/otaku/ - Japan / Otaku / Anime

here's a link to the mechademia journal: https://www.mechademia.net/
and where they are published: https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/461

Absolutely not! Academic writing on anime is awful awful trash. I have some respect of Hiroki Azuma, but I wouldn't trust anyone in Western academia writing about it. Most modern academics are insufferably brain dead. If you want to learn about anime, learn from an otaku or a hobbyist. There probably are some good academic papers out there but I would be suspicious. Remember, academics are hijackers. They will waltz into your scene, write a bunch of semi ignorant stuff on it, and then declare themselves the experts, turning you into an object of their studies. I haven't heard of Mechademia before though. Good scholarship (which is not the same as academia) is hard to comeby these days. I guess people who are genuinely knowledgable would have something interesting to say about anime. I'm just suspicious of academics and their smug learned ignorance. I haven't seen anything I've liked yet. I have seen many good papers and books on Japanese society and culture from Japanese studies, history anthropology, linguists etc. but I don't like Western academic writing on anime.

Maybe you have some concrete recommendations for some good Japanese authors then? I wasn't trying to hear about western academics in particular.

>>8243
This is the sort of weebery that needs to be corrected with such reading. If anyone has some recommendations, I'd love to see them.

>>8244
Sorry. If you like Hiroki Azuma, you might want to check out Asada Akira. There's a collection on Japanese film theory by Naoki Yamamoto called Dialectics without Synthesis. This isn't strictly speaking anime-related, but worth checking out. Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn isn't an 'academic' work, but I consider it scholarly. The same with Okakura Kakuzo's Book of Tea. I really like this one. Heidegger is said to have stolen ideas from this book. Precarious Japan by Anne Allison is pretty good book. Robo Saipians Japanicus by Jennifer Robertson. Anthropology of the Machine: Tokyo's Commuter Train System by Fisch. If you are into Japanese religion, I'd recommend A New History of Shinto by Breen and Teeuwen amd Sourcebook in Shinto by Stuart Picken. There are a lot of really fun anthropology papers on Japan that focus on everything from maid cafes to conventions too but you have to surf scihub to find good ones. I wouldn't waste money and energy focusing on a specific journal, only do that if you find an academic who's work you like.

I can't think up of anything else right now, but if I get the time, I could go digging for some of the books and papers for you. If I see other fun papers on Japan, I'll be sure to post them here.

>>8245
Sorry. I shouldn't have been so kneejerk. I apologize. Generally, I don't enjoy academic works on Japanese media because I'm generally very cynical and pessimistic towards academia, and Westerna academia specifically. I only have a preference for Japanese academics because they are less likely to be intellectual tourists. Good scholarship is rare these days. There's lots of sloppy work, lazy analysis, tone deaf arrogance, and lack of reflection with that crowd. I recognize that I have many of these flaws within myself too and struggle to rectify them.
One thing that really bothers me is the way academics can kill fun subcultures.

>>8240
I'd say the most 'important' anime writer/theorist other than Azuma would be Thomas Lamarre (his 2009 work specifically), and other writers to look into would be the Journal of Anime & Manga Studies, Dani Cavallaro, Susan Napier, and Christopher Bolton, and if you distrust western academics like the first guy, then Yoko Arisaka and Sakabe Megumi have offered some commentary on Japanese art (not anime specifically)

>>8244
If Japanese language papers are acceptable, A. Tachyon provides neoclassical interpretations of otaku subjects that stand in stark contrast to the decadent works of other modern academics. Compared side-by-side, other works appear as gross imitations, senseless regurgitations of buzz-words as the author attempts to please the algorithms in the minds of the inbred community that consumes such works. Often considered too provocative by Western academics, Tachyon ignores their criticisms. She is unafraid to cut to the heart of difficult moral questions, one of the few authors who coöperates with soaplands and JAV studios to get stories of the experiences there straight from the horse's mouth. This type of subject matter has led to her censure from all English language journals, but she still regularly publishes in certain Japanese circles.