Anime and Manga
According to Stewart (2013), "Japanese culture is becoming increasingly popular within Western society”, particularly anime, cosplay and games. In the comic world of Japan, comic books are called manga, and anime means that animation cartoon. Manga is a visual narrative to gratify readers through the capability of its plot and characters, and many animation, movie and computer game stories are from manga. In the academic and art fields, fan culture, the majority of visual images, fictional characters plots and signs are the most attractive features in anime and manga. This subculture is popular among teenagers and young adults and also creates the unique fandom activity - cosplay (Chen, 2007).
What is Cosplay
Cosplay or kosupure (Japanese) is a combination words which means costume and play or role play (Rahman et al., 2012; Peirson-Smith, 2013; Winge, 2006). In the academic and popular culture field, the origin of cosplay is from Japan, that is similar to western masquerade (Chen, 2007). It is a performance art that fans dressing up and performing the roles as from comic books, movies or anime (Gn, 2011; Chen, 2007). These enthusiasts or fans of role play are called cosplayers or cosers (Ziran, 2006). Through costume, they can transform with the characters they want to become. For them, “costume therefore is a kind of magical instrument” (Peirson-Smith, 2013). In the comic convention, it not only can see the comics, anime, fictions or games, but also often
Introduction: As long as there have been civilizations, there have been stories, myths that are told to children. These stories are usually the basis of the cartoons characters except some which are from creator’s imagination. This story telling is a means of not only comforting and amusing a child, but of teaching the child the societal norms of their nation. These are memorized by children and remembered forever. Children idolize their favourite character, the character they have most in common with and are best able to identify with, and try to emulate that character’s
In the first chapter of The Rhetorical Power of Pop Culture by Deanna Sellnow, the author defines popular culture and explains the importance of studying the subject. Sellnow begins with a short explanation of ethics to convey that the influence popular culture has is not always used ethically. Secondly, Sellnow compares the different contexts of culture, elitist and diversity, to explain what popular culture is not. Popular culture is compiled of everyday things that influence people through subtle messages such as what is appropriate and inappropriate, good and bad, and so on.
Western portrayals of Asian women in media have often been stereotypical, one-dimensional characters such as the submissive and docile Lotus Blossom, the strong and domineering, but deceitful Dragon Lady, or the Asian hooker who is used as nothing more than a mere prop for the male gaze (Kuo, Rachel). However, the Western audience has also been exposed to other portrayals of Asian women through another form of entertainment called anime. Anime, or Japanese animation, has many genres that are named according to the target audience it is made for. For shounen, meaning male adolescents, is largely about action-packed adventures and accomplishing a goal or defeating an enemy (Eisenbeis, Richard). The shounen genre, however, despite its target audience that is
Cartoons have been use for many years and its modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or mock different things. John Backderf, known as Derf, is a famous and recognized cartoonist “who works out of an unheated, attic studio in his Cleveland home, grew up in a rural, small town in Ohio and went to high school with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer” (“Bio”). He drew a cartoon in 1995 in which he presents an implicit theory about how and why things evolve to be “cool”. This paper will elaborate on explaining what Derf’s theory actually is, an interpretation of the meaning presented in the cartoon, and a fad or style that follows Derf’s theory.
Superhero movies have been on the rise lately. These movies are often looked at as entertainment for people who play Dungeons and Dragons and are simply mindless pleasure; however, this is not the case. The reason behind the popularity of superhero movies is more than just the want of the common comic book reader. The superhero movie industry has made a sharp incline in popularity; in fact there are more superhero movies now than ever before. A website called Fights, Tights and Movie Nights listed all of the superhero movies made since the 1980’s by year and these were their findings. In the 1980’s an average of three to four super movies came out a year. In the 1990’s these movies were made on average five to six times per year. In the 2000’s the movies doubled to 12-13 produced on average each year. Today, 2010’s, the average number of superhero movies has again doubled in size with it now resting at twenty-two to twenty-three superhero movies made on average each year. The drastic increase of the number of superhero movies leaves the average movie attendee wondering why they are seeing this spike of superhero movies. The increase of superhero movies can be contributed to a few key factors: the advances of technology in the movie industry, the movie genre’s adaption to be socially relevant, and the characters now possessing more humanistic qualities (Fights…).
In the essay, “Secret Skin: An Essay in Unitard Theory”, American novelist, Michael Chabon, disputes that superheroes utilize their costumes in hopes of ‘concealing’ background knowledge of: who they are, how they obtain their abilities or why they adopted their alter ego (Chabon par. 28). Chabon develops his claim by arguing that people transform instead of escaping reality. Chabon believes that costumes can make a person develop into a stronger, more esteemed version of themselves. His purpose is to emphasize costumes do not keep identities anonymous but are used to display a physical representation of a person’s inner being.
Manga and anime are a huge part in American and the Japanese culture. Anime and Manga were once used for war, propaganda, and recruitment, but is now used for entertainment and leisure. Anime was not just created by one man but by many working together. Anime has had a long line of history causing it to become more and more loved throughout the years. It not only caused Japan a great deal of money and working jobs but it also influenced more people to see the brighter things in life. Manga was not only just important in anime’s history but it was the cause of it. The time line of huge success in anime started in 1914 with the first manga being created.
Comics, a medium used to express ideas via images and pictures, can be traced back to the cave period when humans communicated ideas and thoughts using paintings and pictures. However, as humans began to use words to communicate with one another, paintings and pictures as a mode of communication took a backseat. They began to be used only for visual impact whenever needed. In course of time, other than oral communication, written communication and print media were considered effective means of communication. Various genre like novels, poems, short stories, essays were all realized and accepted by scholars as resources to be used when educating children and adults. Inspite of the many famous comics – be it
My Little Pony is a show aimed to attract an audience of young girls years two-eleven but has also caught the attention of males of all ages around the world by letting them connect to the characters and to the lessons the show addresses. It became a large online community to all males who had an interest in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and held their first Bronycon in 2011. The annual Bronycon typically grows holding more and more people each year. Bronies have become a subculture along with being a large counterculture in today’s society; it is a subculture because they are put into a smaller group within a large group. Bronies is a counterculture because they are unlike the social norm; they face judgment and negativity by others because many perceive My Little Pony to being a girl show and that it is not manly for a guy to watch. Bronies do not always receive acceptance for expressing the feeling and
In recent years, animated programs have dominated the world of film and TV in both America and Japan. These programs, known as cartoons and anime, are some of the most popular forms of entertainment today. Anime and cartoon shows, such as One Piece and Family Guy, have been running for decades and are very well known among society. Animated films such as Disney’s The Lion King and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away have also thrived and even surpassed animated television shows in some instances. Both American and Japanese animation industries have flourished, and their cartoons and animes continue to grow in popularity. However, similarities and differences between the two soon arise when compared closely; these observations are often what lead fans to prefer one style over the other as well as shape pop culture.
Pocky, Anime, manga, kanji. Have you heard of any of these? If not… where have you been? All around us teenagers, children, and even adults are being drawn into Japanese culture through TV, books, and even food. Japanese comics, called manga, take up more and more space on American bookshelves, and they've infused new life into the publishing industry. Japanese animation, anime, is on more and more movies and TV screens and influencing popular toys and games.
Japan, that strange and exotic land in the east, has a complex and interesting history that has shaped and molded its culture into a very unique society today. Of course their customs have influenced their entertainment, especially television and movies. In a day and age where information is free to all through the internet and reliable postal systems these television shows, movies, toys, and comics have made their way all over the world. The reception of
This paper will be discussing the cosplay, or costume play, subculture. In this paper, it will also go over who makes up this particular subculture, what it takes to be a cosplayer, what this subculture does for society, how society sees those who participate in it, how and when it came to be, most famous cosplay costumes, and what this subculture provides for those who take part in it.
From past generations until this present time there were many featured anime here in the Philippines. There are anime that are shown on televisions, some on DVD’s and some are brought to life by the so called “cosplayers”. We can visualize the evolution of Japanese animation from time to time just by noticing the effects, the drawing styles, and mostly the stories.
Anime, is a term that is used to represent Japanese animation (Lamarre 1). It is a combination of both form of content and form of expression. However, there seems to be more emphasis on form of content rather than expression when discussing anime. Form of content includes the genre, story and narrative while form of expression includes the animation and the style. Form of content can be described as what the audience is being shown and the message that is conveyed. On the other hand, form of expression emphasizes how the animation is shown and as a means for the animation to be shown. In this paper, the first episode of the television anime series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (also known as Bishōjo Senshi Sērāmūn in Japanese), will be