Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime

Mark W. MacWilliams

Manga (comic book or graphic novels) and anime (animated films), both born of Japan's cultural encounter with Western Entertainment media, are two of the most universally recognized forma of Contemporary mass art. Because they tell stories through visual imagery, they vault over language barriers. Well suited to electronic transmission, and distributed by Japan's increasingly globalized culture industry, they have become a powerful force in the mediascape and the marketplace.

To probe the richness and subtleties of these deceptively simple cultural forms, this volume brings together an international group of scholars who share a fascination with manga and anime. Their essays explore the historical, cultural, sociological, and religious dimensions of these popular forms of visual culture that appeal so strongly to mass audiences both in Japan and worldwide. They explore the Japanese cultural, historical, and political context in which manga and anime evolved, and focus on specific sub-genres, artists and stylistics. Included here too are such topics as spirituality and new religious movements, Japanese Goth, nostalgia, comics for girls, and more.