Academic Anime

If you'd like to take my survey on animation fan communities, please go here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=vXBZnKCNQWL0kaUkR1kQxA_3d_3d

for all the details and the questionnaire. Have fun! ^^

Woo, I'm back from Germany! It was a great trip. I had fun and got things done at the same time. One of the things I finally got around to, on my 7-hour trans-Atlantic flights there and back, was reading the new translation of Hiroki Azuma's influential book Otaku: Japan's Database Animals.

So without further ado, ( Here are my thoughts about it. )

Next week I'm going home to the Maritimes for a nice long Christmas break. One of the benefits of not being in classes any more! (Ok, I still have to write my thesis while I'm home...sigh...) I might update, or I might not. If not, see you in the new year! ^^

I never thought when I decided to stay in school for the rest of my life that it would involve so much travelling. But if you like to travel, academia is a good place to be. Next week I'm heading to Germany to give a presentation at the University of Heidelberg's Exzellenzcluster on Asia and Europe in a Global Context. (I like the word "Exzellenzcluster" a lot. I like the people in the Exzellenzcluster even more!) Also invited is a scholar of East Asian pop culture, Dr. Chua Beng Huat, who will give a lecture and lead our workshop on soft power and media.

I hope this doesn't sound like boasting, but I'm really excited and a little astonished to be doing things like this. When I started studying anime, I thought I'd be pretty much on my own. But now I discover that there are all kinds of people studying all kinds of popular culture across the world. Sure, I always knew that in the abstract. But once you actually go meet people from countries that were only names on a map before, and find that you have some very different experiences but also some common points of reference...it changes things.

It's all so fresh to me, this global aca-fan community. It's both like and unlike non-academic fandom. I find in general that academic gatherings -even about pop culture- involve a lot more career-building maneuvering: what will look good on my cv? Can I get a publishing deal out of this? And so on. But in the end, academics are also a bunch of geeks who like to sit around and argue about everything from human rights and international relations to the relative popularity of Korean and Japanese idol singers. The difference is more in the certain kinds of language you have to use (fan and academic jargon) and also in the restrictions on who can join (because face it, university degrees cost a whole lotta money.)

Well, maybe I'll write more about my actual experiences in Germany when I get back. Or maybe not. I'm always unsure of what I should write about here. Professionalism is a difficult discourse to handle when it comes to new media. What is proper to blog about? What will hurt my prospects? How public or private is this writing? Well, I don't know. In the meantime, I hope I can make a worthwhile contribution at the workshop!

As promised last week, are some thoughts on Genshiken and fandom. I'd write more of a preamble, but I need to get some lunch and start reading up on comics/manga history. I'm trying to sneak a half-chapter on anti-colonialism and comics into my thesis. We shall see how that goes. In the meantime...

( Genshiken )

What a difference a week makes! I've got everything I need for my study-in-Japan application, I finished the rough draft of a thesis chapter, and today is the day to live it up, geek style.

This year, I'm kicking it off with a con -the Central Canada Comic-Con, featuring (among other awesome guests) Adam West, Dirk Benedict, Julie Newmar, and Peter Mayhew. I'm hoping Adam West will dance, just because it would be both funny and scary. And that's what Halloween is all about.

Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to go in costume. My costume this year is a sort of Victorian riding outfit, and the train of the skirt is too long to wear in a crowd without getting stepped on. Also, I'm wearing it to a house party later so I don't want to be all sweaty and smelly by the time I get there. I am not that kind of otaku. ^^

Anyways, no review today. I just watched the first season of Genshiken, but I don't have my thoughts together on it yet. Next time, Gadget, next time! Til then, have a happy Halloween, everybody.

Arrrgh, stress attack. I just found out that I'm eligible to apply for a Canadian government summer study in Japan program, but the application is due in a little over a week (Nov. 3) and I need a Japanese advisor. I mailed the contact I'd made for my MEXT app, but am not hopeful of hearing back in time. Any suggestions of universities/profs in Japan who are friendly and open to pop-culture-researching exchange students would be really welcome.

My mood is not improved by the steely grey skies outside my window. It's a melancholy time of year, after the grass is yellowed but before the snow. So here's a melancholy kind of anime: the 2009 Academy Award winner for Best Animated Short Film, ( La Maison En Petits Cubes )

Last spring I went to Tokyo, where I was supposed to attend a conference of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. The conference was drastically cut down because of fears about swine flu (boo), but I had lots of extra time to ramble around Tokyo (yay!), and I appreciated what events the SCMS did have a lot. Still, one cut to the program I really regret now was a showing of Jin-Roh. I rented it when I got back to Canada, and...wow. It would have been amazing on a big screen, and so interesting to talk about afterwards. I still want to talk about it. So here are my thoughts!

( Beware of wolves and spoilers )

So the spy-bots at Amazon that track my every purchase have sent me a message. They want me to know that Thomas Lamarre has a new book coming out on October 16th, called The Anime Machine: A Media Theory of Animation. Thanks, spy-bots! You know me so well. Too well...

Seriously, though, I'm excited to read this book. Along with anime, I'm also a bit of a philosophy/lit theory geek, and Lamarre knows his theory. So today, instead of posting an anime review, I'll post some notes I took on one of his articles, "Otaku Movement" (2006), as a primer to the book. If this kind of stuff interests you, you might want to get the book -or get a library to order it, it costs many dollars. Would Lamarre endorse scanning and uploading it as a form of theory-otaku labour, I wonder? ^_^

Book is here (Canadian link)

Notes are ( under ye cut )

From cyberpunk to historical drama, this week's lazy pulling-from-my-reviews-file post is about the two Barefoot Gen movies put out by Madhouse in the 1980's.

But before I begin, a shout out to the School Girls and Mobile Suits conference hosted by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I went last weekend, and it was amazing to talk to so many people who are passionate about watching, studying and creating anime and manga. Plus, I got to eat a funnel cake! I always wondered what a "funnel cake" was, and now I know. It's deliciousness with icing sugar on top. ^^

Now, on with the wartime drama. Yay?!

( Barefoot Gen )

Oh god, this poor neglected blog! Between my thesis and my fiction, I just don't have time to write dedicated posts like I keep meaning to. But I do write short (for me!) reviews/notes on all the anime and anime criticism that I come across. So maybe I'll just start posting those here every week. I can't say they're any good to anyone else (don't look here for plot summaries!), but at least it's something.

Starting alphabetically, then, here are some thoughts on Appleseed, cyberpunk, and heteronormative romance.

( Appleseed )

Whoa, it's been a long time since I posted here. It's hard to want to write about anime casually when your job is, in fact, writing about anime. I've noticed people friending this account every once in a while, but since I couldn't tell if they really meant to friend a poor comatose blog like mine, I never did log back in until today. If you're reading this and you want me to friend you back, leave a comment and let me know!

At any rate, the real reason I'm bringing this thing back to life is that I need a short, tidy URL (one that actually fits on a business card) to direct people to an animation questionnaire I'm doing as part of my thesis research.

I realize that there might be some methodological problems around using this blog to point people towards my academic survey. For instance, I've said I like the show Kino no Tabi here; maybe that will make you more likely to say you like it too, since you know it's an answer I would approve of. This is the problem of "social desirability." It plagues researchers who hope to get the most objective, accurate data possible from their studies.

Luckily, though, I'm a qualitative, feminist sort of researcher. I don't think it's possible or even preferable to be totally "objective" in the old scientific (patriarchal, Eurocentric) sense. My relationships with fellow fans who take the survey are just as important to the study as the "hard data" I gather. I want to share stories, not extract formulaic answers. I'm not going to go so far as to post my own answers to the survey, but I don't think it can hurt for you to know a little about me based on what I've written in the past. So read back, or don't. Just take the survey linked in the first post of this page!

So much for writing once a week! I took an intensive Japanese class and then a road trip across Canada. But that didn't stop me from watching anime! So here are a few quick thoughts on a very beautiful series: Kino no Tabi, or Kino's Journey.

( On-Ramp This Way )

Have you ever wanted to see Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set in a floating fantasy city, with pegasi, politics and cross-dressing? It's not exactly a dream come true for me (where's my Dorian Gray manga, dammit?!), but after watching the first five episodes of Studio Gonzo's new anime adaptation of the Eng Lit classic, Romeo x Juliet, I have to admit it's not half bad.

( An iris by any other name... )

This is more of a post-it note than a post: just announcements of a few projects that are (as they say on certain boards) "relevant to my interests," and have been added to my list of things to watch for with drooling anticipation.

The latest news off ANN has it that studio BONES'(Ouran, Wolf's Rain) next movie will feature the vocal talents of Maaya Sakamoto (Hitomi in Escaflowne), Kouichi Yamadera (Spike in Cowboy Bebop) and Mamoru Miyano (Kiba in Wolf's Rain), among other famous seiyuu and J-pop stars. It's a samurai drama called Sword of the Stranger, and may just be filled with awesomeness. More here

Also coming soon to theatres in Japan is Genius Party, a set of shorts by Shoji Kawamori (Escaflowne manga-ka and animator), Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop), and many more directors/animators from films like Akira and Steamboy. And if that weren't enough, it will be further graced by -brace yourselves- new Yoko Kanno music! As usual, the ANN has the goods.

Woo, classes are over! Now, instead of spending my days firmly moored to the computer writing papers, I am firmly moored to the computer writing in journals and watching anime. So here's the news:

-Anyone looking to be utterly baffled and occasionally disturbed (and who isn't?) should watch Tetsuo Sato's "Cat Soup." Think Salvador Dali, only with cats in human clothes travelling through the circus/ocean/desert meeting elephants made of water and freaky fat guys in bondage gear. It's on YouTube in three parts, and is in serious need of psychoanalysis if anyone is so theoretically inclined. (Are there any Kristevans in the house?)

Rose of Versailles SPOILER:
-I made it through all 40 episodes of historical melodrama, and I see that my early intuitions about Oscar's non-subversive female-to-male cross-dressing were somewhat justified. She doesn't get with any women like my favourite revolutionary girl, Utena, since Marie Antoinette all but drops out of the picture in the second half. Instead, she finally admits her hitherto unrealized love for her stableboy Andre, and then immediately cedes all decision-making capabilities to him, because she is his "wife" and so (naturally!) only wants to follow his every word. Gah. But on the plus side, she does keep her male uniform in clinches with Andre -their relationship doesn't depend on her suddenly finding herself in a dress (cough*Haruhi*cough). And she also goes on to die heroically fighting with the peasants after Andre is killed. It might be that she's just upholding the worst of both worlds ("masculine" militarism AND "feminine" subservience in one convenient package!), but it might be more destabilizing than that, too. At any rate, good for looking at gender stuff, if you can get past the hideous 70's art.

-I am hopelessly in love with the song "Time Doing Time," off of Yoko Kanno's latest album for the Korean film Elegant World. It can be heard here. I also recommend "Tiny Painting," "Pathetique," and "Green Man," but avoid "Darling, Darling" at all cost.

And that's all for now! More when I get Ergo Proxy 2 and 3 this weekend, or when I manage to synthesize all the reading I've been doing on globalization theory into something coherent.

I also just finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist. For what it is, it's not a bad series, actually. It has a little more character development than your average boy's adventure series, and an interesting twist at the end (which I will not spoil here). It doesn't entirely get over the prevalent Japanese ideology that if you work hard and stick by your family, you will be rewarded in equal measure, entrenched economic disparities be damned. But with the "equivalent exchange" debate it does call that theme into question, at least.

And now, I most go work hard on papers, so that someday I will be rewarded for all the effort I put in. ^^

I gots me some live action Sailor Moon! I don't know when I'll watch it, because the end of term is coming up and I'm also going to a conference. But I hear it's weird and hilarious, so I'll post about it here as I get the chance.

I've been reading theory blogs like I cite for the last hour or so, and I'm now entirely disillusioned about my ability to say anything intelligent, original or theoretically acute in this blog. So now is the perfect time to write about Rose of Versailles, a series that requires you to stop thinking and give in to sheer melodramatic emotion (a good theorist might say "affect"). This is one of those shows that operate like a bag of cheesies. You don't know why you eat them, but for some reason, you just keep dipping compulsively into that bag. Apparently the Japanese had the same experience, because this show provoked a big "Berubara" craze in the '70's. It's the ultimate pop culture experience, and I tonight I'll (fail to) figure out how it works.

( Presenting: Rose of Versailles )

Whoa, has it been two weeks since that last post? I guess I haven't had much to say. Lately, my interest has been diverted into a particular style of black and white silent film (namely, German expressionism), and that, combined with a travel-inhibiting cold snap, has meant not much new in my anime world.

As for what's old in my anime world, I started re-watching Revolutionary Girl Utena this week. I know the "our hero duels various classmates" storyline is repetitive, and the animation is often limited, but I actually like the flatness and stylization of it. To me, the cyclical plots and repeated stock scenes (as annoying as they can be) combine to make something ritualistic or theatrical. I admit, it's partly making do with a small budget and partly a saleable formula (after all, this is from Kunihiko Ikuhara, the director of Sailor Moon). But he takes these limitations and exaggerates them deliberately for dramatic effect. And I mean dramatic: the show is self-reflexively a sort of animated theatre. Even straightforward shots of the character's faces are framed with elaborate borders, recalling the ornate proscenium arches of the classical European stage, and also (what with those cartoony spinning roses) the frame of the tv screen. And then of course there are the wonderful shadow-girl plays, which are often compared to a Greek chorus or -less often but more aptly- to bunraku puppet theatre.

When you add this to the show's gender issues, it gets really interesting. Historically, Japanese theatre and cross-dressing go hand-in-hand, from noh and kabuki to Takarazuka. Traditional? Conservative? Maybe, or maybe not. In her book Gender Trouble, Judith Butler talks about how gender isn't inherent or natural, but is created and reinforced in our everyday performances of dress, gesture, speech and acts that make up a "repeated stylization of the body." She thinks cross-dressing is subversive because it can show how gender is performative; if a male can "be" female in female clothes, those roles clearly aren't fixed. (Well, I'm oversimplifying. But hey, repetition is never perfect replication.) Now, institutionalized cross-dressing in a limited dramatic context, like we see in Japan, might be less subversive than Butler would have it. But in Utena, her repetition of the Prince role does change her relationships with everyone else, especially Anthy. It opens up possibilities. I'm not sure how revolutionary it finally comes off, but there is definitely something here to wonder about.

Well, these are just some preliminary thoughts. I'll come back to this when I've re-watched the end. Also, right now I'm downloading Rose of Versailles, a classic 70's anime that had a big influence on Utena, which might change my ideas. And I want to say something about Utena's cross-dressing successors, like Haruhi in the wonderfully parodic Ouran High School Host Club. I guess I found lots to say after all!

Oh yhea, I forgot I wanted to post this. Here's Sony's peek at Paprika, Satoshi Kon's latest film. I can't wait to see it!