Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation [Paperback]

Antonia Levi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 1998

Why are Westerners of all ages now so fascinated by Japanese animated films, movies made purely by Japanese animators for Japanese audiences? The U.S. audience for Japanese animation ranges from millions who don't even know that what they're watching is Japanese, to the growing anime cult, with anime fan clubs on almost every college campus, as well as anime fan magazines and social anime sections in video stores. In Samurai from Outer Space, Antonia Levi uncovers the hidden meaning of Japanese animation: the symbols and stories drawn from Shinto, Buddhism, and Japanese art - the things that Western viewers will overlook unless they are pointed out. With 20 color illustrations, Samurai from Outer Space is both an introduction for beginners and a goldmine of information for the already addicted.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Japanese animation, also known as anime, is rivaled only by karaoke in terms of Japanese impact on U.S. culture. Anime fan clubs flourish on college campuses and on the Internet, and anime proliferates in U.S. video stores. In this first book-length study of the form, Levi asserts that anime is designed by Japanese for Japanese. Using her doctoral studies in Japanese history to good effect, she explains anime as it relates to Buddhist and Shinto traditions, Ninja and Samurai myths, Confucianism, woodblock painting, traditional theater, and contemporary Japanese culture. At the same time, Levi tries to account for anime's popularity among American "Generation X" fans, or otaku. Her study is consequently as much about the United States as it is about Japan and, happily, yields insights into both cultures for scholars and zealous lay readers alike. A fine addition for cultural studies collections.?Neal Baker, Dickinson Coll. Lib., Carlisle, Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

American interest in the high-tech Japanese animation called animethe products of which feature childlike, saucer-eyed characters and range the genres from science fiction to sex comedy--is burgeoning. Video stores devote special sections to anime, and there is a huge anime presence in Internet newsgroups and home pages. According to Levi, this growing popularity is due not only to imaginative stories and visual appeal but also to the insight into Japanese culture anime affords. The cartoons are modern Japan's folktales, Levi says, and reveal aspects of the nation's psyche that range from its view of mortality to its conception of woman's role in society. Aimed at enlightening the uninitiated, Levi's study is less an anime guide than an almost scholarly text that, besides examining the psychological reasons for the cartoons' appeal, compares anime to American cartoon animation, traces its connections to Japanese art and theater, and demonstrates that many anime plots are based in Japanese religion. A valuable addition to film, popular-culture, and Asian studies collections alike. Gordon Flagg

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Product Details

• Paperback: 169 pages
• Publisher: Open Court (December 30, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812693329
• ISBN-13: 978-0812693324
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #870,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Understanding what, exactly?, June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation (Paperback)

Levi's book is a good introduction to anime 'fandom' in America. However, while it presents one somewhat interesting way to 'read' Japanese cartoons, it wholly fails to live up to its title. This book is not qualified to help readers "Understand Japanese Animation" (as if that were a straightforward question waiting for a simple answer). On the other hand, it does give us a good example of how Americans often choose to categorize and view cartoons from Japan (and even Japan itself). The book focuses on titles that have been translated and released on video in North America; titles not released in the U.S. by the time of the book's printing (even many of Japan's most influential anime titles) are all but ignored. MIYAZAKI Hayao, for years the most popular director of animated films in Japan and a household name even among non-Japanese anime 'otaku', is barely mentioned. There are also several minor factual errors, and when the book edges toward sociological reporting on Japan (the chapter on women, for example), the results are confusing and misleading to say the very least. This book places an exotic veil over Japanese animation that serves to color standing Western assumptions rather than open ideas for cross-cultural understanding. Not recommended.

Academic criticism of anime has a long way to go in the West, but Schodt and Schilling may be able to offer more "understanding" (and better researched) glimpses into this area of Japanese media and literature.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No reference book--but a fine general overview of anime, August 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation (Paperback)

I read this book while working on a college paper comparing Manga and American Comic books, for a class which focused on American Culture influences on American comics. I found this book to be informative and useful in the respect that it helped me see where japan's culture has influenced its anime and manga. As a college student myself, I'd have to say the book read like a college paper, with some loose ends and a few contradictions, but overall I thought it was much more helpful and informative than troubled. I was a little irked that the author chose only to use older translated titles for examples, but I can see her point in doing this, ie, it's too hard for the casual reader to get ahold of the newer or non-commercially released titles. to me it seems like this book was written by an otaku primarliy for anime newbies, who have just gotten a tiny glimpse of anime and want to better understand it. In this respect I think it works really well, if I knew someone who had just gotten into the hobby I would highly reccommend it. Also, I really liked the author's writing style; it was not dryly academic, but rather, personable and entertaining, and I liked that (though other people may not appreciate that, since they like their info cold and hard). It made the book a very quick read, and it was easy to absorb the information. This is no reference book, by any means, but it's a good general overview of anime.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fills a Gap, but Could Have Used a Bit More Work, August 23, 1998

By 

Andrew Carey (Newtown, CT, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samurai from Outer Space: Understanding Japanese Animation (Paperback)

To begin with the positive comments, Ms. Levi's book is one which America very much needs. She gives a good overview of anime, describing the characteristics which distinguish it from American animation, explaining that it's not all perversion and violence, as seems to be the belief of many less-informed Americans, elucidating some of the cultural symbols used by anime creators, and, most importantly, stating forthrightly that anime is _not_ "cartoons." Drawing her examples from a good mix of films and series both more and less known in America, she attempts both to explain the appeal of anime to many "Gen-X" people and to introduce the artform to a wider audience. That said, the work has several serious flaws. First off, it should have had tighter editing. At several points, Ms. Levi repeats information which she has given just a few paragraphs earlier. At others, she contradicts herself within the space of two pages. Secondly, she seems to have a curious lack of knowledge about Western cultures. While this is a characteristic I have noticed in some other Westerners who have made intensive study of Asian cultures, it is hardly excusable in an author who attempts to make comparisons between Asian and Western traditions. Particularly irritating is her obvious bias against Judeo-Christian beliefs; most notably, she tries to blame the refusal of American entertainment to deal with death, particularly by killing off a "good" character, on a supposed fear that this would somehow weaken the commitment of viewers to Judeo-Christian morality. This is patently ridiculous, as this tendency has far more to do with the secular pseudomorality of American consumerism than any religious tradition. Anyone more familiar with the true spread of Western cultures, beyond the shallowness of American pop culture, will note that many of the attitudes she attempts to claim as uniquely Japanese, such as admiration of heroism independent of the cause it supports and an understanding that heroic persons don't always win, are found throughout Western tradition. Has she never heard an old soldier speak respectfully of his former foes? Has she never heard of the Easter Rising, the Battle of Culloden, the Lost Cause?