Anime101

Course Syllabus:

• The Manga form in Japanese culture
  • 300 years in the making

• Archetypes and Stereotypes
  • Japanese Cultural Mythology
  • Shinto and Bhuddist themes in anime
  • Christian religious imagery in anime

• A Multiplicity of Genres
  • Shoujo
    • Shoujo-ai
    • Yaoi
  • Shounen
    • Shounen-ai
    • Yuri
  • Swords and Sorcerors
  • Space Operas
  • Parody
  • and... Hentai

• Takahashi Rumiko
  • The creator of Maison Ikkoku, Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura and Inu Yasha can't seem to miss. What is the great attraction to her work for the Japanese? Why is her work so popular outside of Japan?

• Mamoru Oshii
  • The challenge of understanding. Anime as text.

• Sailor Moon and the Magical Girls
  • Naoko Takeuchi strikes gold, CLAMP finds there's enough to go around, others follow!

An impossibly formulaic genre that never wanes in it's appeal to animators or audiences. Just what is going on here?

• Censorship, there and here
  • Sailor Moon - Ken Arromdee's Sailor Moon FAQ
    • In England they censor... flashing lights?!?

• Card Captor Sakura
  • Shoujo reprocessed as Shounen, an exercise in remasculation.

• Evangelion's tragic buffoon
  • Hideaki Anno tries too hard, makes a masterpiece, and nearly unmakes it.

Neon Genesis Evangelion is the great flawed classic of anime. How did it get to be that way, and why can't Anno leave it alone?

• ABe's Small Gods
  • Yoshitoshi ABe and the "nothing happens" aesthetic.

• The Marketplace
  • Anime in Japan
  • Anime around the world
  • fan subs
  • bootlegs
  • copyright law and international licensing

• The Future
  • CG's growing pains
    • Innocence vs. Appleseed
  • What now? (And what's happening, NOW!)

Suggested Reading List:

Manga! Manga!
Frederik Schodt
Stone Bridge Press 1983

Dreamland Japan
Frederik Schodt
Stone Bridge Press 1996

Watching Anime, Reading Manga
Fred Patten
Stone Bridge Press 2004

The Anime Encyclopedia
Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy
Stone Bridge Press 2002

Anime: From Akira to Princess Mononoke
Susan J Napier
Palgrave Press 2000

Stray Dog of Anime / The Films of Mamoru Oshii
Brian Ruh
Palgrave Press 2004

The Anime Companion
Gilles Poiras
Stone Bridge Press 1999

Myths and Legends of Japan
F Hadland Davis
Dover Publications 1992

Read about the books here: Anime Book Reviews