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An old opinion piece from December 3, 1999, in the Wall Street Journal on the anime Dragon Ball resurfaced on March 27, 2023, on Twitter. The main point in bringing back an outdated opinion piece was to counteract claims that anime fans weren't bullied or victims of a moral panic around anime.
This triggered some really bad memories some anime fans had regarding the stigma surrounding anime in the West, particularly in the United States for a time.
While geek and nerd culture is no stranger to moral panics around their favorite pastimes, comic books, and Dungeons and Dragons, this article will take a look into the report itself and highlight some past anime moral panics.
Disclaimer: Content contains language of a s*xual nature, bigotry discussions and mentions, and discussions of controversial topics like s**cide. The opinions presented are only those of the author, fans on Twitter, and the author of the old piece.
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Investigating the moral panics against anime, starting with an old Dragon Ball article
Part 1: The article itself
The 1990s was when anime was just beginning to reach mainstream success and popularity in the west, particularly in the United States. Alongside Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball, Ramna 1/2, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Digimon, and others enjoyed success. The shows were targeted mostly towards younger audiences in the latter part of the afternoon on programming blocks like Cartoon Network's Toonami.
However, that didn't come without a fair share of controversy, as this article proves. Even with the more toned-down broadcast of Dragon Ball Z on Toonami, with Funimation Productions commenting on the fact that the bloodier aspects are toned down, the article pushes ahead with various implications that the anime is selling violence to children.
At least, that's how it starts, by describing the series as "Pokémon meets Pulp Fiction," though even trying to contextualize it by saying most of the violence is done by villains. It still promotes the idea that it's a bad show to air for children.
While the article itself may not explicitly state this, it certainly implies as much with its focus on the younger audience tuning in and lumping it in with South Park and The Simpsons as a move towards edgier television. The fact that the two shows, which are clearly more adult-targeted, are being compared to Dragon Ball Z is rather ludicrous, but typical of the era.
While possibly well-intentioned, the article definitely fits the overtly concerned guardian tone that characterizes moral panic. Like most moral panics of the 1990s, they usually focus on the "think of the children" aspect as a dog whistle.
Even though there's enough context in the article to assume familiarity with the subject, it still falls back on the panicked idea that children are being exposed to violence.
Part 2: Answering the question: Was there a moral panic surrounding anime?
Moral panic is defined as the process of arousing social concern over an issue, which can bloom into irrational fears that supposedly threaten a community or society. Think the Salem Witch Hunts in the 16th century or the backlash against rock and roll that led to the creation of the Parent Music Resource Center in the 1980s.
The answer to the question of moral panics and anime is that yes, there were more than a few that cropped up. Many fans remember such anime as Dragon Ball Z being banned from their households, either due to the violence, or "Satanism" due to the depictions of the dead characters with halos around their head.
The underlying message of articles like the Wall Street Journal one, people suggesting comic books would corrupt children, or modern calls persecuting LGBT people, fits the idea of a moral panic.
It may be disguised as a "think of the children" argument, but most people that are familiar with that dog whistle can see when it's legitimate (as with calls to end global warming) vs. using it as a prop.
Was anime ever a target for controversy in the 1990s? Yes, and it wasn't just Dragon Ball Z that was targeted, and certainly not just by parents. Christian television preachers aka televangelists targeted Pokémon over evolution, with one very famous case being that playing Poke-Rap in reverse somehow led to satanic content.
The anime had multiple episodes removed from circulation or skipped over by 4Kids entertainment for various reasons.
Across America, there was controversy regarding Neon Genesis Evangelion getting hit with complaints about it being "anti-Christian." Sailor Moon was heavily censored over the mere possibility of LGBT themes shining through, with the final season not airing from DIC entertainment and famously changing Neptune and Uranus to cousins instead of a romantic couple.
Part 3: Has this changed the perception of anime on a social level?
The public perception of anime in the U.S. has most definitely changed. Anime conventions are more commonplace, there are more anime-specific stores that are easier to find and merch stocked at retail stores, and iconography is all over the place with Goku being a Macy's Parade float alongside Pikachu.
While there may be calls to ban or halt distribution of certain content, controversy still exists after all, which is less noteworthy considering the material is still available on multiple platforms via streaming services and/or physical copies.
This gets problematic at times, which is why archives are important even for controversial material.
Now, this doesn't mean anime isn't a convenient scapegoat when things go wrong. Death Note was targeted in the mid-2000s for its controversial content and blamed for several incidents of students being caught with a few notebooks altered to resemble the Death Note.
There were a number of violent incidents attributed to anime at first, akin to the "video game violence" discourse the notorious Fox News Network and disgraced lawyer Jack Thompson once heralded as fact. The problem being that these incidents often involve other factors like mental illness, among others.
One of the first anime to ever make it big in the United States was Astro Boy. Nowadays, American audiences are much more discerning when it comes to anime like Dragon Ball and see plenty of anime that isn't strictly for children, with shows like Chainsaw Man or Fullmetal Alchemist being popular choices amongst fans.
To conclude, while the moral panic surrounding anime may have died down since the Wall Street Journal article about Dragon Ball Z was written, it still stands to reason that the lingering embers have been dispersed into other things.
Moral panic is rarely labeled as such when underway, after all. It's also worth pointing out that the Wall Street Journal is owned by the same person that owns Fox News, so hyperbolic sentiment isn't new there.
Anime has evolved and is constantly evolving. While some are still trying to get certain anime banned from distribution or sale, that pushback has largely tapered off since the early 2000s. There is a moral panic being pushed by anime fans, but that's another story.
If anything was missed, any kind of panic related to Dragon Ball or other anime in general, readers are encouraged to comment on it.
