Project staff: Mimi Ito, Brendan Callum, Renee Saito
Former project staff: Annie Manion, Rachel Cody
Collaborators: Ryan Shaw, Jennifer Urban

The goal of this study is to construct a series of ethnographic case studies of the activities of English-language fandoms of Japan-origin media, particularly anime (animation) and related media such as electronic games, trading cards, and manga (comics). Building on Ito's prior research on children's engagement with new media in Tokyo, this study adds a transnational dimension, focusing on how English-language fans translate, subtitle, share, and remix Japan-origin media. The project aims for a broad ethnographic description of the diverse range of fan activities that comprise anime fandom, focused on the US and English-language online sites. These sites and activities include anime clubs, anime and game conventions, fan subtitling groups, online “shrine” sites dedicated to particular characters or series, anime news and discussion sites, file sharing sites, internet relay chat, anime music videos, fan art, and fan fiction.

Anime fandoms and transnational otaku groups represent a unique case study in youth activism and remix cultures, providing examples of creativity and social mobilization as ignited by passion for particular forms of cult media. Anime fans have constructed a grass roots movement to make Japan-origin media available to an English-speaking public. Further, they construct derivative works of fan art, video, and fiction that represent emergent forms of communication and creativity keyed to the digital age. These networks of amateur cultural production exhibit unique forms of learning, sharing, and reputation systems that can inform our understanding of how digital media can facilitate lateral and peer-to-peer knowledge communities.

This project has also benefited from prior research by Rachel Cody, Annie Manion, and Ryan Shaw, which looked respectively fan fiction, anime clubs, and anime music videos as part of their undergraduate and master's theses. We are also collaborating with Jennifer Urban at the USC Law School to analyze the legal dimensions of the practices we are documenting.

Related Publications

Ito, Mizuko. In Press. The Gender Dynamics of the Japanese Media Mix. Yasmin Kafai, Jill Denner, Carrie Heeter, and Jen Sun Eds. Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming.. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Ito, Mizuko. In Press. "Mobilizing the Imagination in Everyday Play: The Case of Japanese Media Mixes". Sonia Livinstone and Kirsten Drotner Eds., International Handbook of Children, Media, and Culture.

Ito, Mizuko, In Press. “Technologies of the Childhood Imagination: Yugioh, Media Mixes, and Everyday Cultural Production” to appear in Joe Karaganis Ed., Structures of Participation in Digital Culture.

Ito, Mizuko. 2006. “Japanese Media Mixes and Amateur Cultural Exchange” In Digital Generations, edited by David Buckingham and Rebekah Willet. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Ito, Mizuko 2005. “Otaku Literacy” a blurb by Mimi Ito in the monograph of the Summit for 21st Century Literacy

Cody, Rachel. 2005. “Rhythm Emotion: An Ethnographic Study of Online Gundam Wing Slash Fans.” An undergraduate thesis for the Department of Anthropology, University of Southern California.

Manion, Annie. 2005. “Discovering Japan: Anime and Learning Japanese Culture.” A Master's Thesis Submitted to the East Asian Studies Center, USC.

Eck's ID

AtheLICE's fanart for Rayemars' “Ripple Effect”

Eck “Bleed for Me”