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Last week at the GW in montreal my cousin played a game with his Tau and his opponent called him a anime fan. After looking up what that meant I have to ask the question in the title of this thread. The only animeish thing about the Tau are the mech suits. The Eldar on the other hand look like your run of the mill anime characters, too thin, pale, and they are so very androgynous, not to mention they look like power rangers. Can any one explain how the Tau is in any way anime other than the mech suits.


P.S. Nothing against the eldar. It`s just something I noticed.

It's also the relative newness of the tau-people see GW as tryng to cash in on recent popularity for anime. Also many people see their socity as similar in some ways to China which is of course asian and therefore associated with anime. This may seem not 'right' but I'm just making an attempt at rationalisation.

The relation to anime ARE the mech suits....

Could be also their addiction to tech, their un-grimdarkness, characters like etherals and a space pope, and so on...

But how does the eldar get by with their mechs and girly men without being anime?

Becuase they wear helmets that don't look very anime?

even in DoW they sound very oriental....plus also the VA in that god-awful game 'Fire Warrior'

I disagree, I'm afraid. Yes, the battle suits, but also the basic armor/vehicles/weapons look/fee like anime to me. The sci fi-stuff. The clean lines of the armor, adn the clean lines IN the armor, the smooth but not quite organic lines of the vehicles and armors. The faceless, mono-eyes helmets. The fire warriors are the most anime thing to me, but so are the devil fish. Wish I could think of the name of the series it reminds me of off the top of my head. Appleseed for sure. Zone of the Enders. There was a game...xeno something.

They have that corporate sci-fi things going. Of course, obviously, I like anime too. I can just see a devil fish flying down to put down a rebellion, fire-warriors piling out with searchlights and laser targetters. Then a 15 year old girl in a tank-top and combat boots totally destroys them.

I know I have seen nearly that exact scene in several movies.

Emperors Faithful wrote:Becuase they wear helmets that don't look very anime?

Any clothing article that looks stupid can be found in an anime.

@Kurgash: Story wise and appearence I believe the Eldar are still more anime like than the Tau in Dark Crusade. Besides DOW makes the Eldar act like the mysterious loner that you see in every anime.

What other race puts so much emphasis on the female figure?

Imperium, sisters of battle, living saint.

perfect anime.........

now I need to purge myself for that heresy...



Until then, the space elfs are just elfs in space and as such older than anime figs.

Then I change the question, how are the Eldar not the anime army?

because they have the pointy hats! paint em white and throw them at the Salamanders and watch the fireworks

jk, honestly, I never linked the Eldar with anime, more so the Tau due to the look of battle suits. It, idk, just strikes out more to me.

Anime or enemy?

1) eldaR know about hairstyle. Compare them to the anime faction......
2) eldaR use tech and psi as tools, whilst the anime faction is always looking this way on such things =>
3) eldaR train to perfection. Anime train for power.
4) eldaR only care for eldaR. Anime has a lot of different creatures.
5) eldaR arent funny. Anime may include jokes.....

1) Not all anime hair has to be overly spicky, look at raiden from MGS2 (The tau are mostly bald or have one long lock of hair in the back)
2) I'm sure there are a few anime that have psychic based weaponry
3) Perfection is a pretty vague term, care to elaborate?
4) Saiyans only care for saiyans.
5)Perhaps their emotionlessness makes them funny, like in terminator 2 Ahnold is kinda funny.

-The overly stylized armour makes them look like anime characters.
-Breast are the only way to tell them apart.
-Anime chicks have armour that shows off their boobs (Tau females seem to have none). Their narcissism makes them relatable to a few anime characters.

Tau have the top-knot hairstyle.

Kurgash wrote:Tau have the top-knot hairstyle.

Thanks, thats the word I was looking for.

And another thing, I have never seen communism glorified in an anime.

I'm with you, cross. When Tau very first emerged, there was none of this "Taus looks anime!" nonsense. It wasn't until Saturday morning cartoons were all replaced with Pokemon cartoons and anime became more prevalent than just the cult fetish that it had theretofore been that somebody said "Hey they's drivin' robots like in those chinese porn cartoons!" And people either jumped on the bandwagon and said "Hey yeah! GW musta stole Tau from the Asians!" Or they reacted like you and I, and said "Uh... What are you talking about? Tau bear absolutely no resemblance to anime whatsoever, by any stretch of the imagination..."

I'm actually an anime fan, yet I see absolutely nothing which appears even remotely anime-inspired in the Tau.

Personally I think Space Marines look FAR more anime than the Tau. Take Megaman, give him anime shoulders and cover his face. Voila! He's a Space Marine...

I just associate Tau with asian culture as they come from the 'Eastern fringe' aka Far East and have a higher level of technology than other races, like Asians today, to some extent. Meh, not strong on the anime point other than Battle Suits bearing a resemblance.

Colours are a little different.

Drk_Oblitr8r wrote:
Colours are a little different.

Now thats an anime mech. The tau mech look more like they were made for function over beauty. The boxed armour also looks nothing like the armour in any anime I have seen. I know the second one is eldar but whats the first one from?

The first one is from Evangelion.

The Tau are heavily based off of Asian concepts. Their battlesuit design is more anime than any "mechs" used by the Eldar in basic 40k. Their armor has samurai inspired elements. Their overall aesthetic is more Japanese.

Their society is is based around fire, earth, water, and air (which is a common theme in anime, although the concept most likely originated with the Greeks). Their society also seems somewhat Confucian (not especially Japanese, but Asian), or at the very least more collectivist than modern western society. Their emphasis on widespread application of technology makes them seem more Japanese. They have narrow eyes and no nose. They sound Asian in Dawn of War. They're not strongly religious (and definitely not monotheistic). They're from the far east of the galaxy.

There are a host of traits that could be applied to the Eldar in this regard as well, and the Eldar do probably resemble anime specifically more than the Tau (who more generally Japanese). However, if you can't see why people are making the connection, you're not looking very hard.

here's my conclusion if it has boobs and slender armour its anime

Brother Rendare wrote:here's my conclusion if it has giant boobs and slender armour its anime

fixt for you

Tau are like most things in Warhammer in that they aren't exactly what they seem and are a subversion of a concept. The Tau are made to have an anime look, yet do not match the average anime character idealogy. The average anime (don't mind my overgeneralizations) tends to promote individualism, with single characters fighting against overpowering faceless antagonists, but the Tau are collectivists. (If anything the Tau fit the standard anime badguys more than anything in anime) Anime's just love melee yet the Tau don't. The Tau's purpose is to put 40k in perspective, by takeing anime which is illogical in the same way as 40k but without the grimdark, and makeing it into an army which doesn't follow the standard illogicalness.

Eldar due follow more anime conventions but don't come across as anime-like due to their cocept being more western inspired. (Celtic traditions/beliefs, standard elves, etc)

And any of the armies can come across as anime if you make them look that way, try looking at the massive amount of fanart and humorous pics on the site, many are done in anime style.

It would be hard to argue that Eldar are not a futuristic version of WHFB Elves. That's most likely where GW got the idea for them and I doubt too many people would disagree. They definitely share a lot of 'anime' traits, but the fact that they are clearly related to (if not directly ported from) a pre-existing game's race that has nothing to do with anime culture makes it a bit far-fetched to call them an 'anime' race, in and of themselves.

The Tau, on the other hand, (as people have previously mentioned) have battlesuits (which are featured predominantly in many anime), high-tech robotics (most obviously seen in the drones), and have a cultural background and methodology that seems to be a mix of stereotypical Chinese communism/nationalism, Taoist religion (I doubt their name has anything to do with the Greek letter), and Japanese Zaibatsu.

Whether you think something being 'anime' is a bad thing or not (I can only assume you do by your responses, my apologies if this is false) if I had to label any race in 40k as 'anime' or potentially "having the most traits that refer to many different, popular, Asian animation" it would definitely have to be the Tau. Many different races in 40k have traits that could definitely be attributed to some form of anime culture but imo the Tau have easily the most of any 40k race to date.

DoW

Clearly Orks are the most anime race.

Let's take a look at the similarities.
- Huge, out of proportion mouths.
- Chibi versions of themselves (grots)
- Tend to do lots of yelling for no good reason
- React with overly dramatized violence to unusual situations
- Have a thing for having the 'biggest gun'(/highest Power Level/Best rock band/most giant lazer/scantily clad woman with the biggest breasts)
- Fight at the least excuse (ZZWAAAAAA! YOU STEPPED ON MY TOOOOEEEEEEE!)
- Collect small monsters and use them in battle (squigs)
- Get up unfazed after taking a beating that would have killed several normal men (even the girly little orks can take a giant hammer to the face and get back up)
- Tend to have fairly extreme hairstyles (Bald is still a hairstyle)
- All act like an ethnicity they're not (Green orks acting British / a bunch of white people who are inexplicably japanese)
- Have an innate ability with complex technology (*GASP* I've never seen an amateur [pilot/drive/wield/fix] a [insert made up word] like that before!)

I do believe my case is airtight. Orkz iz Anime.

Orkestra wrote:Clearly Orks are the most anime race.

Let's take a look at the similarities.
- Huge, out of proportion mouths.
- Chibi versions of themselves (grots)
- Tend to do lots of yelling for no good reason
- React with overly dramatized violence to unusual situations
- Have a thing for having the 'biggest gun'(/highest Power Level/Best rock band/most giant lazer/scantily clad woman with the biggest breasts)
- Fight at the least excuse (ZZWAAAAAA! YOU STEPPED ON MY TOOOOEEEEEEE!)
- Collect small monsters and use them in battle (squigs)
- Get up unfazed after taking a beating that would have killed several normal men (even the girly little orks can take a giant hammer to the face and get back up)
- Tend to have fairly extreme hairstyles (Bald is still a hairstyle)
- All act like an ethnicity they're not (Green orks acting British / a bunch of white people who are inexplicably japanese)
- Have an innate ability with complex technology (*GASP* I've never seen an amateur [pilot/drive/wield/fix] a [insert made up word] like that before!)

I do believe my case is airtight. Orkz iz Anime.

I like this post. It iterates my point sarcastically. If people want to insist that an army is inspired by anime, it's not difficult to find "logical" justifications to do so... Doesn't mean the army is actually inspired by anime. If you 'look hard enough' ALL the armies can be anime inspired! YAY!... Even though they just aren't. Tau included.

Except, beyond being used a joke, it's a pretty crappy list.

Orkestra wrote:
- Huge, out of proportion mouths.

Anime stereotypically has small mouths, and big eyes. So this actually counts against you.

- Chibi versions of themselves (grots)

Nope. A grot isn't an ork, nor are they especially "chibi".

- Tend to do lots of yelling for no good reason

True, but weak.

- React with overly dramatized violence to unusual situations

Weak.

- Have a thing for having the 'biggest gun'(/highest Power Level/Best rock band/most giant lazer/scantily clad woman with the biggest breasts)

Too much of a stretch.

- Fight at the least excuse (ZZWAAAAAA! YOU STEPPED ON MY TOOOOEEEEEEE!)

Repeated, and still as weak as before.

- Collect small monsters and use them in battle (squigs)

Weak connection, since the use of attack dogs have a long history in the real world, and squigs aren't a primary form of warfare a la Pokemon.

- Get up unfazed after taking a beating that would have killed several normal men (even the girly little orks can take a giant hammer to the face and get back up)

Very weak. Present in about as many western forms of media, and there are no "little girly orks" to strengthen your case.

- Tend to have fairly extreme hairstyles (Bald is still a hairstyle)

No.

- All act like an ethnicity they're not (Green orks acting British / a bunch of white people who are inexplicably japanese)

No.

- Have an innate ability with complex technology (*GASP* I've never seen an amateur [pilot/drive/wield/fix] a [insert made up word] like that before!)

Weak.

I do believe my case is airtight. Orkz iz Anime.

I appreciate the commitment, but there's just not enough substance behind the argument that Orks are significantly anime inspired. Your only real connection is being unreasonably violent.

Archonate wrote:If people want to insist that an army is inspired by anime, it's not difficult to find "logical" justifications to do so... Doesn't mean the army is actually inspired by anime. If you 'look hard enough' ALL the armies can be anime inspired! YAY!... Even though they just aren't. Tau included.

This is a bad argument. The fact that you can make connections without warrant doesn't in any way discredit connections being made.

There isn't some conspiracy trying to create fake connections between Tau and anime. You have yet to offer a good rationale for so many people seeing similarities that you claim don't exist, and instead fall back on passive aggressive claims of their stupidity.

Wrong! Necrons are the most anime army! We follow the cliche of villain that appears out of nowhere to cause havoc, thus making a hero show up to thwart us. And the moment the fight seems to be going against us we vanish into thin air! Plus all of the minions have the reaction time of a drunken baby when it comes to emergencies. We wield the all powerful weapons yet our plans never seem to come to fruition.

Eldar do have an anime look but they are pretty well established as Space Celts.

Tau are firmly rooted in a number of oriental concepts as Orkeosaurus mentioned.

The Tau came out about the same time as anime was becoming noticeable in western popular culture.