{"id":5660,"date":"2020-06-25T15:29:45","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T19:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/?p=5660"},"modified":"2020-07-16T15:01:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T19:01:26","slug":"animism-japanese-characters-nft-blockchain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2020\/06\/25\/animism-japanese-characters-nft-blockchain","title":{"rendered":"Why Animism Gives Japanese Characters a NiFTy Head Start on the Blockchain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anime is for kids? Think again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you grew older, perhaps you felt the need to \u201cput away childish things\u201d, as the verse from Corinthians admonishes us to do. You graduated from picture books to literature, from nursery rhymes to Nirvana, from the simple to the complex.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the adult thing to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet anime, the cartoon-ish art form sometimes known as Japanimation, is not childish in either its origins or its message. In fact, anime is art with a message: it helps explain to children the right thing to do in life \u2014 and some might say, it provides a moral compass to adults.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Blockchain<\/a><\/p>\n

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It is the widespread appeal of both the anime style <\/span>and <\/span><\/i>its various messages that helps us understand why Japanese characters have an inbuilt advantage in the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), both in blockchain gaming and in the expanding arena of digital collectibles. The answer lies in one of the pillars of Japanese culture, Animism, as we will see. And while anime is but one example of this phenomenon, it is perhaps the one that best illustrates it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anime and characterization<\/span><\/h4>\n

There are many forms of anime, and in the version that is aimed at children the predominant themes are positive. Justice prevails. Friendship thrives. Love wins. The main characters are on the side of good, and the defeat of virtue is unthinkable.<\/span><\/p>\n

This type of anime concerns itself with the promotion of \u201cdecent\u201d human behavior. It doesn\u2019t reflect the severe reality of, say, inequality. It is clean and simple. It encourages children to dream big, and to go claim those dreams.<\/span><\/p>\n

And in this form, it is a form of cultural reassurance, a guidebook to the basic morality principles that the majority of participants in your society agree on. It seems playful, but its message resonates far beyond play.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the form of anime that is familiar to many in the West.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it is not the only version of anime. Sub-genres such as Hentai explore darker, adult, or sexual themes. The main characters may lose, and even die. Supporting characters come to dominate the protagonists, and themes become complicated as opposed to simple.<\/span><\/p>\n

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