Anime at the Academy

[Aaron Gerow]

Just a note on some related issues.

First, there is a Nihon Animeshon Gakkai, which is in some ways a spin 
off of the Nihon Eizo Gakkai, which still has an Animeshon Kenkyukai. 

http://www.zokei.ac.jp/jsas/

Interestingly, there is a consciousness in this society that they don't 
do enough studies of contemporary anime (the choice of "animation" is 
probably significant). Perhaps academic studies meant a certain 
marginalization of contemporary commercial animation?

Secondly, last year a Nihon Manga Gakkai was formed. I attended the 
founding session. They just had their second annual sokai last weekend, 
along with a panel discussion.

http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/hyogen/manga-gakkai.html

Since the society is supported by Kyoto Seika Daigaku, which has a manga 
department, there is a definite effort to try to use an academic 
background to bring credibility to the medium. At the same time, the 
society is consciously trying to avoid being simply academic, and thus 
bridging the gaps between academics, private researchers and artists. 
(Though my sense at both sokai was that few have thought through the 
problems of bridging such gaps. A poorly considered anti-academicism 
evident among some members was evidence of that.) 

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171