Anime: a Comparative Media-Theoretical Approach to Anime As a Specific Medium
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２０１７年度（平成２９年度） 博士論文 “Playing” Anime: A Comparative Media-Theoretical Approach to Anime as a Specific Medium 2017 年 9 月 京都精華大学大学院 マンガ研究科研究生 217RM16 チャルク ベッディリ・セレン TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………...………………………….. 4 CHAPTER 1 - GAMELIKE NARRATIVES AND NARRATIVE PLAY ……...……………. 16 A. The Age of Gamelike Realism: Living in a Gameworld …………………………...……. 17 B. Gamelike Narratives ……………………………………………………………………… 24 • Reinstating a Timeline ………………………………………………………………….. 32 C. Playing Narratives ………………………………………………………………………… 44 • Combinatory Play ……………………………………………………………………….. 58 CHAPTER 2 - ANIME AS A FORM OF PLAY ………………………………………………… 65 A. A Balance of Extremes: Too Much Un/Predictability ……………………………………… 65 • Calculability, Causality and Predictability: Games vs. Gamelike Narratives ……...…….. 65 • Conventions and Predictability in Gamelike Narratives ……………………......……….. 72 • Temporary Limits of Action and Predictability in Anime ………………………………... 76 B. Finding Freedom in Limited Animation ……………………………………………………. 80 • Unpredictability and Dynamism in Anime (Part I): Stillness That Functions ……...……. 80 • Unpredictability and Dynamism in Anime (Part II): Stillness Negated …………………... 94 C. Playing Anime ………………………………………………………………………………. 100 • Anime Unlimited ……………………………………………………...………………….. 100 2 • Animetic Playspace ………………………………………………………...…………….. 106 • Putting Theory Into Perspective ………………………………………………………...... 113 CHAPTER 3 - SAME WORLD, DIFFERENT MEDIA ……………………………………….... 115 • Are Video Games Gamelike? …………………………………………………………...... 118 • Gamelike Video Games …………………………………………………………………... 127 • One Environment, Different Media ……………………………………………………..... 132 A. Sword Art Online - Light Novels …………………………………………………………... 133 B. Sword Art Online – Manga …………………………………………………........................ 141 C. Sword Art Online - Anime vs. Games .................................................................................... 149 • A Final Note: On Ambiguity and Hybridity ........................................................................ 154 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 157 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 163 3 INTRODUCTION In order to efficiently approach the anime-manga culture that is addressing a wide audience both in and outside Japan today, it is necessary to develop a multi-faceted understanding of the media in question. The critical discourses born in Japan provide one of the most influential perspectives in this respect. The detachment from representational realism and grand narratives, observed in these media as well as in light novels, is taken up by renowned names such as Eiji Ōtsuka, Gō Itō, and Hiroki Azuma.1 The theories developed by these three critics in relation to the narrative production, marketing, and consumption environments mostly in Japan, indeed do present the opportunity to comprehend the attraction of many elements that may seem cliché to those who are not familiar with the media in question.2 It can be argued that prominent narrative production and marketing strategies, along with the consumption environments, models, and the practices they have given birth to, have brought different media closer to each other. The digital technologies widely employed in the areas of communication and entertainment have surely speeded up this process. In Japan, media mix projects3 connect anime, manga, 1 Throughout this thesis, Japanese names will also be given in first name-family name order, with which English reading audience is presumably more familiar. 2 For the time being, these authors’ writings remain largely untranslated into English. For a detailed comparative summary of their influential works, see Zoltan Kacsuk’s article “From ‘Game-like Realism’ to the ‘Imagination Oriented Aesthetic’: Reconsidering Bourdieu’s Contribution to Fan Studies in the Light of Japanese Manga and Otaku Theory,” which highlights how the Japanese discourse on “AMO (anime-manga-otaku) culture” can contribute to the Western sociological discourse on fan cultures. For more on the potential contribution of Ōtsuka and Azuma’s writings to the discussions of realism in animation, see Marc Steinberg’s “Realism in the Animation Media Environment: Animation Theory from Japan.” 3 In Marc Steinberg’s definition, “[t]he anime media mix within popular discourse refers to two intersecting phenomena: the translation or deployment of a single work, character, or narrative world across numerous mediums or platforms (also known as repurposing) and the synergetic use of multiple media works to sell other such works within the same franchise or group” (Anime’s Media Mix: Franchising Toys and Characters in Japan, 142). Media mix can be considered a variant of “transmedia franchising,” another popular strategy of which is “transmedia storytelling.” While the transmedia franchises developed in Japan can be conveniently considered media mixes, a variety of other traits (including media mixes’ general preference for variation principle over continuity in storytelling) should be taken into consideration to fully compare and contrast media mix and transmedia storytelling strategies. For details, see Olga Kopylova’s Ph.D. thesis, Media Mix as Adaptation: With Maeda Mahiro’s Gankutsuō as an Example, 57-95. 4 and light novels to each other, often with the addition of games4, live action movies, and TV series. Moreover, the circulation of stories and story elements may easily transcend a single media-mix project overseen by a single production committee. When present, intertextual references can form wider webs of connections across media: previous literature and adaptations may inspire media mix projects as in Gankutsuō (based on the anime released between 2004-2005, produced by GONZO) taking Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) and Alfred Bester’s Tiger! Tiger! (1956) as its basis. It is also possible to talk about an extension of media relations when older media mix titles are revisited for separate projects, as in the case of the recent Hollywood live-action movie Ghost in the Shell (released in March, 2017), which is based on the manga mix by the same name (originally appearing as a manga series in 1989, written and illustrated by Masamune Shirō). However, assuming that the borders of media have vanished completely due to the factors mentioned above would be far from reality, and would make it extremely difficult to contemplate the influence of media on us, that is, on their audience. While similarities arise due to the increasing number of intersections between media, it would be sensible to conjecture that no medium would like to get too close to another and become a sub-category. On the contrary, the continuity of sales, and therefore of marketing, depends on the existence of variety. The very existence of the media mix practice can also be taken as a sign that while intricate relations between media have appeared, media are also demanded separately. This leads us to think medium-specificities once again. But what is a “medium” to begin with? Marie-Laure Ryan proposes two complementary ways for defining the term: through its functions, and through the conceptual frameworks that capture different aspects of its nature. The functions of the term can be listed in two broad categories which form the backbone for most dictionary definitions: first, medium as a conduit that transfers information; second, 4 Under the category of games; video games, pachinko (a Japanese pinball game) games, tabletop games, and card games can be counted as most common types. In this thesis, mainly in connection to the discussion of digitalization and the contemporary technological condition, only video games are addressed extensively in analysis. 5 medium as the message itself, implying that it defines the information being channeled. While it is possible to take these functions to be mutually exclusive, it is also possible to consider them the two ends of the same spectrum and consider medium the combination of both —as this thesis does. As for the conceptual frameworks that capture different aspects of medium, three items can be listed: semiotic, material-technological, and cultural frameworks. In the living handbook of narratology (under the title “Narration in Various Media”), Ryan describes the first one’s take on medium as follows: As a semiotic category, a medium is characterized by the codes and sensory channels upon which it relies. The semiotic approach tends to distinguish three broad media families: verbal, visual, and aural. […] Insofar as signs extend in time or space, the semiotic analysis of media should also take into consideration their spatio-temporal dimensions. (par. 13) In extension, due to its reliance on certain sensory channels and its possession of certain spatio-temporal traits, medium appears to be an entity that cannot be transferred without being transformed. It might be argued that medium differs from “genre” most obviously in this way. One can talk about a sci-fi novel and a sci-fi movie, for the sci-fi genre does not require visual and aural sensory channels to be employed specifically. On the other hand, while the materiality of media may seem to refer to the concrete limitations constituting their identities, it also points at a surprising fluidity in their nature. Material support can be either a raw substance, such as clay for pottery, stone