Anime – Animation Discourse

15Feb 2018 by Juli (Animation Discourse) No Comments

Kyoko Mogami, Skip Beat — Female Representation in Anime & Manga

Skip Beat is an amazing manga and anime series that has stolen many readers' and viewers' hearts alike. The story centers 16-year-old Kyoko Mogami, who drops her entire life in Kyoto to shadow her childhood friend and lifelong crush, Sho Fuwa, in his pursuit of becoming famous Japanese vocalist. In being consumed by love, of the unrequited variety, Kyoko works 3 jobs just to pay for her and Sho's living expenses; however, it doesn't take long before she discovers that Sho doesn't have the slightest romantic inclination towards her, and instead treats Kyoko as his personal gopher. Skip Beat, whether taking on its anime or manga form, has everything anyone could ask for; from humor to drama, to even a sprinkle of romance, Skip Beat incorporates multiple genres while maintaining seamless switches…

09Jun 2017 by Juli (Animation Discourse) No Comments

Is Japanese Anime Misogynistic?

Anime, Blog, Critical Discussions, Featured Posts

Anime has changed the way that many people watch American animation. After being widely-introduced to US cable in 1997 through the beloved Toonami segment of Adult Swim, viewers began to expect more from animation in general. More specifically, they began to crave continuity, overarching plots, and character development. And as the 2010s approached, they began to truly see the impact that the complexity of anime has had on American works. Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Steven Universe, the list goes on. The new decade raised young creators who grew up watching anime and who genuinely believed that American animation could follow suit in telling deep and intriguing stories. Japanese animation is treated as an inspiration because it conquers American storytelling and visual quality on many fronts; however, as great…

24May 2017 by Juli (Animation Discourse) No Comments

Top 10 Female Characters in Animated Television

Anime, Blog, Cartoons, Critical Discussions, Featured Posts

Western cartoons have come extremely far when compared to a decade ago. 2010 to 2015 has really marked a progressive stage of animation; not only in terms greater complex storytelling elements, but also layered and unproblematic characterization. We are beginning to witness a much more diverse cast of protagonists and supporting characters across many titles. And alongside showcasing diversity in terms of culture and sexuality, the number of well-portrayed female characters is on the rise. So in paying homage to these progressive changes, this post will count down the top female characters of animated television. But before we begin, let's set some ground rules: This is a completely subjective list created by me, a subjective human. As such, it will only series that I have personally watched in their entirety .…

09Apr 2017 by Juli (Animation Discourse) No Comments

How Anime Has Impacted American Cartoons

Anime, Blog, Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION The transcultural flow of media content has increased substantially with the rise of the globalized, followed by digitalized, age (Jin, 2011; Thussu, 2007). Ever since the latter half of the 1900s, there has been an upward trend in the amount of traded media content on a global front; however, this trend is often said to be part of a one-way flow that is dominated by American cultural exportation (Thussu, 2007). Although globalization led to a more open distribution structure, scholars argue that this has only allowed the United States to exert even more dominance over the world’s markets—in this case, over the global cultural sector (Jin, 2011; Thussu, 2007). So rather than offering countries the equal opportunity to participate in global trade, Americanization of cultural content has ensued (Jin,…