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Nov, 12 2004 The Superhero for Japanese Toddlers and Pre-schoolers - A Children's Picture Book Review: ANPANMAN by Takashi Yanase Teruko Kagohashi, CRN Researcher

Do you know Anpanman? He is one of the most popular superhero characters to have won the hearts and minds of Japanese toddlers and pre-school age children regardless of gender. If you are ever in Japan, you will get to see him sooner or later, as Anpanman can be found on any product for children, including books, videos, toys, utensils, clothing, stationery, educational materials, and grocery items among other things. So who is Anpanman, and what is his mission? Although Anpanman today is most prevalent in animation, the answers can be found in the children's picture book, Anpanman, by Takashi Yanase which was first published in 1973*.( See the animated figure of Anpanman , and his original figure on the front cover of the first children's book. Note that both sites are in Japanese). The original children's story, which is considered as a basis for Anpanman retrospectively, goes something like the following: The face/head of "Anpan-man" is made of anpan, soft round bread filled with sweet red bean paste, one of the most popular and common Japanese pastries. (See for further reference of anpan.) Anpanman's pivotal mission is to help people who are suffering from hunger or who are in trouble by letting them have a bite of his head for sustenance during the venture. Consequently, his head gets smaller and smaller, and soon, it is all gone. But no worries! As soon as he completes his mission as superhero, he returns to the baker, later known as Jam Ojisan (Uncle Jam), and his head gets replenished with another anpan baked by Uncle Jam. Then, Anpanman leaves for a new venture again with his new anpan head to help the needy people of the world The story as well as the drawing of Anpanman are very simple, but touching and heart warming. In fact, this first children's book of Anpanman was one of my favorites when I was little. I grew out of childhood, but Anpanman, this anpan-headed superhero, continued to gain an increasing number of new young fans throughout Japan among the following generations. Now having my own son of age 3, I have had an opportunity to revisit the world of Anpanman, and I am amazed to learn how much it has expanded and become complicated, far beyond my comprehension. To begin with, my son first encountered Anpanman as the cute animation character seen on many products. (Note that the TV animation series Soreike Anpanman (Go Go Anpanman), was launched on the Nippon Television Network in 1988). Also, I have learnt that Anpanman now has a number of comrades, such as Curry-pan-man, (man with a head of bread filled with curry), Shokupan-man (man with a head of white sliced bread) and many other friends, most of whom are made of or named after various pastries and sweets that are familiar to Japanese children. Furthermore, there is Anpanman's arch villain, Baikinman (Germ man), who has grown to be a crucial character in the world of Anpanman. Though all episodes for the recent Anpanman books, videos, and movies claim to carry the same underlying message as the original one (i.e., Anpanman as a superhero with courage and love, who helps out the people in trouble), the recent storyline appears fundamentally different for someone who knows the first set of the Anpanman series, since the stories today generally wind up in a fight between Anpanman and Baikinman, in which Anpanman knocks Baikinman out by giving him "an-punch" and driving him off. Then, peace returns in the end. As a fan of the original Anpanman, who was portrayed as a benevolent superhero who single-handedly saved the world without physical strength but rather through self-sacrifice, I am ambivalent about the current 'Anpanman Establishment'. He seems to have turned into a conventional superhero or fighter character for the sake of marketing and celebrating consumerism. What makes me uneasy is that quite a few parents do not seem to know the first book and its story and Anpanman in it, and due to the commonly known 'an-punch' storyline of today, Anpanman is often taken to be a violent and inappropriate figure for young children. On another front, there are some who argue that an-punch is acceptable and justified since Anpanman does not use weapons to fight off his enemy. As there appear to be no studies on the effect of the an-punch storyline on young children, it is beyond the scope of this article to argue the appropriateness of Anpanman's use of physical strength as a superhero figure for very young children. All in all, however, Anpanman does not need to exercise physical power to win over the hearts and minds of children today. As for my son, the original Anpanman book is his favorite book among all the other Anpanman books that have the animated Anpanman figure and an-punch storyline in them. To conclude, I have excerpted part of Yanase's comments in the endnotes of the first book. "Like children, I also love supermen and/or superhero figures with masks. But I always wonder why their clothes get neither torn nor dirty even after a big fight/battle. As a result, it is not very clear for whom or for what the hero was fighting. I believe that genuine justice is not something so cool or glamorous in appearance. To the contrary, doing justice should be necessarily accompanied by sacrificing oneself and getting oneself hurt." Anpanman serves as a catalyst of this message, at least in the original version. *The original picture book of Anpanman is only available in hard cover, published in 1976, in Japanese. Yanase, Takashi (1976). Anpanman. Froebel-kan, Tokyo Let us hear your comment at Let's Talk!

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