Abstract

“Through these new technologies, the contradictory stereotypes of Japaneseness have assumed new forms; the new technologies have become associated with the sense of Japanese identity and ethnicity.”    _Morley & Robins 2004

Japanese comic images, often used in old and new media, benefit from a plasticity consolidated by the new technologies, which allows them to have singular viral properties. Animation, by having an origin in comics and later called anime, are impregnated with references to the nuclear holocaust. Since the post war period they have developed and conquered a ground of their own – pertinent and propitious with new media such as videogames. These days Japanese animation and their byproducts are meant to perform storytelling among young people – in a post-conflict society – which is still Japan.

• Herlander Elias, MCS and PhD Student, University of Beira Interior (UBI), Covilhã, Portugal

Full Text (PDF) p. 70-84