How Anime Influenced My Adventures Of Superman

Josie Campbell began working on DC Comics characters in the Teen Titans Go and Justice League Action animated series. She went on to revitalize She-Ra for Netflix in a new anime-themed series which features a diverse cast concentrating on unconventional relationships. Campbell got brought back to DC a few years later working on a new take of Mary Marvel(the original magical girl!)in The New Champion Of Shazam comic, plus writing the story for some current DC animated movies like Legion Of Super-Heroes which reintroduces the angst of teenage hormones in a sci-fi setting. She then became a head writer for the My Adventures With Superman series which is an all-new take on the Man of Tomorrow’s origin. The animated TV series was first pitched as an action comedy intended for Cartoon Network’s daytime schedule, but it was decided to add a romantic element by focusing on Clark and Lois’ relationship, so it was reformatted to be shown on Adult Swim, even though the first season was merely given a 10-episode run. Josie and her team have seemingly taken a major page out of the anime genre with their approach to presenting the original superhero to the next generation.

The first season played out like a Makoto Shinkai film where they compress an idea which could have filled out the better part of a season with just the initial aspect of the story. A young Clark Kent and his roommate Jimmy Olsen begin working as interns at the Daily Planet along with a fresh Lois Lane. Clark is just learning about his newfound powers and alien heritage while trying to keep it a secret, so he ditches his glasses and wears an outfit he got in his spacecraft. Lois dubs this superpowered vigilante Superman, but soon figures out that it is really Clark which is something that took decades to happen in the comics. This creates a big shortcut in their relationship, along with the two young people admitting their budding feelings for each other. While at the same time, a military division called Task Force X is aware of Superman’s nature after an event labeled Zero Day where an alien army nearly invaded Earth leaving only Lois’s father Sam and Amanda Waller to spend the next two decades preparing for a second invasion. Sam Lane is now a general and doing nearly anything to neutralize Superman, while Waller is secretly doing anything and more to make sure Zero Day doesn’t happen again, that includes using civilians as possible targets to accomplish her goals as well as criminals to flush out Superman. Another large beeline that was made to the plot was introducing the concept of a multiverse where different versions of Lois have taken formed their own secret society to stop any Supermans gone bad, which also prematurely brought Kryptonite into the equation. Yet another plot bypass was gathering an entire crew of DC Comics villains into Task Force X, most of which were never even part of the Superman rogues’ gallery. The best example is taking Justice League enemy Dr. Ivo who created the Amazo robot and have the scientist becoming Parasite with incredible kaiju capabilities. The storytelling is streamlined down for a tight broadcast run that numerous anime adaptations have been subjected to.

The more diverse cast works in the show’s favor. Jimmy Olsen and Perry White are now black while Lois is of Korean descent, plus the Newsboy Legion is the Newskid Legion made of different genders and ethnicities. Some villains from the comics here are misunderstood like The Brain and Monsieur Mallah who are a disembodied brain and an intelligent talking gorilla that are now a gay cross-species romantic couple. Even Mr. Mxyzptlk is remade into a mostly different character with blue skin and pointy ears who in this show is more of a multiversal agent of chaos that fights against the orderly efforts of the Lois League. Lex Luthor is also reimagined as beginning as Ivo’s assistant who would become a major thorn in Superman’s side as a secondary bad guy that rises through the ranks to become an archenemy.

Clark and Lois’ relationship is given a new coat of paint in the manner of a background romance in a standard action anime that is brought to the front as the driving force of the story, making this series both a shojo and shonen-inspired American cartoon. In most past situations, Lois’s efforts were either to boost her reporting career or get her even further into Superman’s arms, but here she is a little more conscious of the world around her and the part she plays in it. Lois also exhibits the generic hypocrisy her character is infamous for when she gets steamed at Clark for lying about his secret identity just a few episodes after Lois herself admitted to lying to Perry White while trying to cover a story of killer robots. The blossoming love of Clark and Lois echos your average high school romance that makes up numerous anime titles while ditching the obligatory additional harem love intertests.

Mecha anime equally holds sway here too. The Parasite suit is clearly a remodeled body armor version of Unit-01 from Evangelion. Brainiac robots are designed to look like something out of Metroid. Even some background robots were obviously borrowed from Gurren Lagan’s torso-themed mecha.

Magical girl shows had an effect on Superman here as they are one of the few consistent genres in anime where a character manages to keep their alter-ego hidden even from those going to extreme ends to uncover them, despite the fact Jimmy Olsen knew about Clark’s secret identity from the beginning. Clark’s first fitting into his blue tights was also reminiscent of a magical girl transformation scene, even if it's only for the one time. All of his powers eventually appear as Superman levels up from each battle also demonstrates a character’s evolution into their role as a guardian similar to your average pretty soldier.

The action on display in this series ascends from prior superhero anime shows like One Punch Man and My Hero Academia that were in turn shaped by American comic books. Superman isn’t on the god level he normally is at in this adaptation, so supervillains with high tech weapons do sometimes end up getting the better of him, even if super-speed comes in handy to not draw out a battle like Goku and Frieza. Superman fights for what he believes in and tries to keep the citywide damage to a minimum, making him mindful of how his powers can attract and repel gawking onlookers.

Superman’s iconography corresponds in this show as well. It is a deconstruction of the superhero, but not in a dark or bloody way featured on recent titles like Invincible or The Boys. Superman stands out here as someone feared by those in power but heralded by those whose lives he saves, which is usually conventional in the realms of sentai hero titles. Your average Metropolis citizen is aware of what lengths Superman will go to save the day, even with the entire population uniting their efforts to help stop a rampaging gigantic Parasite from consuming all the energy in the city.

Even the opening credits look like something out of an early 2010s anime TV series. It reflects some of the last few Gainax productions or slice-of-life titles with the occasional giant robot somewhere in shot.

My Adventures With Superman is the culmination of over eight decades worth of legacy and how that left its mark on anime in general, as well as how it comes back to the source with this Man of Steel being given a bigger emphasis as a bishonen with superpowers. What the second season has in store for the never-ending battle is yet to be seen, but don’t be surprised if you see a couple more Dragonball homages as it goes along.