i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i Herlander Elias The Anime Galaxy Japanese Animation As New Media LabCom Books 2012 i i i i i i i i Livros LabCom www.livroslabcom.ubi.pt Série: Estudos em Comunicação Direcção: António Fidalgo Design da Capa: Herlander Elias Paginação: Filomena Matos Covilhã, UBI, LabCom, Livros LabCom 2012 ISBN: 978-989-654-090-6 Título: The Anime Galaxy Autor: Herlander Elias Ano: 2012 i i i i i i i i Índice ABSTRACT & KEYWORDS3 INTRODUCTION5 Objectives............................... 15 Research Methodologies....................... 17 Materials............................... 18 Most Relevant Artworks....................... 19 Research Hypothesis......................... 26 Expected Results........................... 26 Theoretical Background........................ 27 Authors and Concepts...................... 27 Topics.............................. 39 Common Approaches...................... 41 1 FROM LITERARY TO CINEMATIC 45 1.1 MANGA COMICS....................... 52 1.1.1 Origin.......................... 52 1.1.2 Visual Style....................... 57 1.1.3 The Manga Reader................... 61 1.2 ANIME FILM.......................... 65 1.2.1 The History of Anime................. 65 1.2.2 Technique and Aesthetic................ 69 1.2.3 Anime Viewers..................... 75 1.3 DIGITAL MANGA....................... 82 1.3.1 Participation, Subjectivity And Transport....... 82 i i i i i i i i i 1.3.2 Digital Graphic Novel: The Manga And Anime Con- vergence........................ 86 1.4 ANIME VIDEOGAMES.................... 90 1.4.1 Prolongament...................... 90 1.4.2 An Audience of Control................ 104 1.4.3 The Videogame-Film Symbiosis............ 106 1.5 COMMERCIALS AND VIDEOCLIPS............ 111 1.5.1 Advertisements Reconfigured............. 111 1.5.2 Anime Music Video And MTV Asia.......... 113 2 PATTERN THEMES 119 2.1 THE MECHA GENRE..................... 123 2.1.1 Giganticism....................... 125 2.1.2 The Flying Fortress................... 130 2.1.3 Warrior Robots..................... 132 2.1.4 The Piloted Robot................... 136 2.1.5 Rise of The Machines................. 141 2.1.6 Robotic Friend..................... 144 2.1.7 The Military Cyborgization.............. 146 2.2 PLACES UNDER TRANSFORMATION........... 148 2.2.1 Post-Human Civilizations............... 150 2.2.2 Dystopia And Totalitarianism............. 153 2.2.3 Replaying The Catastrophe............... 156 2.2.4 Metatopias....................... 162 2.2.5 The Future is Blade-Runnered............. 164 3 HISTORICAL CONTEXT 171 3.1 PRE-MODERNITY....................... 173 3.1.1 Karakuri – Ancient Automata............. 173 3.1.2 Shinto Religion..................... 177 3.1.3 The Meiji Reform................... 179 3.2 MODERNITY......................... 181 3.2.1 A Project........................ 181 3.2.2 West Vs East...................... 184 3.2.3 Post-War Period: Future Shock............ 189 3.3 CONTEMPORANEITY.................... 193 ii i i i i i i i i 3.3.1 The Post-History.................... 193 3.3.2 An Asian Renaissance................. 196 3.3.3 Japanization....................... 201 4 THE ANIME GALAXY 205 4.1 GLOBAL IMAGES....................... 208 4.1.1 Animation is a New Medium.............. 208 4.1.2 Mighty Atom, Astro Boy And Kokusaika....... 214 4.1.3 Toy-Image: The Transition............... 217 4.2 KAWAII FIGURES....................... 222 4.2.1 A Cute Icon....................... 222 4.2.2 The Sinister Mascots And The Uncanny Valley.... 226 4.2.3 An Advanced Culture Industry............. 231 4.3 ROBOTOPIA.......................... 235 4.3.1 The Image of The Future is Robotic.......... 235 4.3.2 A Robot is Information Media............. 238 4.3.3 The Subjective Media Interface............ 241 CONCLUSION 247 ATTACHMENTS 255 GLOSSARIES............................ 255 Japanese............................. 255 Technical............................ 259 General............................. 262 List of Acronyms........................ 264 INTERVIEWS............................ 266 Hiroshi Yoshioka........................ 267 Takahiro Hayakawa....................... 269 DESCRIPTIVE ANALISYS..................... 269 Advertising Commercials.................... 269 Amateur Videoclips - Anime Music Video........... 278 BIBLIOGRAPHY 287 Books................................. 287 Book Chapters......................... 298 iii i i i i i i i i Magazines/Articles....................... 305 Manga And Western Comics.................. 306 Online Documents....................... 308 Web Sites............................ 312 FILMOGRAPHY 319 Fiction Film.............................. 319 Animation (Cartoons And Anime).................. 324 Documentary............................. 330 VIDEOGRAPHY 333 Videogames.............................. 333 Videoclips – Anime Music Video................... 346 Amateurs............................ 346 Professionals (Single And Collective)............. 348 Commercial Spots........................... 349 Idents................................. 350 Acknowledgments 351 iv i i i i i i i i “While robotics and anime have originated in very different ways, as both advance they are forming a unique and multi-faceted symbiosis”. Matthews (2003-2004) “The ‘Western’ is no longer our exclusive domain, except in the region of its origins. It now represents a condition of universal aspiration”. Koolhaas & Mau (1995) i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i ABSTRACT & KEYWORDS The ubiquitous nature of digital technology has had globalization and contents sharing promoted by common interest as an aftermath. Nowadays, it seems hard to think about the Internet without a global world, being the “computer” itself by now synonymous of “Web”. However, such was not the case during the last two decades. Within this background, both graphic cultures and cy- bercultures have been sharing synergies. The World Wide Web has become a centre for sharing, participation, usage and consumption of contents related to their users’ preferences. The same occurs in comics – formerly less avai- lable – and in Japanese animation films, both having been wirecast on the Web and, as a result, spread to new audiences. Besides, the current technological frame provides new features that keep changing the production, as well as the consumption of artworks – especially those of animation – as a major part of consumers that possess cell phones, computers and Web access knows at least some videogames and improves their software technical skills. On a popular level, culture turns out to be a constant innovative environ- ment. Japan is the country that exports anime, an unquestionable industrial might. Across new media, such as portable media platforms, videogames, di- gital films or the commercials available on-line, the audience participates and consumes Japanese culture. Animation artworks bring consumers to know their predecessor: the comic, which remains a blooming medium. From ad- vertising to videoclips, throughout new digital formats, the audience comes across new forms of narrative presentation that balance between the literary and the cinematic types. One detects a pattern emerging from a set of themes in both the anime image and the videogame, being the latter a format designed for extending animation and being symbiotic with the special effects moving picture. Spaces 3 i i i i i i i i 4 The Anime Galaxy introduced in such images are always in transformation, much like Japan has been over the last century and half. After pre-modernity, feudalism and Japan’s participation in World War Two, its main signature is still “techno- logy”. ‘The Anime Galaxy’ is the explained portrait of animation regarded as a new medium of communication; a radiography of a global image which seems to be fast, beautiful, sinister and uncanny – all of which being the out- come of a proficient culture industry established by people who believe in robots that, in future reality, are to prevail as the logical extension for a smart computer. Due to this reason, playing robots in a fantasized manner is a mere preparation for the upcoming “robotopia”. Keywords: Animation, Anime, New Media, Internet, Digital Culture, Japan, Technology, Communication, Network, Videogame, Cinema, Video- clip, Advertising. www.livroslabcom.ubi.pt i i i i i i i i INTRODUCTION The Anime Galaxy: Japanese Animation As New Media is a report on anime, Japanese animation film, which appears in the 60s decade of 20th century. It is a fact that not all Japanese animation consists in anime, in the same way that not all of it is popular and worth selling. We are referring to anime as a genre in the sense that it is not about live-action cinema or cartoons. How- ever it benefits from these two moving-image genres. Officially, anime is known as "japanimation" or "Japanese animation"; and it stands for more than just a simple cinematic genre, that of animation. Thanks to evolving graphic technologies that support the anime film, animation becomes a new commu- nication by-product without even disconnecting itself from its origins, which in their turn are related to manga comics. By retrieving live-action cinema influences, anime quickly becomes the same as "Asian culture" and "Japanese culture, in particular" (due to obvious reasons, since anime is Japanese). Nev- ertheless, Japan is far more that what it is portrayed in animations. Anime comprehends many different subgenres, ranging from comedy to science fiction, horror [kaidan], detective stories and pornograhic perversion [hentai] (Poitras, 2001: