Anime

Anime (pronounced ah-knee-may) is the Japanese word for “animation” but can refer to filmed cartoons produced in any country that mirror styles typically labeled Japanese, including narrative structures, character design, and aesthetics. Both historically and in the present day, anime has substantial ties to printed comic books, called manga (mah-n-ga) in Japanese. Contrary to most American assumptions, neither anime nor manga are genres exclusively for children; unlike in the United States, in Japanese cultural contexts, these forms might be used to tell stories for children, but they also might represent [Page 71]adult themes such as violence, sexuality, social discrimination, or historical events. In recent decades, there has been an increase in both popular interest in anime released in the United States-either legally through production companies or as unauthorized fan-subs-and in academic attention to the topic. Anime is a topic of particular interest in analyses of popular culture, gender, media studies, transnationalism, and Japanese studies.

Anime is a topic of interest in women's or gender studies because the style and content of the genre can be read as either reinforcing gender norms or fundamentally challenging them. Like other popular cultural formats, such as romance novels or pornography, anime relies heavily on gender norms but recent work on the topic casts ambivalence on the totality of power and control constructed through these representations. Some scholars have argued that representations of femininity within anime tend to construct women as other, desirable but not entirely human, or less agentive than male protagonists. Other scholars find anime to provide space for creative exploration, substantial social critique, and agency. Stylistically, anime are likely to represent female characters as tall, thin, big-breasted, wide-eyed figures who might or might not be innocent to their own power and desirability. Many female characters can be seen to become more desirable precisely because they appear unaware of their desirability or sexuality, as seen in Sailor Moon, for example.

Anime, and related manga, can be categorized into many subgenres, including mecha (mechanical), apocalyptic, romantic, adventure or sports stories. Of these subgenres, in gender studies literature, the category of “ladies comics” has received attention because it deals so directly with gender, and gendered norms in society. Also labeled “boy's love” or “yaoi” comics, these stories center on deep love between two male protagonists. Although the characters are in love with each other the labels “gay” or “queer” rarely appear, and the figures are usually drawn with delicate features, fine bones, and flowing hair. Despite the male central protagonists, these stories are marketed toward and popularly consumed mostly by women. Many scholars have constructed theories to explain this pattern, and suggest that some (straight) female fans find particular romantic possibilities available only in same-sex partnering.

Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001) are examples of anime produced for children that became extremely popular in Japan and abroad. Akira (1988), a postapocalyptic story of genetic mutation and technology, remains one of the most popular manga and anime series. Evangelion (1997) and The Ghost in the Shell (1995) are more recent examples of the sub-genre. Representative examples of gender-bending in anime include The Rose of Versailles (1979), Fake (1996), and Loveless (2005).

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