Why is the West obsessed with anime? Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

When it comes to softening a stern public image, the Japanese have a special trick: just introduce a cute-looking cartoon mascot. High security prisons have them, as do the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the Japanese Sewage Association. Such mascots have their origins in kawaii visual culture, otherwise translated as “cuteness” or “adorableness”; and in Japan, cuteness is very big indeed.
Perhaps the Catholic Church should give it a try. What better way for the Vatican to shake off its harsh and forbidding reputation among the faithless young than by designing a winsome kawaii mascot for the Church’s forthcoming Jubilee Year?
Such was the apparent thinking of the high-ups who this week unveiled Luce, a character designed to put the adorable into religious adoration. Along with a raft of identically proportioned sidekicks, Luce is an unfeasibly large-headed, big-eyed, short-limbed cartoon child whose proportions are dictated by the chibi tradition in Japanese anime — also known as the “super-deformed” style. Blue-haired and snub-nosed, her enormous eyes brim with saintly sweetness as she guides young pilgrims towards the faith.
The Vatican masterminds are surely right that kawaii culture is popular with youth across the globe. Starting in the Seventies, with the massive success of Hello Kitty, it has since been fuelled by international crazes for manga, Studio Ghibli films, and Pokémon characters. Vaguely sinister soft toys with neotenous features, pointless pastel-coloured plastic tat, and decorated notepaper too small to actually write anything on are like crack for pre-teen girls worldwide.
According to one theory, Japan’s national obsession with cuteness has roots in Sixties Japan, as representations of the ageing Emperor Hirohito started to depict him as endearingly enfeebled. This was arguably a cultural coping mechanism, as the Japanese faced post-war realisations about the limits of their military and economic power. Other commentators have made connections with the classical tradition of Japanese aesthetics, according to which sadness is an appropriate response to beauty: cute things are often thought of as enjoyably “pitiable” in kawaii discourse. The Shinto religion is also thought by some to be a relevant background factor, with its emphasis on innocence and play. And feminists have pointed out that traditional models of Japanese femininity construe women as small, powerless, and vulnerable — all features heavily present in the kawaii tradition.
Somewhere in all that, perhaps, is Japan’s excuse for its obsession with anything endearingly small, innocent, and childishly appealing. But what’s ours? For cuteness is increasingly not just an obsession of Generations Z and Alpha. The same nauseatingly sugary aesthetic is creeping — or rather, perhaps, playfully skipping as fast as wobbly oversized heads will allow — into Anglophone adult worlds. In this, it is no doubt encouraged by local conditions, in which “adultescence” can yawn into one’s thirties and distinct cultural boundaries between generations barely exist.
Consider that we are now in the season of adult Halloween costumes — in itself, a giant exercise in tooth-aching whimsy — and whole articles are being written, apparently seriously, about how sinister clown costumes have gone cute this year. Middle-aged textspeak is scattered with cartoon emojis, and phone cameras have filters that make owners look like puppies or princesses. Grown humans watch Pixar films or go to Disney World without the excuse of accompanying offspring. And, believe it or not, there are even “maid cafes” selling “kawaii culture” in UK cities, where youthful-looking young women in maid outfits will draw smiley faces on your pancakes or play boardgames with you, allegedly with no sexual undertones whatsoever.
Noticing the trend, this year Somerset House put on an art exhibition exploring what its curators called the “irresistible rise of cuteness”. And then there’s the ubiquitous concept of the “meet-cute”, now part of the contemporary lexicon to describe a first date. In terms of relationship ideals, it’s no longer considered sufficient to encounter a prospective partner by means of a firm handshake at a rendezvous planned in advance. Instead you should do something that would elicit gooey-eyed “awws” from your friends in the retelling: accidentally chuck a cup of coffee over him, say, or find yourself in a furious bidding war over the same antique vase. And if the meeting goes wrong and no sexual attraction is thereby experienced, modern parlance now has it that you have “the ick”. At both ends of the spectrum then, adult agency and mature sexual attitudes are being smothered in cooing, babbling, and clucking noises.
Indeed, the fact that cuteness has the capacity to reduce grown women and the occasional man to babytalk is a frequently observed feature of its strange power. In her great book on minor aesthetic properties of our time, cultural theorist Sianne Ngai quotes a 19th-century journalist attending the society wedding of Lavinia Warren and “General Tom Thumb” Stratton — two people of very short stature — who observed that the onlooking enraptured female crowd emitted “small-sized adjectives and diminutive ejaculations” as they gazed upon the adorable spectacle. In such a way, Ngai suggests, “cuteness generates ever more cuteness”. Or, to put it bluntly, cuteness kills vocabularies and, ultimately, brain cells. No surprise, then, that it should become totemic of this most stupid of eras.
There is another thing about cuteness that seems to make it irresistible. Namely, as noted, it implies vulnerability and powerlessness: aspects our culture is intoxicated by. Luce holds a pilgrim’s stick, but to eyes hungry for emblems of weakness it could just as easily be mistaken for a disability aid. Everything about her speaks to smallness and defencelessness. Some warped souls will find this an outright turn-on; more, though, will be non-erotically gratified by the projected image of the self.
For there is something obviously self-regarding in the pleasure to be had from exaggerated caricatures of human vulnerability. In a susceptible observer with enough mirror neurons firing, cute representations make her feel both maternal and meltingly childish, unsure if she is imaginatively positioned as watching subject or as adorably smol-bean-like object. For the same sorts of reason, cuteness can produce profound ambivalence in an onlooker. Do I want to hug this thing? Protect it? Buy it? Be it? Destroy it?
Pace the Vatican then, it seems to me that cuteness is a bad vehicle for the traditional elements of religious experience. Whatever else Luce achieves — increased brand awareness, perhaps, or even the physical presence of more young people in churches — she is unlikely to directly draw them closer to God. For, in comparison to the more traditional aesthetic categories of beauty and sublimity, cuteness seems essentially secular. Ngai agrees, writing that because cuteness “dramatises” its own “frivolity and ineffectiveness”, it is “fundamentally non-theological, unable to foster religious awe and uncoupling the experience of art from the discourse of spiritual transcendence”.
Even when affected by the sight of Luce as presumably intended, viewers will still only be in the realm of small bursts of manageable feeling, with no loss of self but rather an intensification of queasy self-awareness as just described. In some ways, this makes the mascot a weird strategy on the part of the Church. The one thing everybody knows about teenagers — and especially girls — is that they have an enormous capacity for engaging in ecstatic, swooning acts of self-abandon and absorption in the absolute. Just ask Saint Teresa of Ávila or Joan of Arc.
Yet unlike traditional religious paintings or pieces of music, full of awe-inspiring power, grand drama, or painful intensity, one cute representation is exactly as affecting as the next — which is to say not very much. Looking at Luce might make you feel pleasantly squishy in the solar plexus; but then again, so might looking at Bambi or Pikachu. It is for this reason that cuteness sells so well — it’s cheap and easy, in every sense. Even the tackiest of Catholic kitsch tries harder to whip up a sense of God’s immanence than this.
No doubt there will be those who say I’m overthinking. Can’t I just be happy that an out-of-touch institution is making relatable overtures to a new generation? I’m afraid I can’t. The modern cult of cuteness is too revolting. We get the aesthetic properties we deserve, perhaps; but surely the Church can do better than metaphorically placing potential converts in soft play. Many manifestations of religious experience are available, but I’m fairly sure saying “awwww” isn’t one of them.
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SubscribeThumbs up and thanks to Andres Tegnell for steering Sweden in the precisely the manner we failed on. During the early part of the past year, he was only one of the few voices I could agree with. It kept me sane.
Besides Covid being an extra bit of a threat to the elderly and health compromised , it is a major threat to the obese . Look at the shape of the occupants of this country, at any mixed crowded place, you will know, why the western governments got so spooked. It was not the disease itself that was so “deadly”, it was the shape of the population. And so it is in the rest of the west and even in India. The most tragic & preventable deaths were ones with the large girths. But this is not rocket science, nor does it need numbers and charts to explain.
Perhaps Swedes are healthier because an individuals health is his/her responsibility. They seem to understand it and risen to accept that challenge. Hence the outcome has been better. Can our government give us that freedom? Are we mature enough to know what that means? According to the government -perhaps not.
Alka, do you (or does anyone else) have data on this – I have thought the same but haven’t found any proof. The “underlying health issues” that accompany most people who suffer or die with Sars-Covid-2 are myriad. At sites like the CDC the list is endless, no where have I found an actual breakdown to anything useful like obesity level, blood type, immune health etc..
Here’s a link to one meta study of association between age, sex, various comorbities with covid mortality.
https://www.karger.com/Article/Fulltext/512592#top
As others have said, Anders Tegnell has been a beacon of common sense during the pandemic.
For me, here is his key comment on how Sweden could implement its approach to the pandemic: “and people are also listening to that because there is a high level of both respect and trust between the population and the government and the agencies.”
So many western countries are now profoundly divided. The trust Anders Tegnell refers to barely existed before the pandemic and has now been pretty much destroyed. We are now likely to be censored if we suggest there are distinct advantages to having a largely homogeneous population with a shared sense of values and history–but it’s true.
The vaccine sceptics won’t like his statement that “achieving a high vaccination level is the one way we can get out of this pandemic. There does not seem to be any other way, really.” But I think he’s correct. I’m more inclined to be guided by Tegnell’s opinion than by all the pronouncements emanating from the WHO or Sage committees.
Anyway, much respect to you, Mr. Tegnell. I hope history treats you well.
However there was no talk of the fast waning efficacy of the vaccines…
Just how fast? He probably doesn’t know, and if he doesn’t I’m pretty sure you don’t either. He did mention the probable need for a booster dose at some point for the most vulnerable in society. Or would it be better to give everyone a booster dose in the next 1-3 months and then another booster dose in the Spring?
you mean the gene therapy used as a vast experiment on the world population?
Is the booster shot supposed to be the end of it?
Absolutely agree. A beacon of sanity in a mad world, and above all someone who relishes uincertainty and debate rather than adopting a dogmatic position which is what concerns me most on both sides of the argument.
A brave man, and who wouldn’t want to have heard his honest, undogmatic and well-intentioned argument when so much remained unknown? Resilience of society depends on response diversity, meaning openness to debate and adaptive learning. Each country has its specificity but in Sweden’s context, and perhaps of far wider relevance, it seems he was more on the money than many and seems to have saved Sweden at least a lot of pain and financial loss.
Anders should get commission. As well as being one of the world’s last remaining calm and level-headed public servants, his interview with Freddie was one of the reasons I coughed up the subscription fees.
One of the true beacons of common sense; rationality and – ultimately – compassion.
If only we had such men advising our government instead of the monomaniacal technocrats we got (did we get what we deserved for being so compliant? That’s a depressing thought I have to ask myself).
In any case, I hope the Whitty’s; Valances and Ferguson’s of this world take note. Maybe if we forego their inevitable honours from the Queen and instead award one to Anders Tegnell (who cares if he’s not British), it’ll hammer the message home.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have been living in Stockholm over the last 18 months and have watched and listened to most of his and his colleagues’ press briefings. Not once can I remember him having problems in answering the questions and assertions fielded at him by both Swedish and foreign journalists at these briefings. With the support of Johan Giesecke, he and his department basically kept to the pandemic management rule book when all others were throwing it out of the window. Their previous experience of epidemics and pandemics in global environments over the last 30 years has stood them in good stead to handle the situation.
We in Sweden have a lot to be grateful to the Public Health Authority (and to the govt. for trusting and implementing the measures) for providing a reasonable level of normality in our daily lives, whilst observing the horrific measures adopted in my home country and other countries in Europe.
Do you think the ‘gene therapy’ is going to keep Sweden healthy?
Probably in the short term. I’m no fan of the vaccine and specifically the mRNA variant although the AZ one which I had (for being able to travel) is probably no safer. What I will say is that if the vaccines had not been produced then Sweden’s strategy would have been even more desirable for other blinded countries. From the start Sweden’s strategy was long term, possibly years, in terms of being sustainable and minimising disruption to society and business as much as possible, and importantly keeping the kids in school. The shops, restaurants and golf courses never closed.
You can’t tell, looking at Swedish mortality statistics, that they had Covid in 2020. And that falsifies the claim that covid is unusually lethal, and that authoritarian lockdown measures were necessary and effective. My essay here: https://richardlyon.substack.com/p/sweden-1-faith-0
The title is VERY clickbait-y. The spirit of what he said was hardly so self congratulatory.
You’re rignt. Unherd’s headline editor needs to be a little Less Herd. Let a good story tell itself.
Look at it this way… if Anders Tegnell won the 100m at the World Championships, he would still sit in his drab room with the potted plants talking in a soft, measured voice about how it was not just his effort but the government’s effort. It wouldn’t even really have been a competition.
Hahahaha, well said
During the summer there are usually about 9,000 deaths in England and Wales each week.
Over the last two weeks reported by the ONS (week 36 and 37), there were about 11,000.
About 1000 or these 2000 “excess deaths” were probably directly due to COVID
Less than 50 of these 1000 COVID deaths were in fully vaccinated people (5%)
About 5% of NHS beds are occupied by those suffering from COVID; another 5% are empty.
About 2/3rds of the “non-COVID” excess deaths occurred at home
The luxurious living conditions in Sweden could contribute to less than half covid casualties than the present number. The only prerequisite was the face mask in indoor spaces which Tegnell refused to recommend.
The death toll in Sweden, where almost 50% of population are living in ideal detached houses, is the same as in crowded and packed countries and this only can be perceived as bad performance.
Yes, he is a sham and a liar, through and through. Consistently. He blamed immigrants at one point for getting infected, and the elders for being in old peoples’ homes. Arrogant, insensitive, autistic. I would say that as he is someone who is a white older male he has only one point of view, his own. Yet to the Swedes (by no means all) someone who is lauded in his own land as a latter-day Sankt Anders
Huh, is this supposed to be an attempt of irony and sarcasm?