Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke

Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation. By Susan Napier. Hardcover, 311 pages. Palgrave Press, 2003.With the popularity of Pokémon still far from waning, Japanese animation, known as anime to its fans, has a firm hold on American pop culture.However, anime is much more than children's cartoons. It runs the gamut from historical epics to sci-fi sexual thrillers. Often dismissed as fanciful entertainment, anime is actually quite adept at portraying important social and cultural issues such as alienation, gender inequality, and teenage angst. This book investigates the ways that anime presents these issues in an in-depth and sophisticated manner, uncovering the identity conflicts, fears over rapid technological advancement, and other key themes present in much of Japanese animation.Susan J. Napier is Associate Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture at the University of Texas, Austin.