Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder

Publisher: Open Court (Chicago, IL)

ISBN: 978-0-8126-9670-7

This title, along with its companion volume Manga and Philosophy
is published in Open Court Publishing Company’s Popular Culture and Philosophy series of essay collections. The books in this series present “essays by academic philosophers exploring the meanings, concepts, and puzzles within television shows, movies, music and other icons of popular culture” aimed at general readers.

As is standard for the series, the individual essays in this volume differ significantly from what would be found in a typical academic edited collection. They are relatively short, generally no longer than 15 pages, and written in casual, non-academic style. The titles of the essays are largely not descriptive of the actual topics that they address or the specific anime that each discusses. Although sources ranging from Plato and Aristotle to Descartes, Kant, Adorno and Bakhtin to recent monographs, essay collections, and journal articles are referenced extensively throughout the collection, none of the individual essays include a works cited section, and the references are only listed in a combined bibliography for the entire volume.

Contents:

• Zimmerman, Margo Coughlin, Accidental anime (pp. xiii-xviii).

• Heinricy, Shana. Take a ride on the Catbus (pp. 3-11).

• Barber, Christie, Bryce, Mio, & Davis, Jason. The making of killer cuties (pp. 13-25).

• McBlane, Angus. Just a ghost in a shell? (pp. 27-38).

• Stevens, Benjamin. I am Tetsuo (pp. 41-54).

• Hartung, John. The CPU has its reasons (pp. 55-66).

• Steiff, Josef, Eye am (pp. 67-89)
  This chapter is a script for a sequel to the manga Magnetic Rose and its adaptation as one of the three components of the anime anthology Memories.

• Callis, Cari. Nothing that happens is ever forgotten (pp. 93-103).

• Barkman, Adam. Did Santa really die on the cross? (pp. 105-119).

• Haas, Daniel. Why nice princesses don’t always finish last (pp. 121-130).

• Melancon, Louis. Just war in no gouf (pp. 133-142).

• Peters, Ian M. The search for vengeance (pp. 143-153).

• Terjesen, Andrew. The possibility of perfection (pp. 155-167).

• Chandler, Benjamin. Alchemic heroes (pp. 171-180).

• Gibson, Alicia. Astro Boy and the Atomic Age (pp. 181-191).

• Shipman, Hal. Grave of the child hero (pp. 193-202).

• Wittkower, D.E. Human alchemy and the deadly sins of capitalism (pp. 205-217).

• Livingston, Sarah, The devil within (pp. 233-258)
  This chapter is a sequence of “blog posts” written from the point of view of a character from the anime series Gunslinger Girl.

• Penicka-Smith, Sarah. Cyborg songs for an existential crisis (pp. 261-274).

• Dinello, Dan. Cyborg goddess (pp. 275-285).

• Garnar, Andrew Wells. It’s the end of the species as we know it, and I feel anxious (pp. 287-299).

• Tamplin, Tristan D. Bide your time, and hold out hope (pp. 303-305).

Reviews

• Ada Palmer, Mechademia (Dec. 20, 2012)