Immobile Sections and Trans-Series Movement:Astroboyand the Emergence of Anime

Abstract

This article contrasts the different economies of motion found in cinema and animation, and explores the particular economy of movement and libidinal investment that accompanies Japanese anime, paying close attention to the first anime TV series, Astroboy (Tetsuwan Atomu). Metz and Lyotard argue that cinema generates an impression of reality through its particular economy of motion. Cel animation, in contrast, relies on a different economy of motion. This is especially the case in the specific kind of limited animation found in Japanese anime. This article focuses on the specificities of this kind of animated movement (particularly its emphasis on stillness), and the way Astroboy relied on commodity serialization to generate a particularly immersive image environment - one that set the stage for what is now known as ‘anime’.

Cultura pop japonesa e identidade social: os cosplayers de Vitória (ES)

“…Somente algumas estruturas serão expostas, tendo em vista a extensão das informações obtidas de cada um dos participantes. (Steinberg, 2006). No que se refere a estas produções, uma parte da amostra relatou que os assiste desde a infância, como disse a entrevistada n° 3: (Barral, 2000).…”

“…trata-se de preparar e executar uma atuação vista com seriedade e como pertencendo ao universo artístico, e cujos componentes principais são a reprodução cuidadosa de trajes e apetrechos de uma personagem que será representada. Como pode ser visto a seguir: Mesmo levando em conta os interessantes efeitos visuais tanto de animes quanto de mangás (Meireles, 2003;Koyama-Richard, 2007;Steinberg, 2006), os cosplayers não se deixam influenciar pelos atributos corporais que muitos personagens têm. Em geral, a identificação ocorre pela possibilidade que a personagem permite a eles em produzir uma interpretação e no que essa ação provoca em termos de diversão para si e para o público.…”

Book review: Manga and Anime Go to Hollywood: The Amazing Rapidly Evolving Relationship between Hollywood and Japanese Animation, Manga, Television, and Film

“…Peter Chung ( Aeon Flux ) and Michael Arias ( The Animatrix ), to name a few, provide valuable and very accessible opinions. However, if readers are looking for a description of the visual codes of anime, perhaps they should refer to more specific works within the academic field for a contextualized description of ‘limited animation’ (LaMarre, 2002; Steinberg, 2006). In addition to the interviews, extracts from amateur works, derived from the author’s own manga class at the University of South Carolina, also illustrate this study of the manga/anime visual codes, whether they are in a pure or hybrid form.…”

Crowdfunding Japanese Commercial Animation: Collective Financing Experiences in Anime

“…Unlike the artistic manga eiga (manga films; LaMarre, 2008: 125) of which Hayao Miyazaki is such a notable exponent, the anime genre is still predominantly a television product, a continuation of the style established by Mushi Pro's Astro Boy-traceable in turn to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons in its use of limited animation. The existence of anime depends crucially on its promotional usefulness as one of the strategies developed when production committees (seisaku iinkai, Steinberg, 2012: 172) involved in the media mix (the cross-media alliances between different actors of Japanese cultural industries, including publishers, animation studios, game developers, music labels, and merchandisers; Ito, 2004) agree to the commercial exploitation of a successful manga (the case of Astro Boy as studied extensively by Steinberg in 2006Steinberg in , 2009Steinberg in , 2012Steinberg in and 2013, video game (Pokémon; Tobin, 2004) or character design (Hello Kitty; Yano, 2013). Thus, the animation studios responsible for the adaptation of these narrative universes to television series are generally no more than an important cog in the machine constructed by the production committees, one-time alliances driven by the aim of minimising risks and sharing losses in the creation of new media mixes.…”