pointless backstory
I was born in the 80s and some of my earliest memories where the Karate Kid films. If anyone here is in their 40s, they'll remember the obsession with karate. Kids were signing up for karate lessons left and right. I recall something on TV where kids were demolishing a house using karate (obviously it was staged by whatevs).
Then the 90s happened, and the West got paranoid about Japan taking over. Pop culture produced absurd books about Japan taking over the US, and people literally feared it happening.
I like anime. It's definitely better than most white culture shit. It just feels like the #1 theme or trope for a video game or series (that isn't the West) is Japan. I'm just utterly bored to death of Japanese schools, Japanese feudal themes, yakuza shit, Tokyo streets, etc. Yes, it's 1000 times cooler than New York or Texas. I'd rather play Ace Attorney or a Yakuza game than COD or Modern warfare. I'd rather watch JoJo's Bizarre Adventure than Family Guy. Japanese stuff is often cooler than Western stuff.
God I can't complain if Japanese developers want to make something that they know with the language they speak. My big gripe is non-Japanese developers imitating Japan because that's what sells. Think Genshin Impact, Battle Realms, or Blue Archive. My steam recommendations are filled with Japanese themes made my non Japanese developers. No, I'm not offended. I'd just like to play a game, once, that doesn't have samurai and geisha. It would be neat to learn about another culture that isn't Japan. Maybe go to another continent.
Wouldn't it be neat to play a stealth game in Nigeria or Bolivia, and not yet another game with Samurai.
The reason why there's so much Japanese or Japanese-flavoured media is that the Japanese government has actively funded their media sector for decades with the explicit purpose of swaying people to hold pro-Japanese views as a kind of political soft-power. These efforts have been broadly successful. The material conditions that facilitated these efforts (allowed to gain from the spoils of imperialism to serve as a buffer against communism, a one party state allowing long-term planning, no official military with which utilize hard political power) are largely due to the US-shaped sociopolitical situation that emerged out of post-WWII Japan.
Consequently, many pieces of Chinese/Korean media actively copy the (now-popular) anime aesthetic partly because it's known to succeed, and partly because of the
effect.
A pair of (rather long, admittedly) videos on the subject. Disclaimer, the presenter is somewhat of a lib and also a lawyer, but makes a convincing case imo:
Anime, Propaganda, and Soft Power Politics
Why Do So Many Gacha Games Pretend To Be Japanese?
Good post
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2: