The Animanachronism

Hint: it’s in this picture, and it’s not ‘panic’

Barthes wrote Mythologies, a witty and intelligent look at the layers of meaning which adhere to various everyday objects and symbols. What I always enjoy about Mythologies is its promiscuity of subject: Barthes applies analysis to pretty much anything, from ‘Greta Garbo’s face’ to ’steak and chips’. Certain parts of the anime and manga thought-world seem ripe for this kind of unembarassed attention, though I’m no Barthes. And so I turn my attention to p- (more…)

A strange and twisted journey into methodology, during which I will kill off all animators, everywhere, namecheck the Father of Western Literature and (the ultimate challenge) talk about Gundam without boring people who aren’t interested in Gundam.

Why the busty succubus? Read on to find out, or perhaps to find out why that’s the wrong question. Alternatively, if you’re not very interested in ‘Theory’ with a capital ‘T’, go read another anime blog - there are plenty of good ones out there - and wait for my next entry. (more…)