Resources

College Classes on Anime/Manga

Colleges/universities around the U.S. have been offering classes on Japanese animation and Japanese comics for close to 20 years now. This directory compiles many of these classes, their course descriptions, profiles, syllabi/reading lists, and, as possible, any coverage they receive in the media.

*** NEW ***
Spring 2025 classes

The Core Journals of Anime/Manga Studies
A guide to the major English-language academic journals that publish scholarly papers on anime, manga, the activities and practices of anime/manga fans around the world, and other related topics

Academic Programs

[Note: These programs focus on critical and analytical approaches, not on creating comics or animation]

Japan

– Animation Media (Graduate School of Arts program, Tokyo Polytechnic University)
– Manga (M.A./Ph.D., Graduate School of Manga, Kyoto Seika University)

U.S.

– Animation Studies (B.A., Film & Media Arts minor, The University of Utah)

– Animation Studies (undergraduate certificate, Texas Tech University)

– Comics and Cartoon Studies (undergraduate minor, University of Oregon)

– Comics Studies  (undergraduate/postgraduate certificate, Portland State University)

– Comics Studies (undergraduate / professional certificate, San Diego State University)

– Comics Studies (undergraduate minor, San Francisco State University)

– Comics Studies immersion (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Other Countries

– Comics and Graphic Novels (master’s program, University of Dundee, UK)

– Comics Studies (master’s program, University of East Anglia, UK)

Academic Projects

– Center for Comics Studies (Henderson State University)

– Center for Comics Studies (San Diego State University)

– Comics and Graphic Novels: The Politics of Form (University of Oxford)

– Comics Research Hub (University of the Arts London)

– Comics Studies Graduate Research Cluster (University of Washington)

– International Manga Research Center (Kyoto Seika University)

– Scottish Centre for Comics Studies (University of Dundee)

– Women’s Manga Research Project (Chikushi Jogakuen University)

Libraries/Museums

– Kitakyushu Manga Museum

– Kyoto International Manga Museum

– Suginami Animation Museum

– Tokyo International Manga Library (Meiji University)

– Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subculture (Meiji University)

Societies/Associations/Organizations

– Anime and Manga Research Circle

– Comics Studies Society

– Japan Society for Animation Studies

– Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association
– Animation subject area
– Asian Popular Culture subject area
– Comics and Comic Art subject area

– Society for Animation Studies
– Anime Studies Special Interest Group

– Society for Cinema and Media Studies
– Comic Studies Scholarly Interest Group

– Society for Comics Studies

– Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation