Forum - View topicANNCast - Raise the Ruhf
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RHorsman
 Posts: 151 Location: Loch Loman |
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Oh hey, just ordered Stray Dog of Anime. Great timing!
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ChihiroFujisaki
Posts: 37 |
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I'm planning on picking up the second edition of his book really soon. It was great hearing more about the small, but interesting world of anime academia! I only own about two books that deal with critical looks on anime, but I'm always open for more.
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1359 |
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A great interview. I've put off reading Stray dog of anime for too long, the new edition sounds fantastic.
I was a little surprised at no mention of Ian Condry during the "I wish someone writing about anime would say something other than 'this is about the atom bomb'". Condry is an anthropologist who spent part of his time working with Japanese hip-hop artists and is also a personal friend of Mamoru Hosoda (thanks to this relationship Boston-area anime fans are often treated to early peeks at Hosoda's new films). Well, okay, his The soul of anime does have a chapter on anime in th postwar era. But he also writes about Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei I guess, as an ethnographer/anthropologist, his focus is more on production and less on "film studies". I'd love to hear a conversation between Condry and Justin. |
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ChihiroFujisaki
Posts: 37 |
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That has my interest now! That book seems to be mostly focused on production aspects, so I'm guessing he talks a bit about Shaft (with regards to Zetsubou Sensei)? I'd love to give it a read in any case, but anything dealing with Zetsubou Sensei has my attention!
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2444 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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A couple thoughts on the points Zac brought up on serious academic work on anime (sorry, this is going to be long)
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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^ Does Japan even have enough of a professional critiquing institution? Japanese society has always been about keeping the wa/harmony, but a good way to rock the boat would be to bluntly analyze other people/works.
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ChihiroFujisaki
Posts: 37 |
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It certainly does, though I don't know to what extent. For example, soon after Madoka aired, an academic book about the series was published called A Cage Named Maturity. See here for more information: http://wiki.puella-magi.net/Cage_Named_Maturity
It would be great if we could get some work like this translated over here, since I'm very interested in reading it. |
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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Not a lot of this kind of writing gets translated into English, but we are seeing more and more. Each year's volume of the journal Mechademia usually has at least a couple of articles translated from the Japanese, though sometimes, they are just excerpts of longer papers. And just last year, the University of Mississippi Press published "Japanese Animation: East Asian Pespectives" - specifically a collection of essays on anime by Japanese (and Chinese and Korean) authors. |
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Guile
Posts: 595 |
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It depends what you are referring to when you say criticism. If you mean, for example, stressing the merit/importance, or breaking down the thematic of work such as Barefoot Gen or Grave of the Fireflies, then yes as I have seen pieces on them discussing their importance as well as other anime such as the aforementioned Madoka book. If by criticism you mean the blogger/editorial style of reviewing and critiquing, such as that of video game review sites, Gawker sites such as Kotaku, or anything on video sharing sites such as YouTube or That Guy With the Glasses, or even the preview/review guide here on ANN, then not too terribly much. The most likely reason for the latter is a mix of how the market is and culture. Late night anime which rely on niche sales, are essentially the way to critique them. If an anime sells well, it must have been heavily liked. If it's sales are insufficient, then it was likely mostly disliked. Writing reviews or critiquing them seems almost pointless for a niche product. Those who enjoy it will buy it and know they like it, those who are uninterested will not. Reviews, at least in theory, are to tell someone if they should invest their money and time in a product. For anime, the only people who buy anime and their merchandise are the established fans. Only a fan will buy the Madoka figurines and blu-rays, so writing up a review for it is entirely pointless if you think about it. They already know if they like it or not. Culture-wise, it just goes against the average mentality in Japan. Reviewers by default assume people will cares about their opinion. To be blunt, reviewing is a very self-serving practice and hinges on the presumption your opinions are more important than the next persons. That kind of mentality is rare in Japan in general which pushes for a more homogeneous environment. That mentality is what gave rise to anonymous message boards such as 2ch and Futaba Channel. Everyone is an equal there. |
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enurtsol
Posts: 14761 |
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^ They don't do much of it with Hollywood movies neither, and that's pretty mainstream. Yet we use movie reviews all the time when we decide whether to go to the movies. How else the Japanese gonna know?
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Jave
 Posts: 198 |
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I think most people are aware enough to tell if they'll be interested in a movie just from the synopsis or preview. Never really bothered with reviews myself since it's not like someone else will know if I like something or not. Seems kinda like people who do just want to be told what to like and not think for themselves. Reminds me of MGS2 
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enurtsol
Posts: 14761 |
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But as they say, "there's only 7 basic stories in the world." Many films share the same basic plots; some are even outright re-treads or remakes. It's mostly about execution now. (And I'm not even gonna touch about previews - that's a whole another can of worms.) |
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