Japanese Animation

East Asian Perspectives

Masao Yokota, Tze-yue G. Hu, Masao Yokota, Tze-yue G. Hu

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781626744295
• Topic: Mezzi di comunicazione e arti performative
• Subtopic: Animazione

Japanese Animation: East Asian Perspectives makes available for the first time to English readership a selection of viewpoints from media practitioners, designers, educators, and scholars working in the East Asian Pacific. This collection not only engages a multidisciplinary approach in understanding the subject of Japanese animation but also shows ways to research, teach, and more fully explore this multidimensional world. Presented in six sections, the translated essays cross-reference each other. The collection adopts a wide range of critical, historical, practical, and experimental approaches. This variety provides a creative and fascinating edge for both specialist and nonspecialist readers. Contributors' works share a common relevance, interest, and involvement despite their regional considerations and the different modes of analysis demonstrated. They form a composite of teaching and research ideas on Japanese animation.

Appendix 1

First sample of Kenny N. Chow’s class assignment for his students

LCC2720 Principles of Visual Design

Spring 2008

Project Two (Due March 11)

Myths are traditional stories concerning usually histories, conventions, or rituals of certain groups of people. Meanwhile, the term can also be used to mean a widely held but false belief or idea, which can be promising topics subject to our appropriation and reiteration.

Dissolving Frames: Projecting “time” onto “space”

In this project, you look for a myth with a simple storyline that can be fitted into four or five sequential frames. The myth, similar to other stories, is happening in certain places or locations. With reference to the topographic narratives and Anders Nilsen’s comics shown in the class, you dissolve the frames and stitch the panels to form a “temporal map” or “spatial itinerary” that tells the myth.

Multiple Retelling Myth

Then, you explore the space on your “map” and investigate the possibilities of retelling the myth visually in multiple directions that demonstrate your imaginations. It can be:

• A branching from a critical moment in the plot;

• Another parallel universe intersecting the original plot on a particular moment;

• A circular narrative loops the end back to the beginning.

You are encouraged to use “found” images as long as you make acknowledgment of them. The materials are manipulated and combined with the techniques of digital compositing.

Please keep in mind what you have learned about visual communication because the assessment is still based on your choice of representational styles, the demonstration of compositional awareness, the novelty of storytelling, and the finishing of the final output. The image resolution of the final output should not be less than 1200 by 1200. Submit the JPEG file to T-square before noon of the due date.

Present your work during the class; make your arguments explicitly with respect to the contrived story, narrative techniques, and representational styles (max. 3 mins.).

Appendix 2

Second sample of Kenny N. Chow’s class assignment for his students

LCC2720 Principles of Visual Design

Spring 2008

Project Three (Due Apr. 22)

In this assignment, you have to produce a montage (both spatial and temporal) sequence based on a piece of haiku.

Time Frames: Motion Haiku

Haiku is one of the most significant kinds of Japanese poetry. Haiku poems are mostly about nature and seasons. The traditional form is made of verse with a strong sense in visuals, sounds, and emotions.

Each of you is given a particular haiku poem. Read, interpret, and imagine. Pay attention to the objects, environments, sounds, and emotions. Then associate imagery and graphics to represent your mental image of the literary work.

All visual elements, including colors, textures, graphics, and photographic images should be under your considerations. You should also think about the camera movement. The length of your work should not be shorter than 10 seconds.

The audio track is required to enhance the rhythm and emotion.

Technical specification of the deliverable:

File name: proj3_yourlastname.mov

File type: QuickTime movie

Compressor: MPEG4

Frame aspect ratio: 4:3

Resolution: 320 h 240 v

Pixel aspect ratio: 1.0

Frame rate: 30

Please submit your movie file to T-Square before noon of due date.

Appendix 3

The following selected explanatory notes are provided by the editors and Ikeda Hiroshi.

1954

Shipbuilding Scandal

It revealed widespread corruption among politicians and bureaucrats who engaged the shipbuilding companies to pay bribes for the benefits of the ship-transportation industries.

Daigo Fukuryu Maru (“Lucky Dragon 5”)

Daigo Fukuryu Maru is the name of a Japanese pelagic tuna fishing boat that was exposed to plenty of nuclear fallout from an American nuclear test. All the crewmembers of Daigo Fukuryu Maru became victims of radiation sickness caused by the nuclear fallout.

1955

Jinmu Economy

Under the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party, the economy expanded dramatically in the period 1955–58 with heavy industrial spending, dynamic growth of the manufacturing sectors, and the strong appreciation of the yen currency.

1956

Suez Crisis

It was a war in which Britain, France, and Israel fought against Egypt, which had decided earlier to nationalize the Suez Canal.

1959

Iwato Economy

Another phase of economic boom in Japan from 1959 to 1961 with an average growth rate of over 12 percent, exports of electric products escalated; e.g., sale of Sony’s transistor radio.

Minamata Disease

This poisoning caused by organic mercury effused from chemical plants in prefectures like Kumamoto and Niigata led to rising citizens’ and residents’ movements around Japan.

1960

Anpo Treaty Protests

In English, it is known as the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan (1960). It strengthened Japan’s security-military ties with the USA during the Cold War era. The protests were against such arrangements and the Japanese government’s support of American interests in the region.

Asanuma Assassination

Asanuma Inejiro (1898–1960) was the head of the Japanese Socialist Party and a popular politician known for his socialist ideals. In 1960, he was assassinated in broad daylight on television by an extreme rightist during an election rally.

1962

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the Soviet Union, Cuba, and the United States in which the Cold War might have turned into a nuclear war.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War followed after the First Indochina War, and the aim was to reunify North and South Vietnam under a communist government.

1963

John F. Kennedy Assassination

John F. Kennedy, the President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

1966

Struggle against Building Narita Airport

It refers to local farmers protests against the development of an international airport in their farmlands.

Black Mist Scandal

It refers to a corruption scandal among Liberal Democratic Party politicians in regard to sale of public land in downtown Tokyo. The string of connections was darkly complex and thus the “Black Mist” description.

1967

Protest Sit—in front of the American Department of Defense in Washington, D.C.

Several American demonstrations and protests were held in front of the Pentagon in 1967 calling for the end of the Vietnam War.

1968

University Campus Dispute, especially in Tokyo

University students protested against elements of authoritarianism and bureaucracy in Japanese society, also a continuation of the antiwar movement that had begun in the early 1960s.

Civil Resistance against the Occupation in Czechoslovakia

In respon...