By its third year, the Anime and Manga Studies Symposium was firmly established as a part of Anime Expo’s programming. A highlight of the 2013 schedule were the guest lectures on the history of anime and manga studies in Japan presented by Dr. Akiko Sugawa-Shimada (Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka, Japan), and on the challenges of using Japanese animation and comics to introduce American college students to Japanese culture (Masako Hamada, Villanova University). In addition to these full-length lectures, the Symposium again featured a set of shorter presentations and talks on much more focused topics, such as the use of foreign languages in manga, depictions of girls and women across several decades of Japanese animation, and the sometimes uneasy relationship between anime fans’ practices and commercial activities.
AX 2013 Anime and Manga Studies Symposium – Schedule
Thursday, July 4
Keynote Address: Christopher Kuipers (Professor, English, Indiana University of Pennsylvania)
- Translating Anime and Manga: Let Us Count the Ways
The Cutting Edge of Anime/Manga Studies
- “I Believe that I am Human. That is Proof Enough”: Battle Angel Alita: Last Order and Transhumanism
– Andrew John Smith (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) - Short Skirts and Superpowers: The Female Gaze in Contemporary Japanese Anime and Manga
– Kathryn Hemmann (University of Notre Dame)
Friday, July 5
Anime’s Girls and Women
- Shifting Images of Witch Girls in Japanese TV Anime Since 1966: From Sally to Alice and Chocolat
– Akiko Sugawa-Shimada (Kansai Gaidai University) - The Hysterical Subject of Shojo: The Dark, Twisted Heroines in Revolutionary Girl Utena and Puella Magi Madoka Magica
– Lien Fan Shen (University of Utah)
Special Guest Lecture: Masako Hamada (Villanova University)
- Teaching Japanese Culture to College Students Through the Lens of Anime and Manga
Special Presentation: Northrop Davis (University of South Carolina)
- The Best of WeMakeManga.com
Saturday, July 6
Words, Pictures and Language in Japanese Comics
- Painting Worlds with Words: CLAMP Lost in Translation
– Mia Lewis (Stanford University) - German and Spanish for Japanese Speakers: A Case Study of Linguistics Practices in the Manga Series Bleach
– Ryan Redmond (University of Arizona)
Special Guest Lecture: Akiko Sugawa-Shimada (Kansai Gaidai University)
- The History of Anime and Manga Studies in Japan
Borrowing and Changing: What and How Anime Takes from the West
- ‘Fullmetal Alchemist‘ Manga: A ‘Western’ Story Informed by Japanese Sensibilities
– Allyson Floyd - Transforming and Taming the Gothic Vampire Image in Japanese Animation and Comics
– Hazel Naylor (Chapman University)
– Audrey Will (Chapman University)
Sunday, July 7
What Anime Fans Do, and Why, and How?
- Networked Fandom: An Exploration of Online Information Practices for Anime Fans
– Alexander Leavitt (University of Southern California) - The Rise of the Cosplay Economy: Fan Creativity for Fun and Profit
– Lawrence Brenner
Feedback and Media Coverage
The 2013 Symposium was featured, with photos, on Inside Anime Expo. It was also mentioned as one of the convention’s highlights in the LA.com article about Anime Expo.