply into that.)
“But some people call ATLA an anime even though it’s not from Japan—”
Yeah, but the USA-Japan relationship is very different from the Japan-China relationship. You cannot compare these two. I can go at length about the geopolitical implications, but to keep it simple, just think of it this way: Calling a donghua an anime would be similar to whitewashing.
But even without considering the “serious” context, TBHX animation isn’t even like that of a typical anime. Have you ever seen an anime that blends 3D and 2D animation so seamlessly and ambitiously like TBHX does?
3D animation is kinda a staple in donghua. There are so many great 3D donghua out there. Recently, the 3D donghua Nezha 2 even beat Inside Out and The Lion King for highest-grossing animated film of all time. And even before TBHX, there were already many other donghua that mix the 3D and 2D mediums (e.g. You Yao, No Doubt in Us, etc.).
So to say, TBHX animation style is distinctly Chinese. You cannot call it an anime.
angry post
i have a personal problem with this kind of attitude. it's not a petty thing i am unreasonably angry about. there is a politics of translation and it affects one's understanding of art and popular culture/cultural geopolitics.
yes, tbhx has an unprecedented world wide release for a donghua/Chinese media and it's vital for its popularity, especially among transnational fandom spaces. Transcreated works are important for easier access. BUT, my gripe with the Japanese dub of a Chinese media WILL never be resolved. I am not talking about the quality, the issue lies in the very creation of the Japanese dub of a donghua itself. Let me give you an example.
Last year, we had an optional course called translation studies and one of the first things our professor asked was : who are the writers of A Doll's House and Waiting for Godot? He told those few of us who had read these texts closely to shut our mouth and let others take a guess. Most people answered : British writers. The texts are English texts. Because it's so famous among literature enthusiasts and when a piece of literature has a 'classic' tag attached to it, we tend to generalize and oversimplify it. So, a Norwegian playwright's original Norwegian play or an Irish playwright's play originally written in French- both get labelled as British literature. Get my point?
The anime industry is justifiably dominated by Japanese productions but when we forget to accommodate the nuances, the origin culture decays. It is, in many senses, a form of subtle cultural imperialism brought by ignorance.
People complain about Link Click's 'poor marketing' but I think Haolin was clever doing so. Even in the reviews by Indian anime bros™ I see them trying to pronounce 'donghua'. People RECOGNIZE that Link Click is a Chinese media, it's NOT an anime. You may laugh at those link click related youtube video titles saying stuff like : China is taking over anime, this Chinese anime is better than your favourite anime, PEAK Chinese anime, the best anime of 2021 is NOT Japanese?!, Link Click is taking over anime, China's hidden gem, China might have created the best anime of the year- CHINA IS IMPORTANT.
Whenever people talk about Chinese donghua- Link Click, Heaven Official's Blessing, Master of Diabolism etc are mentioned and people KNOW that it looks like anime but not really anime. It's... something... something else. This distinction is critical and essential.
Now, thanks to censorship (the Chinese version is not available on any official platform), many people think (not all people dig that deep while watching things, like come on) Spiritpact is a JAPANESE anime. Who the heck is Tanmouki or whatever. They are are Duanmu Xi and Yang Jinghua.
Reading up to this part if you think I am a Japanese anime hater then...*sighs*. Please read the whole thing again.
I like the Japanese dub of Link Click but there was a c*** in the comments who said "uwu it's not in japanese so I won't watch it" b**** doesn't even understand Japanese. B just wants an 'authentic Japanese anime experience.'
I feared that tbhx would face this issue.
And if you find those people who go : Ahhh, Japanese or Chinese- same thing, even their script look similar- fuck you, fuck you, you loser-fuckrr sinophobe i hope your phone battery dies your charger malfunctions your phone your laptop restarts with all data erased I hope you reek of wet socks and your taste sand all the time fuck you
Man I wish it was easier to be a fan of DIY electronics/electronics repair without being racist to Chinese people
