The Anime Blog Poll: Do You Feel Anime and Japanese RPGs Go Together?

My b-day was this past weekend and Dave threw a lil’ shindig for me in honor of my impending decline, aka 30th birthday. A small group of friends showed up to throw down on DDR and play Ninja Burger for the evening. While enjoying each other’s company, we got into another “debate” over anime.

It all started with a comment on a past poll titled “How Do You Prefer to Watch Anime?”. I have no idea why I brought it up, but the comment was referring to how the poster watches anime and plays the RPG Final Fantasy XI at the same time. A question came up for why anyone would play an RPG and watch anime at the same time since, in their opinion, they had little in common.

Dave and a friend almost simultaneously argued that they are relatively unrelated and that the only reason anime fans like Japanese video game RPGs is because they’re the type of people that would have liked them anyway, regardless of the anime factor.

OK, so the party’s done, but the debate isn’t; next day, Dave and I “have it out” again. I’m arguing, as I did the previous night, that anime and RPGs have a great deal in common and that anime fans love RPGs because it’s like playing anime. Dave argued that, no, it’s not like playing anime, the story’s are dissimilar and that it makes no sense when anime fans dress up as RPG characters at cons. He also said that he felt, in his opinion that less than 11% of anime fans like or play RPGs.

IMO, anime and Japanese RPG’s almost always follow the same Japanese concepts and form of storytelling. In RPGs there are five elements that are usually present in the game play and are fundamental:

1. Having to achieve an almost impossible goal.
2. Going on a journey to achieve said goal, figuratively or literally.
3. When on said journey, gathering a group of friends and allies to achieve said goal.
4. Using supernatural powers or augmenting one’s strength by magic or “mundane” devices, i.e. enhanced swords, mechs, enchanted guns, etc.
5. Fight battles or overcome hardships and trials to achieve end result. Repeat steps 2-5 if necessary.

For anime this formula remains almost the same, I don’t care what you watch. In Hellsing you have to:

1. Overthrow shadow organization
2. Travel to find said organization.
3. Gather allies in whatever form they come in.
4. Uses powerful vampiric energies to battle it out.
5. Fight shadow organization’s evil minions.

Hmmm, will this formula work with other anime? Let’s try Gankutsuo, a drama:

1. Wreck vengeance on evil backstabbing ex-friends even though the Count’s working with a handicap.
2. Travel across the galaxy to find said ex-friends.
3. Gather henchmen and an exiled princess while traveling.
4. Uses the power of Gankutsuo and alien ally to bolster his strength.
5. Deliver the coup de grace against the men that wronged him.

I believe this formula will work with almost any anime; without having to stretch the guidelines too far. I’ve never watched any romances, unless you count Escaflowne as a romance, but even in that case this formula would still apply.

To me the similarities between anime and RPGs are fundamental and not superficial, going all the way to the heart of both and tying them together.

Thusly, if anime fans like anime (and they usually do) it’s easy to see why anime fans would also have a huge love for Japanese RPGs. I believe, in my opinion folks, that 30% or more of anime fans love RPGs and that they love ‘em because they’re so similar to anime.

Am I wrong? Do anime fans like RPGs and like ‘em because they’re so similar to anime or do they only like ‘em because they’re already into video games to begin with? Do you think anime and RPGs are bosom buddies or chance acquaintances?