In 2000, it was becoming evident that academic interest in Japanese animation and comics was surging across different publication formats – books by single authors, edited collections such as A Century of Popular Culture in Japan and Japan Pop! The World of Japanese Popular Culture (with 9 chapters on anime/manga between them), individual chapters in collections on other, more general topics, and articles in peer-reviewed journals. It was no surprise, for example, that a “global science fiction” special issue of Science Fiction Studies would include papers on Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor II, and a review essay of “books on Japanese comics and animated films”. In addition, 2000 marked the launch of the open access journal Image [&] Narrative, at that point, only the second academic journal on comics and related topics. Its subject focus on “visual narratology and word and image studies in the broadest sense of the term” clearly included manga, and three articles on Japanese comics appeared in the inaugural issue. In total, 26 individual articles on anime/manga appeared that year, across 21 different journals. Once again, beyond the perhaps expected publications such as the Animation Journal, the International Journal of Comic Art, Japanese Studies, Japan Studies Review, and Senses of Cinema, scholarly essays on Japanese animation, Japanese comics, and related topics could also be found in the Journal of Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, and the main academic journal of the international Society for Advancement of Management.
As always, the following list will be permanently archived in the Bibliographies section of this site. If I identify any new publications, they will be added to the permanent list only, not to this post.
English-Language Books, Book Chapters, and Journal Articles on Anime/Manga, 2000
Books
Total Published: 2
Kinsella, Sharon. Adult manga: Culture and power in contemporary Japanese society. Richmond, Great Britain: Curzon.
Poitras, Gilles. Anime essentials: Every thing a fan should know. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge.
Book Chapters
Total Published: 12
Douglas Slaymaker (Ed.), A century of popular culture in Japan. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen.
Including
Desser, David. From enka to anime: Popular Japanese cinema, 1945-1990. (pp. 79-100).
Allison, Anne. Can popular culture go global?: How Japanese ‘scouts’ and ‘rangers’ fare in the US (pp. 127-154).
Ortabasi, Melek. Fictional fantasy or historical fact? The search for Japanese identity in Miyazaki Hayao’s Mononokehime (pp. 199-228).
Timothy J. Craig (Ed.), Japan pop!: Inside the world of Japanese popular culture. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
Including
MacWilliams, Mark. Japanese comic books and religion: Osamu Tezuka’s story of the Buddha (pp. 109-137).
Izawa, Eri. The romantic, passionate Japanese in anime: A look at the hidden Japanese soul (pp. 138-153).
Tsurumi, Maia. Gender roles and girls’ comics in Japan: The girls and guys of Yukan Club (pp. 171-185).
Lee, William. From Sazae-san to Crayon Shin-chan: Family anime, nostalgia, and social change in Japan (pp. 186-203).
Allison, Anne. Sailoor Moon: Japanese superheroes for global girls (pp. 259-278).
Shiraishi, Saya. Doraemon goes abroad (pp. 287-308).
Jenkins, Henry. Reception theory and audience research: The mystery of the vampire’s kiss. In Christine Gledhill & Linda Williams (Eds.), Reinventing film studies (pp. 165-182). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lefevre, Pascal. The importance of being ‘published’: A comparative study of different comics formats. In Anne Magnussen & Hans-Christian Christiansen (Eds.), Comics and culture: Analytical and theoretical approaches to comics (pp. 91-106). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.
Norris, Craig. Australian fandom of Japanese anime (animation). In I. Ang (Ed.), Alter/Asians: Asian-Australian identities in art, media and popular culture (pp. 218-231). Sydney: Pluto Press.
Articles
Total Published: 26
Allison, Anne. A challenge to Hollywood? Japanese character goods hit the US. Japanese Studies, 20(1), 67-88.
Arai, Andrea G. The “wild child” of 1990s Japan. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 99(4), 841-863.
*** OPEN ACCESS *** Ceglia, Simonetta, & Caldesi Valeri, Valerio. Maison Ikkoku. Image [&] Narrative: Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative, 1(1).
*** OPEN ACCESS *** Couch, Chris. The publication and formats of comics, graphic novels, and tankobon. Image [&] Narrative: Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative, 1(1).
*** OPEN ACCESS *** Fisch, Michael. Nation, war and Japan’s future in the science fiction anime Patlabor II. Science Fiction Studies, 27(1), 49-68.
Ito, Kinko. The manga culture in Japan. Japan Studies Review, 4, 1-16.
*** OPEN ACCESS TO FULL ISSUE ***
Jungheim, Nicholas O. Nonverbal behavior and refusals in Japanese anime: Sazae-san. Pragmatic Matters, 2(1), 9-10.
*** OPEN ACCESS TO FULL ISSUE ***
Kubo, Masakazu. Why Pokemon was successful in America. Japan Echo, 27(2), 59-62.
*** OPEN ACCESS *** Lent, John A. Animation in Asia: Appropriation, reinterpretation, and adoption or adaptation. Screening the Past, 11.
Lewis, Dana. Unlikely ambassadors: The surprising appeal of manga overseas. The Japan Foundation Newsletter, 27(3-4), 7-9, 11.
*** OPEN ACCESS TO FULL ISSUE ***
Mayfield, Milton, Mayfield, Jackie, Genestre, Alain, & Marcu, Magda. Manga and the pirates: Unlikely allies for strategic growth. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 65(3), 35-40.
*** OPEN ACCESS *** McLelland, Mark. Male homosexuality and popular culture in modern Japan. Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context, 3.
McLelland, Mark. No climax, no point, no meaning? Japanese women’s boy-love sites on the Internet. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 24(3), 274-291.
McLelland, Mark J. The love between ‘beautiful boys’ in Japanese women’s comics. Journal of Gender Studies, 9(1), 13-25.
*** OPEN ACCESS *** Mescallado, Ray. Otaku nation: Books on Japanese comics and animated films. Science Fiction Studies, 27(1), 132-146.
*** OPEN ACCESS *** Mousoulis, Bill. Physicality in Tombstone for Fireflies. Senses of Cinema, 5.
Napier, Susan J. Mononokehime: A Japanese phenomenon goes global. Persimmon: Asian Literature, Arts, and Culture, 1(1), 90-93.
Natsume, Fusanosuke. Japan’s manga culture. The Japanese Foundation Newsletter, 27(3-4), 1-6.
*** OPEN ACCESS TO FULL ISSUE ***
Ng, Wai-Ming. A comparative study of Japanese comics in Southeast Asia and East Asia. International Journal of Comic Art, 2(1), 44-56.
Pandey, Rajyashree. The medieval in manga. Postcolonial Studies, 3(1), 19-32.
*** OPEN ACCESS *** Rommens, Aarnoud. Manga story-telling/showing. Image [&] Narrative: Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative, 1(1).
Routt, William D. Stillness and style in ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’. Animation Journal, 8(1), 28-43.
Thomas, Joanne. The history of manga and anime. Pif Magazine.
*** ARCHIVED VERSION ***
Yoda, Tomiko. A roadmap to millennial Japan. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 99(4), 629-668.
Yokota, Masao. Isao Takahata: The animation director who worries about the mental health of the young generation. The Japanese Journal of Animation Studies, 2(1A), 13-18.
*** OPEN ACCESS *** Yuen, Wong Kin. On the edge of spaces: Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Hong Kong’s cityscape. Science Fiction Studies, 27(1), 1-21.