How anime has been reading war trauma: Traumatic constructions of late night shows.

Aim：To examine representations and treatments of Japanese war trauma by anime, followingtheir history from Astro Boy to recent late night anime shows represented by noitaminA.

After describing “nuclear energy” “kamikaze” “loss,” and “apocalypse” in therobot genre, Japanese anime, along with the development of the late-nightshow, abandons the representation of the robot and further pursues thethemes of “final war,” ”final weapon,” and “apocalypse.” It has been and isproducing creative work within the tension between “avoidance ofcatastrophe” and “mourning,” with an effort to digest topics fromcontemporary social issues and the world state of affairs. It successfullyserves as an agent for transgenerational succession of traumatic themes.

The first boom（mid 1960s、SF）

ethics facing an extreme situation

flashback

Trans-generational

impact

crisis already in daily life

destruction

Toshie Mori, Masahiro Kinoshita, & Shigeyuki MoriCollabo. with Shigeo KawaguchiKonan Institute of Human Sciences

THE SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS

STAR BLAZERS NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY

OF THE WIND

otaku formation, or good-for-nothingness

of protagonists

Twitter in Japanese（2008）

time-axes

final war

Birth of robot animeASTRO BOY

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM

CODE GEASS LELOUCH OF

THE REBELLION

KEMONO FRIENDS

ASTRO BOY

nuclearweapon

sekai-keibattle girl

anime

kamikaze

noitaminAfocuses on adult

audiences.serious themes

children’s participation on

the frontier

naturalenvironment

nichijou-kei

SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL

The second boom（mid 1970s〜mid 80s）

The third boom （introducing late-night shows）（mid 1990s〜mid 2000s）

pursuit of themes by use of night-show

Great HanshinEarthquake

Sarin attack by Aum（1995）

Cuba Crisis（1962）

“the end of the world” sentiment

target anime

The boom history

trauma related concept

otaku formation qualitative shift

MACROSS related anime

SAILOR MOON

the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Law（1985）

political genre

magical girl

PRINCESS MONONOKE

September 11（2001）

ultimateweapon

main theme

the financial crisis（2008）

youtube launched（2005）

SHE, THE ULTIMATE WEAPON

*We did not include the genre of AI andcyborg by closing up destructive weaponsand the destruction of the world.

GHOST IN THE SHELL

PSYCHO-PASS

Charlie Hebdo shooting（2015）

SHIN GODZILLA

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS

crisis intrusive

to daily life

RE:ZERO − STARTING LIFE IN ANOTHER

WORLD

GIRLS' LAST TOUR

“Catastrophe must be avoided” -> “itcan’t be helped. We will get alonghere.” resignation or maturation?

WHEN THEY CRY

repetition compulsiondesperate time leaps aiming at avoidance of catastrophe

THE MELANCHOLY OF HARUHI SUZUMIYA

LUCKY☆STARK-ON!

‘terrorism’ and ‘world politics’ visualized in

a daily life＝not a remote world

short-cut from personal agony to the end of the

world without mediating agencies like society, politics, economy…

influence

SPIRITED AWAY

economic-labour problem

political themes“giant robot

genre” declines

mobile spreadssurveillance society

the reality of global financial crisis, which can not be avoided by

personal effort.

‘loose’ anime attracts general audience

other than anime-fan

Just one e-mail distorts the world

from “ avoidance of catastrophe to “survival after catastrophe”

YOUR NAME

A PLACE FURTHER THAN THE UNIVERSE

acceptance of mother’s death

without her body

time leap

sekai-kei genre

flow of genre

SALLY THE WITCH

robot anime

ultimateweapon

Time travel +

nichijou-kei

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION

political theme

thematic trend

STEINS;GATE 0

ominous nichijou-kei

Great East Japan Earthquake（2011）

STEINS;GATE

PUELLA MAGI MADOKA☆

MAGICA

bloody-minded work place

lifetime employment destroyed

dispatched employee

trauma in foreground

MOYASIMON: TALES OF AGRICULTURE

biological & chemical weapon

flashback

FAFNER IN THE AZURE BOKURANO

late night shows

ambiguousloss

women’s empowerment, working mother

AKIRA

KEMURIKUSA