Japanese Pop Culture, Identification, and Socialization: The Case of an Italian Web-Community

Abstract

Mutual Images is a semiannual, double-blind peer-reviewed and transcultural research journal established in 2016 by the scholarly, non-profit and independent Mutual Images Research Association, officially registered under French law (Loi 1901).Mutual Images' field of interest is the analysis and discussion of the everchanging, multifaceted relations between Europe and Asia, and between specific European countries or regions and specific Asian countries or regions.A privileged area of investigation concerns the mutual cultural influences between Japan and other national or regional contexts, with a special emphasis on visual domains, media studies, the cultural and creative industries, and popular imagination at large.

The occidental otaku: Portuguese audience motivations for viewing anime

“…Japanese animation has a global audience (Athique, 2016; Cooper-Chen, 2011, 2012; Eng, 2012; Hernández-Pérez et al, 2017; Jorge and Navio, 2013; Meo, 2016; Palumbo and Calabrò, 2017; Santiago Iglesias, 2017). However, the reasons for its popularity outside Japan are subject of opposing views, foreshadowing the complexity of its reception.…”

“…Many of these intermediaries were ‘pop cosmopolitans’ (Jenkins, 2006) trying to escape from local communities and representations towards more diverse and global ones – or, at least, towards ‘stereotyped images of Japan within their construction of “transcultural” fan identities’ (Hills, 2002, p. 12). Despite the possible escapist motivations mentioned above, which are also present in more recent works (Palumbo and Calabrò, 2017), fandom is recurrently seen through the lens of participatory culture (Jenkins, 1992). For instance, anime’s popularity in the United States – namely the ones that were not commercially distributed outside Japan – has much to do with college fan clubs, fans’ networked produsage and, nowadays, participation in online sites (Cooper-Chen, 2012; Eng, 2012; Fennell et al, 2012; Ito, 2012b).…”

“…In particular, age could be a relevant variable since anime is sometimes associated by non-viewers with children, to whom, like any other cartoon, these contents were originally broadcasted in Western markets (Hernández-Pérez et al, 2017; Jenkins, 2006). This is perceived as a social constraint by the otaku themselves (Jorge and Navio, 2013; Palumbo and Calabrò, 2017). RQ3 and RQ4 focus on the degree of commitment and involvement, relating viewing motivations to the number of episodes watched per week and the degree of fandom.…”