When, in 1999, Susan Napier published her study Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation, a scholarly monograph of that kind was both unique and unexpected. It was also foundational to the field of anime studies – and paved the way for the easily several dozen full-length books on anime/manga that have come out since – titles such as Anime: A Critical Introduction, Anime’s Identity: Performativity and Form Beyond Japan, Leiji Matsumoto: Essays on the Manga and Anime Legend, and Rewriting History in Manga: Stories for the Nation. Perhaps predictably, the focus of many of these titles has gotten progressively more narrow – some recent examples are monographs on “The Moral Narratives of Hayao Miyazaki“, and on “Japan’s Graphic Memoirs of Brain and Mental Health“. This is of course not to dismiss these more narrowly focused studies, but rather, to argue that the field would also benefit from books that were perhaps broader in scope.
And, as it turned out, just last year, Cambridge University Press, one of the world’s most prestigious and recognizable academic publishers, met this need – by publishing The Cambridge Companion to Manga and Anime – a collection of 19 short essays, each around 10 pages long, that would serve as “a lively and accessible introduction, exploring the local contexts of manga and anime production, distribution, and reception in Japan, as well as the global influence and impact of these versatile media”.
The emphasis in the Companion is not as much on specific representative or prominent anime/manga titles (or directors/creators)as it is on exploring some of the major general characteristics of the two media forms. To this end, some of the topics of the individual chapters include “graphic style in manga and anime”, “voice acting for anime”, the nature of the relationships between “manga editors and their artists”, and a survey of “anime fandom in Japan and beyond”.
On February 19, Hosei University (Tokyo, Japan), will host a special round-table discussion bringing together the book’s editor and several authors of the individual chapters. The goal of the discussion will be to consider applications of the Companion to classroom instruction, and future perspectives in anime and manga studies, and it will also be accessible online.
Participants:
Dr. Jaqueline Berndt, Professor, Japanese Language and Culture, Stockholm University
– editor, and author, Introduction: Two Media Forms in Correlation and Premodern Roots of Story-Manga?
Dr. Akiko Sugawa-Shimada, Professor, Urban Innovation, Yokohama National University
– author, Anime Fandom in Japan and Beyond
Dr. Patrick W. Galbraith, Associate Professor, International Communication, Senshu University
– author, Manga Readerships, Imaginative Agency, and the “Erotic Barrier”
Dr. Bryan Hikari Hartzheim, Associate Professor, Culture & Communication, Waseda University
– author, Genre Networks and Anime Studios
Dr. Stevie Suan, Associate Professor, Global and Interdisciplinary Studies, Hosei University
– author, Character Acting in Anime
Location:
Hosei University, Ichigaya Campus
Ouchiyama Building, Room Y401
Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
[Additional Details and Registration]
