Week 15: Final Thoughts

Of my past four years at Penn, if I were asked to name the courses that I enjoyed most, this would definitely be at the top of the list. During the course selection period, I decided to try exploring some of the language arts courses offered in my last semester of undergraduate studies. EALC 169's course description immediately caught my attention, despite never having taken any prior Japanese-related courses (being a computer engineer per major). Although I unwantedly missed a few classes near the end of the semester due to senior design, I immensely enjoyed the sessions I were able to attend and the discussions the class brought up. Having immersed myself in Japanese otaku culture throughout my university life, it was a very refreshing experience analyzing the culture (and to an extent, myself) in an academic manner.

One thing that I strongly wished was more explored, however, is the topic of recent trends in current prime-time Japanese animes. When I read the past course offering's sylabus, I was strongly attracted to the idea of studying a currently-airing anime series (Fullmetal Alchemist) while it is being aired. The idea of doing on-demand analysis of an anime series' various elements, observing its immediate cultural impact in both Japan and abroad, and comparing both its anime elements as well as its reception to those of similar animes of the past strongly appealed to me. At the time of the course's starting, the Japanese television's winter 2012 season had just begun and the airing schedule finalized. There were a number of interesting animes worth analyzing of cultural influence (see below), many of them also simulcasting on NicoNicoDouga or CrunchyRoll (simulcasting being another relatively new anti-piracy approach that is on the rise today but not covered in any of the reading material). Unfortunately the course did not touch on any of this.

As an example of potential analytical discussions were a "recent anime analysis" aspect added to the course in the future (an honestly biased but strong suggestion), here were some of the TV anime series that I believe are of note (some worth brief mentioning, some worth deeper analysis):

Winter 2011/2012: (December 2011 to February 2012)
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    Mobile Suit Gundam Seed HD Remaster: An unnecessary remastering of the popular Gundam title released only a few years ago. A strong example of commercialization at work and how the current market leans strongly in favour of already-established brand names despite a lack of originality (or in this case, new material)
    Kill Me Baby: An adaption of a 4-koma manga featuring numerous Japanese cultural jokes. An excellent example of Japanese comedy that is lost outside of Japan due to cultural differences.
    High School DxD: In wakes of the infamous, fanservice-filled Highschool of the Dead comes High School DxD, with the same highschool, comedy, harem, and supernatural themes. A clear example of the rising "sex-sells" trend in modern animation production, where plot and character development is completely abandoned in favour of high quality fanservice, targeting otaku sexuality.
    Amagami SS+ plus: An example of an eroge-turned-anime adaption, something of a more recent commonality in the past few years. The rising popularity of such genres (romance, school life) is quite uncanny and very secluded to the past half decade.
    Daily Lives of High School Boys: A comedy manga adaption featuring only male high school boys. Touches on many themes in Japanese slice-of-life animes as well as Japanese dramas, but to a comedic effect. The style of presentation is arguably a first of its kind (declared experimental by the producers), so would have been a very interesting case study on the reception of its target audience (was it a failure or was the new format a hit?)
    Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai!: A comedy/romance manga adaptation. The special focus here is the taboo theme of suggested incest and pedophelia. Given the strict laws in Japan, why are these taboo themes so commonly found (and accepted) in manga and anime? Saito's theory on otaku sexuality can be used to explain this.
    Black★Rock Shooter: A 100% commercial product exploiting the recent rise in the VOCALOID phenomena (see my paper, "The World of Hatsune Miku - A brief overview of the VOCALOID phenomena"). The fact that the series was so well received despite its lack of material is indicative of the commercial powers of brand association (similar to Lukacs' theory of "intimate televisual culture").
    Nisemonogatari: Riding off the popularity of its predecessor, Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari differs strongly through its notable additions of highly unnecessary fanservice scenes as well as the (forced) introduction of previously uncommon sexual fetishes (such as its infamous toothbrush sharing scene). Highly subjected to Saito's theories of otaku sexuality and Lukacs' theory of fetishes.

Spring 2012: (March 2012 to May 2012)
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    Queen's Blade ~Rebellion~: A continuation of the rising "sex-sells" trend, this time with Queen's Blade being featured on a major television network but completely uncensored (something new to Japanese TV industry).
    Nazo no Kanojo X: An entirely new forced fetish of mouth drool. The split community reception of the anime (among both anime enthusiasts as well as the general Japanese media) is a worthwhile case study.
    Haiyore! Nyaryko-san: A twist on the Western fictional character, Cthulhu, created by H. P. Lovecraft. This is one of the first times such a highly-featured production anime focuses on Western lore. Expectedly is the "moe-fication" of characters. A study on Japanese vs Western character designs and lore interpretation.
    AKB00448: An anime capitalizing on the popular singing band, AKB48. A strong example of Lukacs' "intimate televisual culture" and image commercialization.
    Upotte!!: An anime featuring the anthropomorphization of guns. Moe + guns = fetish?