2025/07/03 by Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies #Japanese History and Culture #Jungian Analytical Psychology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/17564905.2025.2610168
openalex publication_date 2025/07/03 · openalex created_date 2026/01/08 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
This paper tries to map a discursive field of anime studies and criticism by focusing on ‘anime’ as a concept. Its main objective is not to present a new definition of anime but to highlight some major stumbling blocks that hamper the construction of a critical perspective necessary for understanding the concept of anime historically. To achieve this objective, it is important to scrutinize or problematize the relation between anime and animation, the question of historical periodization, the national identity of anime, the idea of medium specificity, the conundrum of cultural legitimation, etc. The objective here is not to produce a definitive definition of anime, but to critically examine the conceptual frameworks within which the term operates. The fact that the question ‘what is anime?’ has been repeatedly asked without yielding a definitive answer is as significant as the content of the question itself. After all, ‘what is anime?’ did not become an important question accidentally. It is therefore imperative to unpack the historical meaning of the question before attempting to answer it.