Timothy goes to School is Anime in Disguise (#1)

"Us?  Anime?"
"YUKYUKYUKYUKYUK."

Yeah, I just went there.
This is probably the weirdest claim I've ever made on "Here's an Idea!".  Who the heck would think a children's cartoon about talking animals is Japanese animation for teenagers and adults?  Yet again, keep in mind that this is only a theory: I'm making assumptions and speculation based purely on objective facts I've observed.  None of this is true, per se, so remember that!  I'll also be covering this topic over a number of articles because I'm long-winded and a lot of research went into this.

Timothy goes to School was adapted as a 2000-2001 cartoon series targeted at children ages four to nine. It's based on books written by Rosemary Wells, an author from New York famous for her Yoko line of books and for creating Max and Ruby, another popular, Canadian-animated children's program derived from the American books.  You can't explain that.

So what is with this weird accusation of a Canadian children's cartoon actually being Japanese animation?  I've been doing a bit of research over the past week, and I've found five main areas where this show matches Anime styles almost to a tee.  In this article, I'll outline these ideologies as examples to back up my claim.

This is less an article to break some sort of "mind blown" kind of story, and more to demonstrate the collectiveness of media around the world.  Keep that in mind.

There are still details I laugh about in this show. Like, why the hell
does Yoko have a random paper bag full of pipe-cleaners with her?

REASON #1: 

STORY STRUCTURE

Wells' Yoko line of picture books were the inspiration for Timothy goes to School.  The first first book in the series, simply titled Yoko, is actually the exact same story and title as the second episode of the TV series.  In the book, the story focuses on a Japanese kitten named Yoko who moves to a new town to attend Hilltop school.  At lunchtime, Yoko is faced with discrimination while eating her sushi because her classmates think it's weird.

In the TV series, it's focused a bit more on the class becoming aware of their prejudices and making Yoko feel better.  In the book, however, it focuses more on Mrs. Jenkins, the teacher.  She sees the discrimination going on herself, and a two-page spread in the book is dedicated to her staying at the school all night, trying to figure out a way to make Yoko more welcome at her school.  It's a lovely book!

The book is less about facing racism and more about a teacher dealing with racism in her own classroom.  That's how a proper story is told, and although the gears are shifted a little for the TV show version, the original books are X-mas Tree stories.

Remember this?

In the case of Yoko, her own coping at school is the Trunk.  Mrs. Jenkins' perspective and the transitions to Yoko's home are the Branches.  Mind you, it's a short and very simple X-mas Tree, but is one nonetheless!  And what media is fairly popular for this structure?

Hmmm, I wonder...

With Wells' inherent prior research done on Japanese culture, I think we can safely guess which one had more influence on the adapting of the TV show.

See, children's TV shows sometimes follow a X-mas tree structure of writing because of the characters and transitions thrown into shows nowadays.  X-mas tree stories are great when paced well, but the majority of the time, children's cartoons actually aren't fully written in this way.  Most of the time, they're written as Focus pieces.  What's a Focus piece, you ask?

Yay, time for another diagram!

Ladies, gentlemen, and ethnically-sensitive felines - this is the Focus structure.

What is a focus piece?  I'll outline the components.  Keep in mind that my classroom material was a bit more advanced than this (not by much), but I simply gave some terms new names to make it simpler:

• the first part is a face.  That's not a joke, either.  Remember in my previous article when I said the LSSQ structure used in Chobits was for a Scene-Setter?  In this structure, you establish the person you'll be focusing your writing on, not on a scenario.  This technique is called "Face-First", as the illustration shows!
• The neck of the piece, or Nut, is establishing the character in a certain situation.  This situation is usually symbolic or representative of a larger issue.  It is also this structure's version of the Scene-Setter.  In terms of children's programming, where teaching morals is borderline-required, this piece of the structure is vital.
• A number of Branches are attached to one another directly for the sake of supporting details.  In more informative pieces, this is where research and statistics would go, but for a TV show, rising actions lending themselves to the Nut would be put here as forms of anecdotal evidence.  Have I ruined your childhood yet?
• The green triangle at the bottom is storytelling code for an Anecdote.  This is where the central story goes that proves the issue the Nut established and the branches emphasized.

In most cases, a typical TV show example of Focus would also end with an LSSQ as a means of reflecting on the lesson learned.  Anyone who's seen any TV show focusing on morals knows what I mean.

...Okay, now I think I've ruined your childhood!

And if not before, then definitely now.

This story structure is complicated, but can be used in almost any writing situation.  Need an essay that needs to be written?  Focus is perfect, even for university theses - you'll just need to loop the structure a few times.  Cover letters and lab reports look great in this structure as well.  Wink, wink.

One weird thing Focus structure does, however, is connect the branches directly together, which is a huge no-no in X-mas tree storytelling.  This is why a lot of children's programs suck nowadays: these two styles are mixed together, where the writers try to cramp an entire x-mas tree story into the branched section of a Focus piece.  Great idea, professional, well-paid writers - you're putting a story within a story and being needlessly complicated.


When the stories conflict, the premise falls apart and writers sacrifice content for more transitions, and when that happens, producers shoehorn in bad punchlines and one-liners to serve as filler content, and by the time that's happening, anyone over the age of 10 knows how awful and messy the show is.  Johnny Test, George of the Jungle, and Iggy Arbuckle are always my go-to examples of Focus stories that were attempting to use a X-mas tree structure, and they're awful.

Legends say if you watch a full post-CN episode of Johnny Test, 
your face does this and stays forever.  Forever.

Timothy goes to School, on the other hand, is a very well-paced, organized TV show for only having the syndicated, 11-minute episodes.  Every story feels completely from beginning to end.  It perfectly integrates other stories to accompany the X-mas tree structure it uses.  Not only is it odd for a show of this genre to use such a structure in the first place, but it dares to experiment with the style as well.

From a mechanical standpoint in the writing, you can't copy Anime much more closely than that.