The pleasures of Anime and Manga Fandom. Evening Discussion

The Japanese Visual Media Graph (JVMG) project is creating a knowledge graph on popular Japanese visual media such as anime, manga and video games to enable large-scale quantitative research on these domains. The knowledge graph integrates data from online databases compiled by enthusiast and fan communities – and further resources – in cooperation with multiple communities and respecting the terms of use and licenses set out by each source database. In the present workshop Zoltan Kacsuk will first introduce the JVMG project in general, and showcase research that it has enabled in relation to anime, manga and Japanese video games. Then, Saskia Dreßler will discuss the results of her master’s thesis research on the heteronormative narrative elements in anime and manga based German fanfiction that focus on gay and lesbian relationships. Finally, Mathieu Mallard will outline some of the key questions from his doctoral work on the establishing of artistic authority during the structuration of the Japanese animation industry in the 1950s-1970s, and explain how his research can benefit from a dialogue with the work being undertaken in the JVMG project.