One idea that I had for a long time was to write an article on the U.S. in anime for the fourth of July. I suppose I’m sort of doing it, but a combination of real-life and other factors prevented me from putting everything I wanted to into this. More importantly though, I’m currently disinclined to think that it’s even a good idea.
There are passing references to the United States in many anime, of course. In Evangelion, we are a holdout against a global conspiracy, albeit for economic reasons, when Gendo Ikari describes America as allergic to unemployment. In FLCL, the U.S. is merely used as an “elsewhere” for an unseen character. In the somewhat lower-budget Z-Mind, the U.S. is a source for a military budget and perspective. None of these is particularly insightful to either the U.S. or Japan’s view of it. However, this should not be terribly surprising, as many anime aren’t even all that insightful about Japan.