Mechademia

[http://www.otakunovideo.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/mechademia-7599991.gif|200x286px|Mechademia volume 1]

In my post Real, Serious Books on Anime and Manga, I stumbled on an academic journal called Mechademia. In Borders a few weeks ago, as I skimmed through the manga bookshelves (and let us not forget how awesome it is that we have whole bookshelves devoted to manga in America), I saw volume 1 of Mechademia! I grabbed it, disbelieving my eyes.

I've been skimming through it, and I'm enjoying it from a purely academic standpoint. Most of the articles compare various works on interesting levels (such as the contrast of Marimete and Azumanga Daioh) and dive fairly deeply into their topics, while others stretch their subjects to absurd lengths. For example, one article on Revolutionary Girl Utena suggests complex phallic stereotypes in that show.

Even so, it's a mind-broadening read. One article in particular, Thomas LaMarre's The Multiplanar Image, begins with a discourse on various techniques for representing motion in 2D animation, and uses that as a platform to compare the cinematic styles of Mamoru Oshii and Hayao Miyazaki, 2D and 3D animation, American and Japanese animation technology, and a host of other topics, including the Superflat style. LaMarre covered so much territory, and did so with such clarity and insight, that when I finished reading the article I felt slightly breathless.

And that's just one of the twelve articles in this book, in addition to the seven reviews and commentaries that are often themselves fascinating.

If nothing else, almost every article is clearly written and presents a fascinating take on an anime or manga-related topic.

Don't we need more of this stuff? Wow. You can find Mechademia on Amazon.