According to France24,"In a move to promote serious study of Japanese manga, a university in Tokyo plans to open a library with two million comic books, animation drawings, video games and other cartoon industry artifacts. Tentatively named the Tokyo International Manga Library, it would open by early 2015 on the campus of the private Meiji University, and be available to researchers and fans from Japan and abroad."
To those of the wider public who have never read or watched Japanese animation, although your children definitely have, it is an ornate and bizarre world (somewhat like Japan culture itself) that includes a broad range of subjects: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business and commerce, among others. Unlike the uber-geek "Comic Book-Guy," who peddles his wares to children in the television cartoon The Simpson's, the manga genre is embraced by people of all ages in Japan.
Unlike a number of Japanese re-inventions that have failed to find a foot-hold outside of Japan, Anime or Japanese Animation has produced a significant following around the world. As an example, Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies were based on a 1972-3 manga released in Japan called Lady Snowblood. In North America over the past few decades, a variety of children's television programing have highlighted Anime. These westernized adaptions include shows like Sailor Moon, which has been exported to more than 23 countries, and Pokemon, which has spawned a dozen movies and a worldwide audience.
As odd as it may seem, a serious academic exploration of the cultural roots and influence of Japanese animation on modernist artwork and global pop-culture is warranted.
To those of the wider public who have never read or watched Japanese animation, although your children definitely have, it is an ornate and bizarre world (somewhat like Japan culture itself) that includes a broad range of subjects: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business and commerce, among others. Unlike the uber-geek "Comic Book-Guy," who peddles his wares to children in the television cartoon The Simpson's, the manga genre is embraced by people of all ages in Japan.
Manga itself is a hybrid art that combines historical Japanese motifs and modern Western styles of animation. These highly stylized comic-book novels and their televised adaptions, have over the decades depicted the continuous cultural development of the Japanese people and its larger society since the Second World War. The gekiga style of drawing (emotionally dark, realistic, and sometimes violent) focuses on the day-in, day-out grim realities of life, and is often drawn in a fashion that has been described as 'gritty'.
Unlike a number of Japanese re-inventions that have failed to find a foot-hold outside of Japan, Anime or Japanese Animation has produced a significant following around the world. As an example, Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies were based on a 1972-3 manga released in Japan called Lady Snowblood. In North America over the past few decades, a variety of children's television programing have highlighted Anime. These westernized adaptions include shows like Sailor Moon, which has been exported to more than 23 countries, and Pokemon, which has spawned a dozen movies and a worldwide audience.
As odd as it may seem, a serious academic exploration of the cultural roots and influence of Japanese animation on modernist artwork and global pop-culture is warranted.
Arigatou gozaimasu.
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