Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime
Since the end of the Second World War—and particularly over the last decade—Japanese science fiction has strongly influenced global popular culture. Unlike American and British science fiction, its most popular examples have been visual—from Gojira (Godzilla) and Astro Boy in the 1950s and 1960s to the anime masterpieces Akira and Ghost in the Shell of the 1980s and 1990s—while little attention has been paid to a vibrant tradition of prose science fiction in Japan.\ \ Robot Ghosts and...
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Since the end of the Second World War—and particularly over the last decade—Japanese science fiction has strongly influenced global popular culture. Unlike American and British science fiction, its most popular examples have been visual—from Gojira (Godzilla) and Astro Boy in the 1950s and 1960s to the anime masterpieces Akira and Ghost in the Shell of the 1980s and 1990s—while little attention has been paid to a vibrant tradition of prose science fiction in Japan. Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams remedies this neglect with a rich exploration of the genre that connects prose science fiction to contemporary anime. Bringing together Western scholars and leading Japanese critics, this groundbreaking work traces the beginnings, evolution, and future direction of science fiction in Japan, its major schools and authors, cultural origins and relationship to its Western counterparts, the role of the genre in the formation of Japan’s national and political identity, and its unique fan culture. Covering a remarkable range of texts—from the 1930s fantastic detective fiction of Yumeno Kyûsaku to the cross-culturally produced and marketed film and video game franchise Final Fantasy—this book firmly establishes Japanese science fictionas a vital and exciting genre. Contributors: Hiroki Azuma; Hiroko Chiba, DePauw U; Naoki Chiba; William O. Gardner, Swarthmore College; Mari Kotani; Livia Monnet, U of Montreal; Miri Nakamura, Stanford U; Susan Napier, Tufts U; Sharalyn Orbaugh, U of British Columbia; Tamaki Saitô; Thomas Schnellbächer, Berlin Free U. Christopher Bolton is assistant professor of Japanese at Williams College. Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. is professor of English at DePauw University. Takayuki Tatsumi is professor of English at Keio University.
Introduction. Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime Christopher Bolton Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr. Takayuki Tatsumi viiProse Science FictionHorror and Machines in Prewar Japan: The Mechanical Uncanny in Yumeno Kyusaku's Dogura magura Miri Nakamura 3Has the Empire Sunk Yet?: The Pacific in Japanese Science Fiction Thomas Schnellbacher 27Alien Spaces and Alien Bodies in Japanese Women's Science Fiction Kotani Mari 47SF as Hamlet: Science Fiction and Philosophy Azuma Hiroki 75Tsutsui Yasutaka and the Multimedia Performance of Authorship William O. Gardner 83Science Fiction AnimationWhen the Machines Stop: Fantasy, Reality, and Terminal Identity in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Serial Experiments: Lain Susan J. Napier 101The Mecha's Bund Spot: Patlabor 2 and the Phenomenology of Anime Christopher Bolton 123Words of Alienation, Words of Flight: Loanwords in Science Fiction Anime Naoki Chiba Hiroko Chiba 148Sex and the Single Cyborg: Japanese Popular Culture Experiments in Subjectivity Sharalyn Orbaugh 172Invasion of the Woman Snatchers: The Problem of A-Life and the Uncanny in Final Fantasy: The SpiritsWithin Livia Monnet 193Otaku Sexuality Saito Tamaki 222Afterword. A Very Soft Time Machine: From Translation to Transfiguration Takayuki Tatsumi 250Publication History 261Contributors 263Index 265
