Tourism motivated by Japanese animation, or anime, plays an important role in this campaign. The ‘Cool Japan’ strategy was launched in 2012 as a ‘soft-power’ initiative to promote the unique culture of Japan. This study is a timely publication, both as a resource for anime fans new and existing, young and old, who desire to know more about the religion and mythology of Japan and how it informs anime (and manga), and as a worthy addition to the small but growing academic literature on the topic. These important new understandings of religion and the spiritual underpin anime’s status as a major site of new religious and spiritual inspiration in the West, and indeed, the world.
However, the other worlds are the fantasy landscapes and outer space settings of anime (and other popular cultural forms), and the afterlife of digital circuitry and the electronic impulses of the Internet. In the early twenty-first century, spiritual seekers still desire a life beyond that of everyday reality ardently, and just as passionately believe in the existence of other worlds and the afterlife. In the past, religions posited that after human existence on earth had ceased, the individual soul would be reincarnated again, or perhaps would reside in heaven. The appeal of anime to aficionados is, broadly speaking, the appeal of the spiritual in a post-religious world, in which personal identity and meaning in life may be crafted from popular cultural texts which offer an immersive and enchanting experience that, for many in the modern world, is more thrilling and authentic than ‘real life’. The reception of this content by fans is also examined. One of the most significant contributions of this book is the analysis of the employment of spiritual and religious motifs by directors. The mutual imbrication of the profane and sacred worlds in anime, along with the profound reciprocal relationship between ‘Eastern’ (Japanese) and ‘Western’ (chiefly American) culture in the development of the anime artistic form, form the twin narrative arcs of the book. A passion for anime has led some fans, or aficionados as they are referred to in this book, to make personal translations of anime, to don the costume of beloved characters, and to undertake anime ‘pilgrimages’. This is intriguing as many Japanese anime directors and studios initially created works that were not aimed at a Western audience at all. There have always been anime lovers in the West, but today that number is growing exponentially, with numerous anime clubs, festivals and related events been organised the world over. These have been influenced and inspired by various historical and cultural phenomena, one of which, Japanese native religion and spirituality, this book argues is an important and dominant although Buddhism, Christianity and a range of mythologies also feature. Over time the number of anime genres and generic hybrids have significantly grown. © Cambridge University Press 2009 and Cambridge University Press, 2010.īarely a century has passed since anime (Japanese animation) was first screened to a Western audience. Japan's anime industry is large and continues to grow overseas. However, while manga established the roots of this style during the postwar period, it was through anime that a broader global audience became aware of a distinctive Japanese visual culture. In many cases manga defined the template for the key genres - shōjo, shōnen, gekiga, and so on (see Table 13.1) - which have come to dominate the wider popular culture of Japan today. Many consider manga to be the origin: the creative vitality that spawned anime, and later video games and merchandising spin-offs. While this chapter will refer to both mediums interchangeably to reflect their mutual contribution to Japan's contemporary visual culture, it is important to distinguish between them and acknowledge their differences as well as their similarities. While manga and anime are not identical fields - manga can be loosely defined as Japanese comic books, while anime encompasses the breadth of Japanese animation - they have become synonymous with a distinct Japanese contemporary visual culture and aesthetic in the eyes of many media and culture scholars and commentators around the world. Manga and anime are at the centre of significant innovations and cultural debates in Japan.
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