Edited by

The Computer Culture Reader

Judd Ethan Ruggill, Ken S. McAllisterand Joseph R. Chaney

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

QA76.9C66C662009

Dedication

111'1tj

I~

This volume is dedícated to all the people who have presented their workon computer culture at the Southwestffexas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference. You and your work make thecommunity what it ís.

.o

:1?1dI~S

The Cornputer Culture RcaderBdited by Judd Ethan Ruggill, Ken S. McAlJister, and Joseph R. Chaney

This book first published 2009 byCambridge Scholars Publishing

15 Angerton Oardens, Newcastle, NBS 2JA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DalaA catalogue record for Ihis book is available frorn the British Librnry

Copyrighl e 2009 by Judd Blhan Ruggill, Ken S. McAUiSlcr, Joseph R. Chaney,and corurlbutors,

AlI rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsystem, or transmiued, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise, withoutlhe prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-84718-556-8, ISBN (13): 9781847185S63

Chapter Seven

Aesthetic Reproduction in JapaneseComputer Culture: The Dialectical Histories

of Manga, Anime, and Computer Games

Jennifer deWinter

""' ..... t..':,;In its October 2004 issue, Playboy published a series of photographs-

computer images, actuaLly-under the feature title "Gaming Grows Up."Unlike Playboy's typical pictorial spread, this one depicted nude or nearlynude computer game icons such as BloodRayne (from her eponymous game),Mortal Kombat's Mileena, Tekken's Nina, and many others. Of course,computer game characters have often left their .pixilated .environmentsand appeared in the pages of gaming and hobby 1Stmagazmes, but s~chvenues are dedicated lo celebrating computer game culture, not purveymgdigital erotica. Increasingly, however, computer ~ame icons.and irnages .areappearing in mass and computer culture via comic book spin-offs, rnov.les,merchandise fan-created webpages that include still frames and fan-fiction,magazines dedicated to single characters, advertisements selling everythingfrom drinks to cars, and yes, even mainstream pomography. These icons andimages are but one example of the inñuence and penetr~tion of cornputergarne aesthetics into computer and mass culture. O~hers include televisióncar commercials depicting game-like interfaces framing the ads; a Coca Colacommercial parodying the Grand Theft Auto Iranchise; and music tra~ksthat reference computer games, such as Lil' Flip's "Game. Over," wh~chbases its beat and sorne of its Iyrics on Pac-Man. Notably, this a worldwidephenomenon: Lara Croft drinks Lucozade in Germany, while Pikachu fiieson the side of every Nippon Airways' Boeing 747-400.

The ubiquity of computer game aesthetics the world o~er c~Usfor greatercritical attention; aesthetic representations are always situationalíy-boundand culturally value-Iaden. As Ken S. McAllister argues, "the computer gamecomplex is dialectical, a complicated and ever-chang~g system constructedout of innumerable relationships among people, things, and symbols, al1of which are in tum connected to other vast dialectical systems" (2004,16). Tracing the dialectical relationships that inform and shape computer

(

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Aesthetic Reproduction in Japanese Computer Culture 109

game aesthetics within global markets is a difficult but important task, Inresearching the rise of computer game aesthetics, scholars must attend tothe local histories and cultures that give rise to certain artistic expressions invisual, audio, and linguistic representations of the world. This is 001 to saythat global influences should be ignored in favor of local influences; rather,the production, circulation, and consumption of texts act simultaneouslyin local and global contexts, and therefore both contexts demand attentionsimultaneously. This is especially true in computer cultures where, forexample, a person can access websites created in China, linked lo those inSouth Africa, and read in the US with the aid of a webpage translator.

As Irnmanuel Kant notes in Critique 01 Judgment, aesthetics providea way of artistically rendering and representing the world of ideas andphysícal objects through general agreement:

:,....')-~]

when [a man] puts a Ihing on a pedestal and calls it bcautiful, he demandsthe same delight from others. He judges not merely for himself, but for allmen, and then speaks of bcauty as if it were a property of Ihings. Thus hesays that the thing is beautiful; and it is not as ifhe counts on others agreeingwith him in his judgment of liking owing lo his having found Ihem in suchagreement on a number of occasions, but he demands this agreement ofthem. He blames Ihem ifthey judgediffercntIy, and denies them taste, whichhe still requires of them as something Ihey ought lo have; and lo this extentil is not open lO men lo say: Every one has bis own taste. This would beequivalent to saying that there is no such thing as taste, i.e. no aestheticjudgment capable of making a rightful claim upon the assent of all men.(1928,52)

..,")

..While useful in pointing out the necessity of agreement within an audience,Kant's definition of aesthetic judgment relies heavily on a universal conceptof beauty divorced from cultural differences, a concept presented asahistorical. Aesthetics are defined when previous concepts ofbeauty and artare dialectically challenged by new lechnologies, philosophies, economicsystems, c1ass structures, and so on, raising a number of questions about thenature of art (Adorno 1997). As a means of artistic representation, aestheticsare also mimetic, carrying within their endless resignifications a variety ofcultural ideologies, belief systems, and institutional power (Taussig 1993).

It is difficult lo define a single Japanese popular aesthetic, as each artistand era has a different look. Scott McCloud (1994) argues that Japanesecomic art is abstract and iconie, which aUows audiences to identify withthe characters and stories. Artistic styles have become synonyrnous witha manga/anime/computer game style, such as large eyes, white skin, large

110 Chapter Seven

1 1_.' ,(;

breasts for women, and large musc1es for men. Super-deformed characters(characters that are made diminutive for comedie emphasis) and shojocharacters (beautíful men and women with long ñowing light hair, tallwith long legs, ·and sparkling eyes) are also styles that are attributed to theJapanese drawing aesthetic. Bruce Lewis, however, would wam a non-Japanese audience about tbe dangers of over-generalizing the manga "look";manga has many looks assocíated with specific time periods in history aswell as with artists' personal styles (2005, 21).

In Ibis chapter, 1 trace the development of computer game aestheticsas they pertain to larger computer cultural practices, a development madepossible through the dialectic between newer computerized technologiesand already established popular art forms. Because any type of aestheticdevelopment is situational, influenced by an interplay of local histories andcultural practices on one hand and the global circulation of commoditiesand media on the other, 1 limit my focus to a history of Japan's computerculture with íts developed and developing computer game aesthetic. Here,I am detining computer culture as any aspect of mass culture that cannotbe produced, distributed, or maintained without the use of computerizedtechnologies, and the aesthetics that circulate within computer culture are ahintegral part ofthese practices ofwhich computer game culture is a subset.Such a lirnitation enables me to speak of a localized aesthetic developmentthat is simultaneously affected by and affectíng global trends in computerculture and general intemational circulation. SpecificaIly, 1 trace thedialectico-aestbetic exchange that is occurring between Japanese computerculture generally, and anime, manga, and other tertiary entertainmentindustries more specitically. Following this historical synthesis, I discussthe relevance ofthis aesthetic as it relates to both the local context of Japanand to global contexts, especially those that extend to the USo

My argurnent has two parts: tirst, the histories of manga, anime, andcomputer games have and continue to coevolve symbiotically. The mimeticrepresentations developed in one medium transfer to another, requiringrigorous examination ofthe ideologies encoded into those representations tounderstand certain subtexts, and disrupting negative representations wherepossible. Second, the joint histories of manga, anime, and computer gameaesthetics are also the joint histories of the econornies in which these threemedia circulate. As a result, these aesthetics have developed such that theyare both limited and limiting-limited by the accepted and safe aestheticwhile limiting the development of new media aesthetics by adding to thebody of accepted fonn-so that they can work symbiotically in the marketplace. As will become apparent, a "computer game" aesthetic cannot exist

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Aesthetic Reproduction in Japanese Computer Culture III

without mange and anime, and as such, it soon becomes impossible to talkabout an aesthetic that is unique to a single medium. Rather, what evolves isa manga/anime/computer game aesthetic.

Before brieñy tracing the histories of manga, anime, and computer games,(he representations they create and perpetuate, and their effects on computerculture at large, 1 first want to recognize the limitations of my argurnent.In arguing that aesthetic reproduction evolved simultaneously within tbedifferent media of manga, anime, and computer games, I make it difficultto talk about each medium separately. Indeed, I must necessarily simplifymy díscussion al certain points in this chapter to focus on a single medium.While the aesthetics developed in these three media were symbioticallydeveloping and circulating, and while the media-paper-based manga, cell-based anime, and computer-based games-ofien informed the developmentand techniques of one another, the fact remains that they are distinct mediathat need to be analyzed both individually and in relation to each other. It isalso the case that 1must limit the number of different influences I take intoaccount during this dialectical analysis. Were I to try to include influencessuch as specific political movements (e.g., the political and economicclimate of Japan), tertiary industries (e.g., toys, film, foreign animation, andso on), and cultural revolutions (e.g., the rapid industrialization ofthe 1960s,the parasite generation ofthe 90s, and the like)-all ofwhich also helpedto shape botb the media and the related aesthetics that came to domínatecomputer and mass culture in Japan-this contribution would be a book, nota chapter. Such is the trade-off of a dialectical anaJysis.

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A History of Aesthetics: Producing the Japanese LookAesthetics as both representation and art (whetber that art is mass

produced or is "high art") are inherently political. Representations, as StuartHall explains, are bound in structures of dominance that reify and reproducepolitical images exemplifying differences that are ambivalent

lt can be both positive and negative. lt is botb necessary for tbe productionof meaning, the formation of languagc and culture, for social identities anda subjective sense of the self as a sexed object-and al the same time, it isIhreatening, asile of danger, of negative feelings, of splitting, hostility andaggression towards the "Other," (1997, 238)

Art,too, ísambivalent and often contradictory, bothwithin the representationsthat art creates and the role that it plays as a cornmodity within a marketplace. For example, in his article "The Production of Belief," Pierre

112 Chapter Seven

Bourdieu explores the ways in which high- and low-brow art are created inrelation to capital:

h iti between "genuine" art and "commercial" art corresponds loI e opposmon .. di míethe opposition between ordinary entrepreneurs seeking imme tate ec~~o 1;rofit and cultural entrcpreneurs struggling lo accumulate spe.cl ica y

cultural capital, albeit al thc COSI oftemporarily renouncing economic profit,(1980,268)

The history of manga, anime, and computer games is t~e history .ofrepresentation and art in modern mass culture. As an evolvmg

haest~~t.IC,

the two-dimensional arts of these three media are tied to both I e ~o ItJCS

of representation and of art, and these politics have long been amblvalent¡For example, the nationalist faction of Japan used manga ~s m.eans oro aganda during the World War Il.At the same time, rev?l~tIOnanes ~sed

~a~ga to promote socialist and communist agendas. As artisuc expressl.ons,the aesthetic forms of manga, anime, and computer games are the SllbJ~tsof constant debate: Can manga be "genui.ne:' art in the sa~.e way a . a?,Gogh painting is or does it only reside within the realm of com~ercl~lhart because it is mass produced and proñt driven? Artists working wítthese aesthetics complicate this question with art shows featuring statues ofanime characters, photography with computer generated manga charact~rsimposed on the image, and serious computer games (garnes that emPhas~zeeducation and enlightenment, such as Sep!emb~r J 21h fro~ Pow~r ~o otGames 2003) that enjoya prominent place m vanous Irav~llDg e~hlblts ..

The following three sections ofthis chapte~ provld~ a brte.f outlineof this history in Japan, starting with manga, then introducing ant~e, andfinally discussing the computer game. as a final element 10 developing andreproducing a computer game aesthetic.

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Japanese Manga: From Edo Sexualityto Imperialist Propaganda .

The term "manga," from the Chinese ch.aract~rs mean~ng "randorn" (~man) and "picture" (iiID ga), includes cormc strips, coml~ books, graphicnovels and other forms of pictorial stories. The form en~oys tre~endous

larity in Japan, dominating the print-based entertamment industry,~~~~on Kinsella asserts that manga is a "strikingly cont.empot:ary cultural

h "(2000 20) in making her point that manga IS a umque form ofp enomenon , . . f Jcultural express ion grounded in the material condltlons o post-w~r. apan.To support this claim, she traces the means of production and the poltttcs that

Aesthetic Reproduction in Japanese Computer Culture 113

surround both the production and consumption of manga in modem Japan,arguing that manga has been a largely nationalist project that is enabled bycheap printing technologies and the fast consumption ofthe medium. WhileKinsella 's argument about the ways in which politics and technologieshave given rise to modern manga is undeniable, her implicatioo that mangais predominantly limited to a contemporary Japanese phenomenon thatevolved only within national borders with only briefbrushes with the rest ofthe world is shortsighted.

Japan has a long history of text and images together. Examples of whatmight be called "proto-manga" include Bishop Toba's Toba-e, a series ofillustrations from the twelfih-century, and eighteen!h-eentury illustraledtourist manuals (Nitschke J 993). The rise of the printing press in Edo Japanalso saw the rise of kibyoshi, pictorial comic fiction. Kibyoshi, according(o Adam Kern (1997), is a literary gen re that contains images, is markeledlo adults, and contains references lo contemporary persons, places, events,and so forth. In addition to the careful symbolism and stylistics ofthe word-based text, kibyoshi's symbolie and stylistic pictures were inJ1uenced bythe aesthetics of kabuki (a lower-class form oftheatrieal performance) andukiyo-e (woodblock paintiogs). In order to understand the complexity of akibyoshi narrative, audiences needed to be equally well versed in literary,theatrical, and visual tropes, and also be aware of the historical events ofthe time .

Kibyoshi would not exist in its current instantiation without thesimultaneous development of ukiyo-e. Literal1y translated as "pictures ofthe floating world," these woodblock paintings enjoyed popularity amongthe working c1asses of Japan during the Edo Periodo Al the same time, ukiyo-e were ridiculed by the cultural critics of Japan as "not art" until Europeanpainters and iIlustralors claimed otherwise. Ukiyo-e artists mass producedimages of kabuki, prostitutes in their dressing rooms, and even sexual scenes(a sub-ser of ukiyo-e known as shunga). Characteristies of this art forminclude a primary focus on the eharacters and foreground materials that thecharacters may inleract with, lítüe-to-no attention paid to the background,simple lines and shading techniques, and a simplislie rendering of facialdetails. While the charaeter representations in modem manga differ, thesebasic aesthetic practices are still visible.

A manga aestbetic continued to develop with the opening of Japan'sborders in 1853, when foreign comics and art styles entered the country.Rakuten Kitazawa (1876-1955) and Ippei Okamoto (1886-1948) wereinstrumental in popularizingArnerican cartoons and comic strips. Kitazawa 'scornie magazine Tokyo Puck (1905), in faet, is an exeeUent iUustration of

.. (

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114 Chapter Seven

how Japanese comic artists incorporated US and European ~omic stylesinto their traditional aesthetic and effectively invented a hybnd style thatis now recognizable the world overoThis new style selectively retai~ed theminimalist anention lo backgrounds characteristic of ukiyo-e, paid newattention 10 the 'details of the human form, and in some cases whitewashedor blended racial characteristics (Shimizu 1999). With Japan's entry intothe Sino-Japanese war, which subsequently transitioned into. WW11 as. aresult ofthe Manchurian Incident, manga's polítical agenda shifted from ItSliberal and democratic message of the Meiji and early Taisho eras towardnationalist and imperialist discourses that espoused Japanese supremacyover the world. The aesthetic changed as well, with depictions of Japanesesoldiers as tall, pale-skinned people in heroic poses as opposed .to C~ine~epeople, who were drawn as grotesque, cowering Asiatics with pigtails(Buruma 2003). In attempting to imitate the symbolíc power of Europe andthe US, Japan's aesthetic became more generic-charact~rs were made tolook Caucasian, or, ifnot Caucasian, then al least non-Asían.

(J

Manga and Anime: From Picture Booksto Moving Pictures

Anime-a Japanese abbreviation of "animation" and now us~dworldwide lo designare animation originating inJapan-had an early start 10Japan in the form of anirnated shorts. Oten Shimokawa's Muzuko Imokawa,the Door Keeper (lmokawo Muzuko Genkanban no Maki), for example, .wasa one-reel, five-minute short ñrst shown in 1917 (Patten 2004, 369). Silentera animators like Shimokawa continued to produce one to three reel shortswell into the 1930s which usually included content derived from Japanesefolk tales or imitations of contemporary foreign cartoons. Like manga,anime became a 1001 of the wwn propaganda machine, which producedfilms that depicted evil foreign powers as either homed devils or MickeyMouse clones attacking peaceful parades of Japanese toys (Clements andMcCarthey 2001, 438-39). So successful were these polemical shorts thatwartime propaganda money was allocated to make the ñrst full-lengthJapanese animation feature film, Momo/aro s Divine Sea Warriors, an ammethat glorifies the Japanese navy against malevolent foreignpowers. .

However it was not until after the war during Japan 's rapid reconstructlOnand industri;lization that anime joined manga in making tremendous stridesin productivity and popularity. Many of these strides are attributed b~tby no means limited to the work of Osarou Te~ka, ~fte2 referred to In

the popular press as the "God of Manga and Animatíon. Tezuka began

l~'"C~·t:~·, .. ".4t>-~-.- .-- r::

Aesthetic Reproduction in Japanese Computer Culture 115

his career with Mainichi newspaper, where he developed the manga NewT~easure I~land (Shintakarajima). His art style, heavily influenced by earlyDlsn~y arum~tors, made prominent use of the large eyes now traditionallyassociated with the Japanese manga and anime aesthetic. Tezuka used thisaesthetic to express greater emotion in his characters. In addition to theDisney influence, Tezuka also used takarazuka-a performance groupmade ~p. of women-as a source of inspiration, drawing on their "gaudyromanticísm and spectacular staging" (Schilling 1997, 264). After thesuccess of the anime version of his manga Alakazan the Great Tezukaorganized Mushi Productions, Japan's ñrst television animation studio. Thestudio's first release was Astro Boy tTetsuwan Atom) (Patten 2004, 279;~chodt I~96, 237). Also attributed to Tezuka and his contemporaries is thetntro~t1chon.a~d ~opularization of manga and anime themes that explorepost-tndustnahzatton, robots, cornputerized nations, humanity, and a hosto~other m.odem concems brought about by both a history intimately linkedwith atomíc bombs and a future of rapid industrialization.

In 1.95?, the manga magazines Shonen Magazine and Shonen Sundayrevo~uttoOlzed the manga industry by eollecting a number of manga titlestotaling hundr~s ~f pages an~ selling for a pittanee, barely coveringthe cost of publication. The artists who drew for these publications wereoften young poor people from the countryside who had no other means ofsupporting themselves after the war. The Shonen format became so popularthat many of these destitute manga artists became celebrities. This, in turn,attracted more publishers and aspiring manga artists so that wheo ShonenJump st~ed in 1968, the weekly eomic's editors began putting aspiringmanga artísts on contraer, ensuring that when the artists becaroe popularthey would stay with the eompany (Schodt 1996, 89). '

Manga books ~d magazines became best-sellers with the help of thetelevisión and toy industries, aod in fact would not have reached a level ofpublication success without that help. During the 1950s and 60s, televisiondeveloped al the same rapid rate as manga, and the relevant effect this hadwas the feasibility and profitability to produce and broadcast anime. Thebroadcast of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics helped boost television set salesto lO million u?its. Kinsella attributes the simultaneous development of apopular manga tndustry and the rise oftelevision as the reason the two caroetogether:

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The acceleration of manga production from a monthly to a weekly cycleenabled ~anga publishers lo keep up with the electronic pace of televisionbroadcasting, Rather than finding a formidable competitor in televisión

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116 Chapter Seven

."" .........-_ ...

the manga and television industries expanded alongside each other anddeveloped a symbiotic relationship. Serialized man~a storíes were ad~~tedinto televised animalion, which served to advertise further the originalmanga stories and inflate manga book sales. (2000, 31)

Anime often runs one season (26 episodes), which mean s that i~ fans ofthe narrative enjoy the series, they can then buy and rea~ the pnnt-b~sedmanga series. Additionally, manga and anime ofi.enhave different storyh~esor different endings, providing additional expenences t~ fans and ensunngrevenue from fans who wanted to know all possible e~dl~gs ".

Of course, manga and anime did not develop m Isola~lOn from thebroader entertainment market. With the rise of manga and anime also c~methe rise of commercial tie-ins, espeeially toys (e.g., Astro Boy, Godzilla,U/traman figurines). As Anne AlIison notes, these ~oys "were craftedmore for the tastes of a burgeoning consumer population at home whoseyouth were being raised on manga, anime, and TV aetion .heroes" (2006,65). Yuka Minakawa, in an interview wi~h ma~ga and anime author. andpundit Peter Carry, complicates the relationship between manga, ant~e,and toys. Minakawa explains '''The most popular ma.ng~will be made intoTV animations and the sueeessful TV animations will m tum spawn toys,robots in particular .... There was no question that people w~n~ed robots"(Carry 2005, 111).When asked the reason for t~e rob0t.~an.at.lclsmthroughbistory, Minakawa simply responded, ~"As 1 said, toys (Ibld.). T~us, themotivation for creating toys is closely eonnected to the success of amme andmanga as forros of entertaining advertisement. A pri.me i~dust~ exampleof Ibis is the anime Big O (Sunrise 1999-2000). An íntervrew with me~h~designer Keichi Satou and Director Kazuyos~i Katayama. makes exp~lclttbeir reLationship wilh the toy industry: Keichi Satou explains that the I~eafor Big O "started first as a gimmick for a toy," and once the pre-product~onstarted, Katayama explains, "[a)round that tune, there was a suggesttonthat we needed more robots 10 increase the 10y sales" (Hayward 2006).Interestingly, because the production studio Sunrise was a subcon~ractorfor the US production ofWamer Bros. Animation's Batman: The AnimatedSeries, producers adapted the Batman aesthetic style to Btg O. . .

Ofcourse, the fusion ofmanga, anime, and even toys IS ~ot Imear;.ttdoesnot always start with the manga artist's visiono These medlalentertammentindustries are closely related, and the people who work in them oftencollaborate with people from other media groups or ~ey move among thedifferent media productions, switching from manga art_lstto c~mputer .gamecharacter designer lo anime director. For example, Mlyazaki started 10 tbe

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Aeslhetic Reproduction in Japanese Computer Culture 117

anime industry in the 60s, and directed his first theatrieal release Lupin fIl:Castle 01Cagliostro in 1979. Based on that success, he was approached byAnimage, a popular monthly animation review magazine, to draw a mangaseries. He started his epic Nausicaa 01 the Valley 01the Wind (Kaze no Tan;no Nausicad¡ in 1982. This manga series ran until 1994, though Miyazakistopped production on it in 1984 while he worked on the animated filmversion of the tale. Miyazaki's manga and anime aestbetic did not fit intopreviously developed aesthetics; neither 1970s era cutsy girVmuscularman character type nor the androgynous bishojo (beautiful girls)/bishonen(beautiful boys) character type appealed to Miyazaki. Rather, he sirnplifiedanimation lines and developed a minimalist aesthetic with an emphasison character development. Miyazaki's films are now converted intomanga by taking screen shots, formatting the shots to a page, and addingspeech bubbles, again making explicit the ways in which these are oftencomplementary media that constantly inform and change one another.

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Manga, Anime, and Computer Games:Goodbye Animation Cells, Helio 3D

The golden age of manga and anime, reputedly starting in the 80ssurvived and even grew through the burst of tbe economie bubble in the90s, and remains an economie powerhouse. These decades also saw therise of the Japanese computer game. The computer game had a strongstart in Japan with arcades hosting such titles as Space Invaders (Midway1978) and Pac-Man (Midway/Namco 1979), and the industry only becamestronger in 1983 with the release of the Nintendo Famicom. Probably dueto graphic Iimitations, creators of early computer games did not draw frommanga and anime. Nevertheless, a strong manga infIuence is seen from thebeginning of entertainment computer games, with arcade art, box covers,and advertisements drawing from a manga aesthetic-Iarge eyes, squatbodies, and aetion poses. As eomputerized technology started to evolve,computer games began to close the aesthetic gap toward manga and anime.Anearly exampLeof this is Capcom 's Mega Man (1987). A humanoid robot,Mega Man resembles in many ways the character art and narrative plot toTezuka's Astro Boy.

The symbiotic relationships bctween manga, anime, and computer gamesbegan to develop in the late 70s and early 80s witb Game Center Arashi(the manga ran during 1978-1984 and the anime in 1982), an anime abouta boy who competes in tbe computer game world. Successful manga andanime franchises were developed into action games built around popular

l"fe, :r2r>.....

118 Chapter Seven

characters: Macross (NamcolBandai 1985), Urusei Yatsura (Micro Cabin1986), Dragon Bal/: Shenron no Nazo (Bandai 1986), Bikkuriman (Hudson1987), and so on. Beginning in 1989, eompanies developed role-play games(Hudson's 1989 game Susano-o Densetsu), strategy games (Megatech's1991 game Cobra Mission), shooting games (Capeom's 1989 game Area8K>, and many others. As the popularity of computer games rose, the numberof manga- and anime-based games matched pace. Game developers we:egetting their eharacters, narrative devices, visuals representanons, ~nd. msorne cases their formats from manga and anime. For example, beginningin the early 90s, eompanies developed computer based semi-interactivecomics based on both manga and anime, then marketed these digital comicsas games (for example, Hudson 's 1990 game Urusei Yatsura and 1993 garneFushtgi no Umi no Nadia; and Tokuma Shoten's 1999 game ClickManga/Dynamic Robot War 2). . ,

In Japan, thecomputer game aestheticdeveloped because ofthe médium sclose relationship with manga and anime. As a result, when computer gameproducers developed non-manga and anime-based games, the aestheticwas already firmly established in both the developers' experiences and theconsumers' expectations. Early pre-30 RPG games had simple graphics dueto hardware and software limitations that only allowed a certain number ofbits per image. As a result, these graphics portray movement and headsho~sof characters who are drawn in a manga-style with large eyes and multi-colored hair. Fighting games with similar gameplay differentiate themselvesthrough character-types and finishing moves, almost all of which areborrowed from or are borrowed by manga and anime (e.g., Capcom's StreetFighter [1987] characters resemble Flst ofthe North Star characters from themanga [1983] and anime [1986]), and subsequently influence non-Japaneseentertainment markets (e.g., Street Fighter the movie[1994]). These cross-influences are not just between Japanese media; Japanese and US games,for example, constantly influenced one another (e.g., Myst [Brederbund1993], The Legend o/ Zelda [Nintendo 1986], Lords o/ Midnight [BeyondSoftware 1984], and so on).

Moreover, as both hardware and software technologies improved as aresult of an ideological determinism as well as innovations introduced bycomputer producers and developers, the interplay between anime, manga,and computer games became visible, its shared aesthetics more apparent.8-bit images were rendered in 16-bit as early as 1984 in arcades and becamewidespread with the NEC Turbografx-16 in 1989. 16-bit graphics doubl~and doubled again in 1993, first with 32-bit graphics and then 64-blt.Graphics capability continued to increase al an amazing rate, and by 2007,

Aesthetic Reproduction in Japanese Computer Culture 119

game consoles have the ability to render high definition images al up toI080P. Furthermore, the processing speed of the 70s has increased steadythrou~ the yea~, which, coupled with increased memory and sophisticatedgraphic proce~slOg umts, enables more complex physics engines, narratives,character designs, and so on. Even the game cinematics resemble well-produced anime, with complex animations that are reminiscent of anime'sopening and closing credits (e.g., Wild Arms [Media.VisionI997J; Shadow01the Colossus [Team Ico 2005]). Computer games, which started in twodim.ensions, are now able to offer 3D environments with photo-realistícsetnngs and .characters. Computer games thus have multiple ways toreciprocate with manga and anime. In addition to the predictable move tocreate anime and manga based on successful computer games (e.g., Arethe Lad (1.999); Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005», computergames are Illfluenci.ng the technologies used to produce manga and anime,subscquently affecting the aesthetic look of all three media.. Computerized technologies allow artists to manipulate, layer, and reuse

different parts of a picture. Before computers had moved into the consumermainst~eam on the tide of computer games and productivity software, mangaand anime we~e .drawn by hand, painted or shaded, and pieced carefullytogether, As digital tools became more available, however, manga andamme artists developed techniques and computer programs to facilitate theirwork, a shift that ultimately affected their products' aesthetics. As computergame developers began to integrate digital animation and 3D environmentsinto their titles, so too did manga and anime creators. Today, many animeproducers use computer generated backgrounds with hand drawn charactercells lb~t are then scanned in to a computer for layering affects (e.g., Blue~ubmar¡~e #6 [1998J; Blood: The LaSI Vampire [2000)), creating what15 genencally called "digital animation." The use of cornputer graphicsand cell-based drawing is also employed in computer games. This shiftrepresents the last major production-side differentiation between anime andcomputer game development, excluding the unique factors of each mediumsuch as interactivity and exhibition modes.

Animation studios have also started to produce both shorts and featuresthat use 3D graphics originally developed by the computer game industry.Forexample, bothAppleseed(2004) andFinal Fantasy VII: Advent Children(2005) are 3D computer animated movies, one based on a comic and theother based on a computer game. Both of these movies use the Japanesecharacter aesthetic developed in 20, the same aesthetic that traditionallyhas been us~d in manga, :uume, and computer games. In this new style,however, animators combine the stylized 20 character aesthetic with 3D

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photorealistic backgrounds, sometimes to jarring and spectacular effect(Krikke 2006). Combining traditional 2D renderings with 3D capabilityenables animators to overcome previously unsuccessful attempts to translateall images completely into 3D photorea1ism; Final Fantasy: Spirits Withln(2001) atternpted to use photorealism for a science-fiction narrative, whichled critics and fans alike to laud the technologieal feats ofthe film as well ascriticize the film's characters for being sterile. As a result, a movie that cost$137 million to produce ultimately grossed just over $85 million worldwide(The Numbers 2007).

In addition to manga, anime, and computer game aesthetics beingafTected by their symbiotic relationship, the narrative content of the mediaalso has been affected, Computer games use narratives that begin inmanga and anime, and manga and anime creators produce narratives thatdirectly call upon computer game culture, such as characters using datinggame interfaces as metaphors to understand their relatíonships with others(e.g., Excel Saga (1997); Genshiken [2004]). Producers ha ve worked tofurther conjoin the worlds of anime, manga, and computer garnes, creatingnarratives that call on the audience to participate in all three in order to fullyengage in a story line. The best example of these multimedia narrativesis the .hacld/ franchise about multi-player online games. This franchiseincludes the four part .hacld/ computer game (2001-2003), the anime.hackl/sign (2002), the .hackllLegend of the Twilight manga (2002-2004)and anime (2003), and tbe Kadokawa Shoten novel.hackl/AI Buster (2002).The manga, anime, and PlayStation 2 games in the series were all producedand released simultaneously, with each medium providing a different partof the story (de Winter 2004).

Aesthetic PopularityJapanese manga, anime, and computer game aesthetics have developed

concurrently, and so too have their media. Popular art styles, jointcommercial ventures, and a committed fan-base have supported the growthof narratives told across these media. lndeed, seeing manga, anime, andcomputer games as sepárate entities that are merely Jinked by their similarvisual style is problematical. To say that these media are "similar" is tounderstate the historical relationship they have with one another-theevolution of computer garnes, for instance, would have followed a verydifferent trajectory in Japan had anime never existed. Sirnilarly, the late20111 Century explosion in popularity of manga and anime might not havehappened without the massive marketing campaigns of computer game

Aesthetic Reproduction in Japanese Computer Culture 121

companies such as Nintendo, Taito, and Bandai, all of which producedtitles constructed around currently circulating manga and anime series.Furtherrnore, the aesthetic style that developed simultaneously among thesethree media is difficult to pinpoint definitively.

The Japanese aesthetic remains popular both in its local context ofJapan as well as globally. US sources attribute tbe popularity of anime andmanga to complex stories and calligraphic art styles (Krikke 2006; Kelts2006; Napier 200 1). The dominant aesthetics are codified and taught viabooks (e.g., Graphic-Sha's popular series How lo Draw Manga), websítes(e.g., Manga University Tokyo <http://www.howtodrawmanga.com>). andsoftware (e.g., Manga Studio 3.0 [E Frontier]).

Additionally, manga, anime, and computer game fans create webpagesdedicated to their favorite titles and characters, interacting and affectinga broader computer culture. The anime turnpike (anipike.com) is one ofmany international link collections that include articles about new manga,anime, and computer games. Fans also create their own products thatthey then publish on the Internet, including music videos using clips frommanga, anime, and computer games. These creations are oflen judged infan-based and professional contests, such as the Anime Expo's music videocompetition. Additionally, fans use the Internet to distribute manga, anime,and computer games to the greater fan community añer having first paidto have these media subtitled or scripted. Indeed, it was the work of tbesefans, ignoring international copyright laws, that started and tben supportedJapanese popular media coming into US and other foreign markets at a timethat Japan did not look at non-Asían countries as possible markets (Leonard2005).

The historieal relationship between anime, manga, and computer gamesin Japan has continued to have a global presence, affecting and being affectedby global media flows. The dynamic crossings between Japan and the US,for example, can be seen in the cartoon Teen Titans. Originally a DC comicfrom the Batman universe, the text's character designs were changed to tolook more Japanese-big eyes, big feet, and the same emotive markers usedin Japanese anime-when adapted for television. The producers contractedPuffy Ayumi, a J-pop duo, to perforrn the opening theme song in bothEnglish and Japanese. Meanwhile, the popular US cartoon Power Puff Girlsis now being redrawn and produced in Japan for Japanese consumption.The Kingdom Hearts franchise, a fusión of Japanese character types withDisney standards, is amazingly successful both in the US and Japan, withthe 2006 release of Kingdom Hearts JI selling over a million units in tbe firstmonth (GameSpot 2006). Computer game critiques are even defining games

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against the Japanese aestbetic, so influential has that aesthetic become. Forexample, G4 awarded Star Wars: Knights ofthe Old Republic (LucasArts)Game of the Year in 2003 in part because it did not look like Japaneseanime.

While manga, anime, and computer game fans hail the Japaneseaesthetic, the faet remains that aesthetic reproduction is always embeddedin certain ideological understandings of the world. Tbese media share ahistory of imperial propaganda, xenophobic attitudes to non-Japanesepeoples, communal fear of a technological future based on a tragic past, andexaggerated physical and mental characteristics for males and females-and these representations are being circulated worldwide. Furthermore, asmuch as fans enjoy this aesthetic as something different, that differenceis superficial. While scholars have argued that these aesthetics grew up indifferent historical situations (Levi 1996; Napier 2001; Alison 2000), thefact remains that these media have always been worldwide commoditiesand thus have always interacted with other worldwide commodities andentertainment (e.g., Felix comic strips, Disney, Atari, and so on). As such,manga, anime, and computer games all became recognizable as part of othergenres and media; the homogenization of the media is an integral elementof the dialectic of manga, anime, computer games, and ultimately computerculture itself. This, as Adorno and Horkheimer explain, has lead to thedevelopmenl of connoisseurship: "the difference between the Chryslerrange and the General Motors products is basically illusionary strikes everychild with a keen interest in varieties. What connoisseurs discuss as goodand bad points serve only to perpetuate the semblance of competition andrange of choice" (1993, 33). The appearance of difference between Disneyand Studio Ghibli, between Square Enix and Electronic Arts, betweenMarvel Comics and Shonen Jump not only perpetuates the semblanceof cornpetition, but also functions as an integral part of the expansión ofmarkets both in Japan and global arenas. As the range of choice decreases,the reach ofsimilar products increases, whether those products are the mediathemselves (manga, anime, computer games, and so on) or the aestheticrepresentations of those media.

Artists have lo be careful not to be too different when creating their"look." Publishers and producers know what has soId well in the past, andso long as artists approximate that style, then small differences are not onlyallowable, they are promoted. More limiting than the idea of"tried and truewith a twist" is the constant interplay between the three media and theirtertiary products (toys, merchandise, and so on). In his article "Manga SellsAnime-and Vice Versa," Calvin Reid (2004) traces the marketing practices

Aestbetic Reproduction in Japanese Computer Culture 123

of anime and manga companies in the US, noting the ways in which the twomedia industries not onIy enjoy tbe crossover from fans who like an animeseries and then move to the manga, but also the ways inwhiéh tbe companiespromote this consumptive practice by adding coupons for the anime in amanga title or bundling manga and anime together to incite consurners tobuy future disks or books. This makes good marketing sense and affects theproduction of these series and franchises in Japan. Increasingly, Japaneseproducers conceive of anime, manga, and computer games all selling oneanother, not only in Japan but worldwide. This means that executives needto develop franchises that base their appeal on familiarity as much as (andsometimes more than) quality. This business strategy makes it unsurprisingthat computer games resemble anime, and that anime resembles manga.The circulation of manga, anime, and computer garnes as a kind of wovencornmodity Iimits creative freedom at the site ofproduction. Thus, computergarnes are described as "anime-like," and anime as "manga" movies.

Conservative production practices affect how these media are adaptedand used in computer culture as a whole. Computer culture can createradical images and texts-the technologies exist. Media artists are creatingpioneering work in data visualization, cultural representations, innovativehardware designs, and so forth. And yet, the visual norm on Japanesewebsites are either those perfected by popular magazines-photographs ofbeautiful people in particular poses-or they adhere to the manga/anime!computer game format, with caricatures that are generic enough to comefrom any one of a thousand publications. Additionally, US and Japanesefans of this aesthetic are not slriking out on their own to develop uniquestyles; rather, they meticulously copy the look, learn it, and try to developan art style that is only recognizable as Japanese. An added complicationis that anime, manga, and Japanese computer games are onIy successfulif people with Japanese names create them. Consumption practices ofworldwide audiences dictate that attempts by non-Japanese artists to breakinto the manga field, for instance, rneet with failure or mediocre success inthe worldwide markets. Thus, the Internet is the only forum that US artistsdrawing in a Japanese style can publish in, which affords liule profit exceptthat made by merchandising of'f-shirts, mugs, and so forth.

. The popularity of Japanese manga, anime, and computer games is notwithout complications. According to a 2004 report from the Japan ExtemalTradeOrganization (lETRO), manga, anime, and computer games are one ofJapan's largest economic (and cultural) exports. As consumers, Americansare interacting wíth these cultural exports; however, the relationshipsbetween the US and Japan are political and often unbalanced, which gives

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rise to a different semiotic reading of representations. For example, thekimono is a cultural trepe often employed in Japanese popular culture, whichnostalgicaUy refers to a pre-globalization history during which al! womenwore kimonos. While this image, reproduced constantly in manga, anime,and computer games, is imbricated in ideological complexity, conflatingwomen with nationhood, it carries different meaning from the popularreadings of the kimono in the Westem colonial imagination. The woman inthe kimono is often interpreted as "geisha," and not the performing artiststhat they once were but the prostitutes that US military interacted withduring World War n. This is merely one example ofmany in which differentcultural histories carry different serniotic codes to certain representations.This history, nevertheless, is important to consider, as power, inequality, andcultural resistance are always embedded in the representations that make upthe manga, anime, and computer game aesthetic in the USoThe practices of production, circulation, and consumptio'n of manga,

anime, and computer games are symbiotically connected worldwide,and in tum they directly affeet the ongoing dcvelopment of a transmediaaesthetic. The effects of anime on computer games, computer games ontechnology, and so forth cannot be overstated, for appealing to the aestheticrepresentation of one automatically appeals to the aesthetic representationof the other two. As computer culture adopts computer game images,interfaces, and characters, so too is it adopting these same things from animeand manga. As 1 have argued abo ve, this adoption is not limited to Japan.The popularity of Japanese popular culture as a soft export means that tbesemedia are affecting the production, marketing, and consumption of US-produced media. Anime characters are in US gaming magazines, Japanesegame characters are used in MTV advertising carnpaigns, and Japanesemanga now routinely appears in syndication in US newspapers (e.g., VonVanHunter and Peach Fuzz). Anime, manga, and computer games havenot only coevolved with each other, but are also coevolving with computerculture in general.

Chapter Eight

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Fantasy and Finance: Play Money andComputer Game Culture

Joyce Goggin

As computers become an evermore-essential part of contemporaryIife~the culture that surrounds thern has grown to fill, extend, and displacenonons ?f cultural spaces. Computer games are arguably among the most?ompelhng examples of this kind of extended cultural space, so compellingIn fact that they more or less arrived with the notion of addiction andcompulsive playing. In sorne cases this is relatcd to computer games'capac~ty open up ~r~ath-taking landscapes for players to explore, drawingthem I~to what Williarn Gibson described as "the space games project...Sornekind of actual space behind the screen" (Cava 11aro 2000, 63). This isthe sort of technological expansion to which Marshall McLuhan referred asan "extension ofman," because technology both literally and metaphoricallyextends human reach, perception, and capacities. While McLuhan wroteat length about how human beings become increasingly technologicallyextended, he saw games in particular as mean ingfu1 "extensíons of theanimal organisrn" because they provide "faithful models of culture" andpa~all~lpossible worlds or vistas in which to work through the challenges ofdaily life (1964, 209). Referring likewise to games' capacity to push out tbeparam~ters of th.eexperiential ~orld, .Henry Jenkins cites a 1998 advertisingcampaign fo~L!,e by th~Sword ID which the developers claimed that playerswould be privileged with "complete freedom of movement" in the gameworld (2000, 264).Such views of play and games as extensions of the real world that have

the capacity to give players a sense of freedom, can be lraced to a traditionthat ~egan with lmmanuel Kant's conceptualization of games as self-contained worlds that afford an extended arena in which lo play out desíres,free of .external ~oals or purposes.' In Frederich Schiller 's famous essay onaestheuc edu~a.tton, he. also took play seriously as a philosophical conceptan.das an activrty that IS"autotelic," free of purposiveness yet significant. 2It ISthe dual nature of playas both without purpose and meaningful, which

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I r

Contributors

Marlin Bates, IV is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Directorof Forensics at University of the Pacifico He has been involved in playingand studying video games since his parents bought him an Atari 2600 in1978, and has been studying the ur-Real world since 1999.

Margaret Batschelet is an Associate Professor of Communication at theUniversity ofTexas at San Antonio, where she has been teaching Web writingand Web page design since 1995. She has also taught courses in professionaJwriting, desktop publishing, and new media theory. She is the author ofseveral textbooks, as well as artieles on rhetoric and designo In addition, shehas created Web sites for both commercial and nonprofit elients. Her mostrecent book is XHTMLlCSS Basics for WebWriters (Prentice Hall).

James J. Brown, Jr. is an Assistant Professor of English at WayneState University, where he teaches courses in rhetoric, writing, and newmedia. His research sits at tbe intersection of rhetorical theory, ethics, andtechnology, and has been published injoumals such as College Composittonand Communication and Leisure Studies.

Andrew Chen is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science andInformation Systems at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He obtainedhis Ph.D. in Computer Science from Michigan State University in 2005.He has blogged and presented on blogging al popular culture conferences.His dissertation topic was graph theory, his research interests also involvecomputer culture, and he was formerly a yoga instructor.

Mary-Louise Craven is an Associate Professor in the CommunicationStudies Program at York University. She teaches courses in effectivecommunication across various genres, issues in critical technology, feministapproaches to technology, and theoretical perspectives on interactive artand entertainment. Her major areas of interest include studies in historieand emerging literacies, and the impacts of various electronic interfaceson users. Lately, she has moved beyond her genre analyses of electronicmedia to look back at the messages cootained on Edwardian postcards asprecursors oftext messages.

Jennifer deWinter is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at Worcester

Contributors 319

Polytechnic Institute and an affiliated faculty roember of the Institute'sInteractive Media and Digital Game Development programo She bringstogether her interests in digital media theory, computer game studies, visualand spatial rhetorics, and Japanese rhetorics and popular culture to studyboth the intentional and unintentional effects of new media convergence.

Joyce Goggin is an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam,where she teaches literature, film, and new media. She has publishedartieles on literature, film, and computer games, as well as on gambling,money, and the history ofplaying cards. Her otber research interests includeintermediality, post 9/11 culture, risk, finance, Las Vegas, and the leisureindustry.

Daniel Griffin is a graduate student in the School of Information Resourcesand Library Science at the University of Arizona and an independentscholar. His research interests include the rhetoric and branding within andsurrounding media adaptations, the challenges of archiving digital media,and the transformative potential of comedy.

Kylie Jarrett is a Lecturer in Multimedia at the Centre for Media Studiesat the National University of Ireland Maynooth. She has an abiding interestin the polítical economy of new media, with a particular emphasis on thecommerciaJ Web. Her recent studies ha ve focused on podcasting as a forroof broadcasting talk, and she is currentIy embarking on an investigation ofGoogle and its exercise of media power.

Montea KjeUman-Chapin is an Assistant Professor of art history atEmporia State University. She is interested in the dialogue betweencanonical and popular forms of the visual, as well as the implications ofdigital reproduction. Her essays ha ve appeared in such joumals and booksas Art History, Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, Partisan Canons, and ThomasKinkade: The Artist in the Mall.

Kevin Moberly is an Assistant Professor of English at Saint Cloud StateUniversity. His research focuses on understanding how computer-enabledmanifestations of popular culture reflect, contribute, and transformcontemporary cultural and political discourses. In particular, he is interestedin the way that contemporary computer games represent labor, often blurringalready uneasy distinctions between work and play.