Anime Westerns- Sci-Fi

[WerenCole]

I was intrigued when I read the caption to this forum. "Westerns have reinvented themselves." It immediatly made me think of Anime and other science fiction that have definitely taken aspects of westerns and put them into strange contexts. For instance we find a lot of new style westerns in Space, check out Cowboy BeBop for instance (note my avatar). Space, like the old west, is turned into a lawless frontier. I know there are others as well.


Tell me, does the idea of mixing science fiction or anime with the western style intrigue anybody else?

[Cav Guy]

Actually, if you think about it, there are more similarities than differences between SciFi and Westerns. Both tend to focus on exploration ("strange new worlds," new frontiers, and all that), have an element of culture clash built in, and are often fairly action-heavy.

I find it an interesting blend, though I don't write it myself.

[JeanneTGC]

In all of my post-apocalyptic stuff (and I have a lot), I put the future back into an Old West kind of situation. I also have a sci-fi piece where a group of Old West heroes are scientifically pulled into the future (for nefarious purposes, of course, LOL). The sci-fi I write has a lot of western elements in it.

What was Star Trek, really, if not an updated, futuristic Western, almost the Magnificent Seven go to a new town/planet every week? The original Battlestar Galactica was a futuristic version of Wagon Train. Serenity is absolutely a Western in outer space, per its creator.

So, I think there's a lot of precedent for sci-fi/Western crossover. Plus, it's fun to do. :D

[TsukiRyoko]

Yeah, Bebop kicks serious ass.

I like the style of "anime meets western". It has a unique, flavorful feel to it, doesn't it?

This thread makes me think of Trigun, too. Gunslingers rock my socks.

[WerenCole]

Did I mention that I am a gunslinging expert?

[Lyra Jean]

Spike Speigal is hot. Yeah I know he's a cartoon.


See You Space Cowboy.

[TsukiRyoko]

Did I mention that I am a gunslinging expert?
I should hope so. Especially after all the sandwiches I've been making you.... :D

[Bmwhtly]

And lets not forget Firefly.

The crew moving further into the border to avoid the civilising Alliance.


And I love, LOVE, the idea that they terraform planets and put horses on them. They build Planets, not Roads. The result being the beautiful thing of landing a spaceship and being met by The Magnificent Seven.

[Cav Guy]

I think a great deal of it ties in with the fascination we have with discovery and exploration. Going back to Cooper, Westerns were often about exploration of some kind, as well as questing (trying to find a family, a place to call one's own, and so on). Once the West was filled, the collective imagination turned to space.

[Jaycinth]

I think a few of us sci-fi-ers are playing around with spacefrontiers. I know I am.

My first...'Sources' Code', the first thing that happens is one ofmy MC's is 'cowboying' at the periphery when he becomes involved in an alien 'plot'.

A couple of other WIPs I've critted, are also 'frontier-ish' in nature.

The draw, I feel, is putting your characters ( and therefore yourself)on the edge, where rules are vague and you have to sort through the various shades of gray to make your own laws..or enforce the ones you've brought with you.

To me the balance between what a character needs to do to survive 'frontier' life,and what a character needs to do to survive forays from that frontier into the civilized areas is a delicate weave, a dynamic that needs to be explored.

Because, really, the kind of person who choses to live on the edge, or who is forced to the edge and finds themselves not only survivng, but thriving; that kind of person is an interesting character study.

The loner, the outcast, the 'talented' person with a history: the doctor who drinks to forget,the sharp-shooting widow,the girl-dressed-as-a-boy, and the mildly retarded kid (who,amazingly always has the ides to save the day...or because he dies..galvanizes the other folk to action)

They are who we call our 'western' heros, but in reality, you can see variations of them in most of fantasy and sci-fi...in addition to the Western genre.They are moredeveloped in the 'western' than in other fiction I've read, but perhaps that is because the 'western' has been around longer?

But in conclusion, I find myself facinated by the way the Anime/manga writer/artists have found such an organic balance between the classic 'western' and the complexity of eastern thought, and manners, of course.

[JeanneTGC]

But in conclusion, I find myself facinated by the way the Anime/manga writer/artists have found such an organic balance between the classic 'western' and the complexity of eastern thought, and manners, of course.
The Seven Samurai became the Magnificent Seven. There are many more examples of where an American director took a Japanese (in particular) story or hero and Americanized them. In some ways, I think the anime/manga creators have just taken it back, so to speak.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a great movie. But I can also see how to remake it as a Western. (Hmmmm...maybe I should write that...*adds it on to ever-growing list of story ideas*)