Instead, this book is most useful as a much-needed primer on a growing terrain, with countless nods to other theorists. While a remarkable resource emerging from a smallscale exhibition, the foregrounding of artists from the show feels limiting – there are countless artists working within this expanded view of animation needing critical examination. Galbraith notes, ‘When there are Nazis among the fandom for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, something has gone terribly wrong’. It’s not all positive: in his interview discussing otaku (roughly, ‘nerd’) subcultures, anthropologist Patrick W. At one point, Levitt asks, ‘Are there potentially as many “digital ontologies” as cultural ones?’ Such questions permeate the book, portraying ACG as a site of endless transformations yet-to-come. Graham writes on racial cues in manga series Fullmetal Alchemist (2001–10) artist Sahej Rahal considers Hindu nationalism via a 1992 Japanese animation of the Ramayana. Media theorist Thomas Lamarre talks about fandom rewriting social norms writer Dawn Chan describes the ‘shared witnessing’ of moments playing the game Elden Ring art historian Cole J. The book loosely follows a structure of interviews with theorists punctuated by case studies of specific shows or games. In this light, animation permeates everything whether we like it or not, we are all weebs. Cultural-theorist Deborah Levitt, interviewed here, describes animation as a ‘supermedium that includes computer generated images (CGI), simulations of all kinds, and new forms of immersive media like virtual reality (VR)’, and that defines our current era. Launched to complement a group exhibition the editors staged in London in January, the book collects 11 international theorists and artists to explore our current ‘animatic’ condition. Japanese anime and manga industries, and their attendant fandoms, are starting points here to consider a wider ‘ACG (anime-comics-games) culture’. Includes an exclusive interview and a special step-by-step illustration creation discussion with Hiromu Arakawa.A new book dissects the fast-growing fan culture surrounding the Japanese anime, manga and game industriesĪ weeb is a sometime internet-slang insult turned badge of honour, ‘someone with an unhealthy interest in Japanese culture’, as the editors of this ambitious anthology set out.
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