Kon Satoshi and Japan’s Monsters in the City

Forfattere

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/13.5009

Emneord (Nøkkelord):

Kon Satoshi [Satoshi Kon], anime, monstre, spektakel, media [medier], Japan, Ushinawareta Nijūnen

Sammendrag

This article offers an analysis of Kon Satoshi’s use of monsters in his 2004 animated television series Paranoia Agent (Mōsō Dairinin). Focussing on the bat-wielding figure of Shōnen Batto and a cuddly pink doll called Maromi, it is shown how Kon Satoshi uses these figures to critique a range of fatalistic discourses on Japan’s decline that have emerged since the bursting of Japan’s economic bubble in the early 1990s. I argue Kon repackages the ‘vague sense of anxiety’ prevalent in post-bubble Japan as monster in order to access the psychic realities of Japan, and as a tool for developing a critique of Japan’s fear of and fascination with social monsters. Through analysis of key scenes, the article shows how Kon develops a rich dialectical understanding of Japan’s on-going search for monsters, while also forwarding his own humanist view of social responsibility as method of navigating the ever-changing social environment of late-modern Japan.

Forfatterbiografi

Chris Perkins, Universitetet i Edinburgh

is Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He has published on topics including Japanese media, radicalism in modern Japan, and border politics.

Takksigelse: I would like to thank the editors of Nordlit and the two reviewers for their help and guidance with this article.

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Perkins’ contribution is part of MaMo—Section 2.

Nedlastinger

Publisert

2019-11-11

Hvordan referere

Perkins, Chris. 2019. «Kon Satoshi and Japan’s Monsters in the City». Nordlit, nr. 42 (november):141–152. https://doi.org/10.7557/13.5009.