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Anime

More Anime College and University Courses Being Offered 284

Posted by CowboyNeal from the homework-on-vhs-and-dvd dept.
Ninja Master Gara writes "Anime News Network reports New York University is offering a new courses on the anime industry and culture. Anime is slowly expanding from University Clubs into mainstream college courses, many of which begin at the 'What is anime?' level. Several Universities and Community Colleges already offer similar courses, or incorporate anime into existing studies." If any school decides to offer a course on the Gundam series, I'd be happy to teach a class.
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More Anime College and University Courses Being Offered More

More Anime College and University Courses Being Offered

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  • Bachelor of Arts in Anime coming soon (Score:5, Funny)

    by absurdhero ( 614828 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:10PM (#5148568) Homepage
    Imagine what an effective work force we would have if people promptly said "Hai!" and could cheer with "Yatta! Yatta!" :)

    • Re:Bachelor of Arts in Anime coming soon (Score:5, Interesting)

      by pragma_x ( 644215 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:43PM (#5148745) Journal
      When I was in college (www.vt.edu) a few years back, I attended some of the local anime clubs from time to time.

      I say some because there were three total university recgonized, bona-fide, clubs at that school. They each had separate meetings, which mostly comprised of 6-hour long screenings of non-stop anime. That's 18-hours a week, of nothing but the best in Japanese sci-fi, drama, comedy, fantasy and the occasional kids show.

      Now was was really interesting about all this interest in Anime, was not the shows themselves, but rather the interest in Japanese culture they fostered. The clubs featured regular weekend clinics for language and culture courses and interest groups. A few club members even took trips to Japan regularily.

      The fact that universities are starting to recognize this kind of love for culture (not just entertainment) seems like a perfect way to diversify the curriculum. It's about time!

    • Re:Bachelor of Arts in Anime coming soon (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You know, what scares me is that people aren't learning the language to go out and talk to more people. They learn it to go out and watch more anime. It scares me a little.

  • what about (Score:5, Funny)

    by zephc ( 225327 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:11PM (#5148572)
    what about hentai class?

    "I still gotta take Tentacle Rape 203 next term"

    • The prospect of taking a class on hentai... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Peterus7 ( 607982 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:36PM (#5148716) Homepage Journal
      Makes me want to go to NYU.

      Hell, the prospect of getting a B.A. in anime arts gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, that will probably contrast nicely to the bitter cold of sleeping in a gutter if I get that degree.

    • Yes, Hentai 211 is being offered jointly by the Marine Biology department, headed by the world's foremost expert on squids and tentacle molecular structure.

    • Re:what about (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I submit that any reference to hentai or tentacles in an anime thread has now reached the redundancy level of hot grits, beowulf clusters, et al. It is not now, nor has it ever been funny.

      There is a phenomenal amount of anime that is not only prescient, but superior, in a literary sense, to just about any mainstream entertainment this sorry-ass culture can muster.

      Oh, and for you capitalist types, there are anime franchises that have financially beaten domestic animation beyond recognition so many times, accurate records were rendered impossible decades ago. Think ELEVEN FIGURES. Think fan bases in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS.

      Joke's not quite so funny any more, is it, smartass?

      • Re:what about (Score:2, Interesting)

        by 0x0d0a ( 568518 )
        I submit that any reference to hentai or tentacles in an anime thread has now reached the redundancy level of hot grits, beowulf clusters, et al. It is not now, nor has it ever been funny.

        I'd say that one of the primary reasons grits and beowulf *are* funny is because of redundancy.

        There is a phenomenal amount of anime that is not only prescient, but superior, in a literary sense, to just about any mainstream entertainment this sorry-ass culture can muster.

        Yes, and there's also hentai -- the US has very few adult cartoons, so it's at least as unusual and conversation-worthy. No one claimed that all anime was hentai -- they just felt like mentioning that rather than whatever lofty Shakespearean anime you wanted them to talk about.

        Oh, and for you capitalist types, ...from a communist type?

        there are anime franchises that have financially beaten domestic animation beyond recognition so many times, accurate records were rendered impossible decades ago. Think ELEVEN FIGURES. Think fan bases in the HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS.

        Yes, Rei and Shinji certainly have quite a bit of brand recognition relative to Mickey. [rolls eyes]
        • Yes, Rei and Shinji certainly have quite a bit of brand recognition relative to Mickey. [rolls eyes]

          You are a FSCKING dumbass. POKEMON. PIKACHU. DIGIMON. YU-GI-OH. And yes, even (shudder) DRAGONBALL Z.

          'Nuff said.
          • Hmm. I haven't seen anyone watching Pokemon, Digimon, or Yu-Gi-Oh particularly much or owning merchandise for them (with the exception of a Pokemon Game Boy cartridge), but I guess that they could be popular among children. I've seen people watching DBZ...I just thought of Eva because it's what most of the "anime people" I know of universally like.

            OTOH, I have to say that Invader Zim is of higher quality than the top three...
            • Yah well a lot of "non-anime fans" in their 20s have heard about Eva, but virtually ALL kids under 12 know about pokemon and yu-gi-oh, some probably more so than mickey rat (and I bet lots of those kids have no idea that the anime they are watching is from japan - or that it's called anime).

  • Anime Course (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The college I attended, Earlham College (www.earlham.edu), offered a course in anime for some years. Unfortunately they stopped offering it a year or two ago. I'm glad to see that course such as this are appearing at other Universities.

    • Re:Anime Course (Score:5, Funny)

      by AKnightCowboy ( 608632 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:56PM (#5148821)
      Excellent! An anime course. This could round out my course schedule next semester of finger painting, shadow puppets, and nap time. I knew we were paying those big bucks for a college education for some reason: Cartoons! Woohoo.

      Just kidding, calm down all you anime fanatics. If I can watch Star Trek then you can watch cartoons featuring scatily clad Japanese chicks of questionable age. :-)

      • watch cartoons featuring scatily clad Japanese

        Damnit, Slashdot needs an edit-post function. Anyway, take that as you will. Should be scantily, but I'm sure some of them are clad in excrement. It is a geek's fantasy afterall and people have all kinds of fetishes. Ick.

  • >I'd be happy to teach a class.
    Id' be happy to be in the class. But i doubt i'd make a career out of it - a career which could pay my bills. But thats just me:) And once again - it would be a fun class to attend.

  • Here's something for the Survey level class (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Cyclopedian ( 163375 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:19PM (#5148625) Journal
    For all you people that want to see the funny part of anime: Dare to be Stupid [smoonstore.com].

    For the advanced course, I would recommend a mix of Evangelion and Memories (especially Magnetic Rose and Cannon Fodder).

    For the Phd degree, submit a one page dissertation explaining the reason for the plot developments in the Excel Saga [animefu.com].

    • For humor, try "Golden Boy". If you have not seen this series, find it. It's a tremendous paradoy of the worst (or best, if that's your opinion) aspects of anime. My friend showed me this gem about 2 years ago.

    • Re:Here's something for the Survey level class (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Hack ( 637833 ) on Friday January 24, 2003 @04:00AM (#5149600)

      You know, anime is... mixed. I remember watching some and finding it wonderful. I enjoyed Ghost in the Shell [imdb.com] (Kokaku kidotai). Battle Angel Alita [imdb.com] (Gunnm) totally blew my mind. But then i watched the ones everyone recommends - Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Ninja Scroll etc... And was seriously underwhelmed. I think the key thing to remember is that anime is a medium, not a genre. There are some that are quite obviously aimed at a younger audience, and some that are obviously aimed at an adult audience, but feel very much like geek porn... It seems like these are the ones that are most popular in the West, which is a bit of a shame.

      For people who see the rapid-fire, rapid-speech, Nintendo-y animes and get turned off, i'd definitely recommend watching a few other things (again, Battle Angel Alita is fantastic). For people who don't like the sci-fi or GIANT ROBOTS themes, there are fantasy ones... It's an interesting scene, though i have to admit i can't understand the people who will eat up just about anything the Japanese animators churn out. It's like music... books. All different.

    • Re:Here's something for the Survey level class (Score:5, Funny)

      by gclef ( 96311 ) on Friday January 24, 2003 @07:14AM (#5149841)
      For the Phd degree, submit a one page dissertation explaining the reason for the plot developments in the Excel Saga.


      Drugs. Very powerful drugs. Preferrably hallucinogens.

      • And now it's time for Name that Anime drug!

        • 1) Excel Saga? - crack
        • 2) FLCL? - crack
        • 3) Utena the Movie? - LSD, specifically The Brown Acid
        • 4) Kodomo no Omocha? - Ritalin deficiency
        • 5) End of Evangelion? - LSD
        • 6) Akazukin Cha Cha? - caffiene
        • 7) Cardcaptor Sakura? - sucrose

  • fantasy (Score:2, Interesting)

    by adamruck ( 638131 )
    I would have thought anime would have already been part of college, under art somewhere. Kinda like cartoon sketching or drawing, only with a particular style.

  • Reminds me of... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Tuxinatorium ( 463682 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:23PM (#5148646) Homepage
    This reminds me of the Star Trek courses [csuchico.edu] that several colleges have had over the years. What a laugh riot. One syllabus I saw was basically watching 3 select star trek episodes a week, discussing them in class, and writing 5 papers analyzing them over the course of the semester. But still, that would be a great way to fulfill a GenEd humanities requirement or whatnot.
    • I taught a course on Star Trek and Popular Culture at the University of California at Santa Cruz in Winter 2000. The class dealt with pop/modern culture's influence on Trek (issues of race, gender, etc. in the series) and Trek's influence on pop culture (conventions, letter writing, the Klingon language, etc).

      While it wasn't Shakespeare or high level mathematics, it was a highly academic class, dealing with more than just watching episodes. It was taught like a literature class, with 500+ episodes of 4 series being the canon. Remember, Shakespeare was just entertainment for the masses, and look how it's regarded.

  • At my school... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by httpamphibio.us ( 579491 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:26PM (#5148660)
    I go to Western Washington University [wwu.edu] in Washington state and the Art History 270 course (India, Japan, China) taught by Momi Naughton takes an entire lecture period to talk about anime with a self-professed anime maniac, whose name I forget. He goes way back to influences such as Hokusai and brings basically the entire span of what we learned in the class and how if affected the development of anime. Quite interesting...

  • You know... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mac Degger ( 576336 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:29PM (#5148672) Journal
    ...in the Netherlands, that would be part of what they call a "pretpakket": basically something like a university degree in macrame. It's stupidly silly.

    I heard education in the US sucked, but it's another thing to see it confirmed.
    • While I'm not as annoyed as the AC, I think you are a troll and you don't know what you are talking about.

      Education, as in kindergarten through 12th grade, certainly has major problems throughout the system but university level higher learning is top-notch, pays well and lures the finest minds in the world into abandoning their home country.

      Even beautiful Western Europe.

      So get a grip, get a clue and get lost.

      • I would point out the higher education is very expensive in the US, and unavailable to many. In many coutries, university is much more accsesible.
    • In Soviet Russia... just joking.

      In Canada, we call it underwater basketweaving.

    • Re:You know... (Score:3, Funny)

      by 0x0d0a ( 568518 )
      ...in the Netherlands, that would be part of what they call a "pretpakket": basically something like a university degree in macrame. It's stupidly silly.

      I heard education in the US sucked, but it's another thing to see it confirmed.

      Yeah, we're all about to pack up and move to the Netherlands for university. Yup.
    • I heard education in the US sucked, but it's another thing to see it confirmed.

      Well, troll or not, schools in the U.S. are highly varied. For public primary and secondary education (K-12), the quality of the schools is often proportional to the community's property tax income or proximity to a strong university or large industry. I've seen a few public schools in the U.S. that rival private schools in things like science and art. I've seen other schools in the U.S. that are deplorable and barely teach basic reading and math. It all depends whether you are lucky (or rich), but good education does exist in the U.S. if you look around.

      Additionally, the universities in the U.S. (even many state-supported schools) are among the best in the world.
    • Can't tell if this guy is serious or not...

      I have experiences with university educations in both countries (as well as some others--Japan, Germany).

      I don't find one is better than the other as systems. Both seem to maintain high standards. But of course it depends on the school, teacher, etc.

      One surprising thing about the Dutch university classes: the Dutch students seem to have much shorter attention span than American students. There are classes that are on the schedule 2 hours. But in practice, the class starts 15 minutes after the posted time, and after 45 mins. the class actually started, there is a 15 mins. pose. Then the class ends 15 mins. before the posted time. How many total minutes do we have now? 75 mins. out of posted 120 mins.

      If you'd do that in the States (as a teacher), you'll get a lot of complaints from students. They are paying customers after all.

      By the way, did those colleges/university posted job advertisements for anime classes? I can teach one.

  • Ought to be an advanced course (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:33PM (#5148699) Homepage
    Understanding anime should be an advanced course for writers and artists. The stylistic conventions are different from Western practice, but not incomprehensible. They can be studied and taught. Read Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics". (Skip his later Internet book.)

  • Anime As A Valid Cultural Influence (Score:5, Informative)

    by the_mad_poster ( 640772 ) <shattoc@adelphia.com> on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:34PM (#5148705) Homepage Journal

    Course Description:
    Anime (V33.0709) This course introduces students to the rich world of Japanese animation or anime, its form and style, history, popular genres and themes, major authors, and fan culture. We will explore the popularity of anime in relation to the cultural conditions of contemporary Japan and to the context of cultural globalization which is radically transforming the way audio-visual images are produced and consumed.

    It's kind of nice to see that Anime is finally being recognize, after so many years, for it's massive cultural influences all over the world. It's gone from being a somewhat-maligned form of geek|children's entertainment to a full-fledged industry/art form. I think it would be interesting to see what's up next on the platter? Maybe the entire geek world can be examined for it's influences on modern culture. Think about it this way: someday your kids could be reading literature in school that includes archived Slashdot posts your doing now! Well.. considering how many "hentai tentacle rape" posts are bound to pop up here... maybe not.

    • Anime (V33.0709) This course introduces students to the rich world of Japanese animation or anime, its form and style, history, popular genres and themes, major authors, and fan culture. We will explore the popularity of anime in relation to the cultural conditions of contemporary Japan and to the context of cultural globalization which is radically transforming the way audio-visual images are produced and consumed.

      Exam questions:

      1) What happens in 'End of Evangelion' after Eva-01 is crucified? Why?
      2) Explain the neurological causes of epileptic seizures as induced by flashing lights.
      3) Discuss the role of transvestism and transsexuality in anime and manga.
      4) Explain briefly how you would go about constructing a giant killer robot today, assuming a reasonable level of military funding.
      5) Tokyo has a typical life expectancy of half an hour after anything unusual happens; then it usually blows up. Explain how you would improve civic security to prevent major loss of life in future battles.

      • Answer key? (Score:4, Funny)

        by fenix down ( 206580 ) on Friday January 24, 2003 @06:43AM (#5149797)
        1) The professor's just hoping one of the students will figure it out so he can steal the answer and publish it.
        2) See the black hole into which everything I learned in Intro to Neurosci went the minuite after the final. All I know is playing the Gundam Wing SNES game made my cousin's kid puke all over the floor.
        3) Will accept: brief history of CLAMP studios, rant about roomate's inability to appreciate Ranma, questioning the sexual orientation of the Inital D character designs without coming off as homophobic, "What the fuck's with Utena?"
        4) Find some orphans, some scientists, Russian or German, some unobtainium, and either harness the power of a minor diety or drug a creepy psychic kid. If nothing happens, draw more Kabalistic symbols on the walls.
        5) Up the budget for the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division. [megatokyo.com]

        Just pretend I came up with something funny in there somewhere.
      • 6) Discuss the social implications and impact of hundreds of magical girls contacting their mentors every night via bright, vertical shafts of light.

  • "New York University is offering a new courses ... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hopefully, they are offering a grammar class too.

  • Yup, see in it Austin... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:39PM (#5148725)
    At the University of Texas at *Austin* last fall was a full course focusing on just anime taught by Dr. Susan Napier of the Asian Studies Center there. (Dr. Napier did a guest lecture at Dr. Gossin's course last spring when we taught "Nausicaa" for the second time.) Dr. Napier has been invited as a guest lecturer at Harvard this spring and will be reteaching the anime course there. Yes, they're actually officially studying anime at *Harvard*! (Prepare for hell to free over after classes start there in a few weeks..... )

    As for the complaint about the lack of college level books about anime (in English, that is) that's true. But Dr. Napier has completed her book "Anime from 'Akira' to 'Princess Mononoke'" and it will be out sometime this spring or summer. This will be the first college level analysis/literary criticism of anime available in English.

  • I'll give you one guess . . . (Score:5, Interesting)

    by White Shadow ( 178120 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:42PM (#5148742) Homepage
    From the course at umich [umich.edu]:
    A key feature of any episode of Sailor Moon is transformation. Choose one morphing scene from any episode or film version of Sailor Moon. Describe in concrete terms how the animators render this transformation in time and space. ... We want to emphasize that there is no necessarily correct answer for this topic; the success of your paper will lie in its specificity in analyzing the work of the animators, and the argument you mount---no matter how speculative---concerning the relationship of the animation and its probable viewers. ...
    Hmm, let me guess what the teenage boy viewers are thinking when they watch these transformation . . .

    Anyway, it would be a fun paper to write. Although, if I were teaching the course, I would open it up to a transformation sequence from any magical girl anime (Hime-chan's Ribbon, Card Captor Sakura, Saint Tail, Devil Hunter Yohko, etc). It might also be interesting to speculate about why animators decide to use the transformations with such repetition. Is it simply to reduce the amount of new animation per episode or do they think it provides continuity between episodes?
    • It might also be interesting to speculate about why animators decide to use the transformations with such repetition. Is it simply to reduce the amount of new animation per episode or do they think it provides continuity between episodes?


      Here's the easy way to find out. When the transformation sequence happens, do they re-use the frames, or do they show variations on the sequence, such as from different angles and/or incorporating the local terrain? If the former, it's primarily to save animation. If the latter, it's definitely continuity. Not that there can't be some of both, of course, but primarily that test will tell ya.

  • it had to happen (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Suchetha ( 609968 ) <suchetha AT gmail DOT com> on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:43PM (#5148746) Homepage Journal
    we have had courses in Star Trek, Star Wars, Wine Appreciation and whatever.. but the point is here.. what will this mean for your future..

    i am not arguing that people need not be given a grounding in the arts, far from it.. but lets face it folks, this is POP ART.. i doubt that other than the history of anime, this "course" can teach you anything that you and your friends can't learn by just sitting in front of the tube for a few brews and talking about it..

    the point i am trying to make is that there is a LOT of art history out there.. stuff that people take for granted.. stuff that people don't BOTHER to learn...

    Colleges are offering this kind of course to make you pay for a course that will not mean anything on your transcript (unless you are going into the anime field) and is nothing but grade padding.. in the same vein you may as well take a course in Britney Spears

    don't get me wrong .. i am a big fan of anime.. its just that i think that a college course on it, while cool, would be a waste of money (yours/your parents/your state's) and time that could be better spent (on girls/brews/parties)...

    Suchetha

    • You are WRONG sir! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by cdf12345 ( 412812 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:50PM (#5148781) Homepage Journal
      The fact that it is art is what makes it logical to teach a class on. Early philosophy teachers used popular poetry, and film schools today use feature films as point of example and discussion.

      Why is anime any different. There is a wealth of ways one could approach the class. First you could look at the original artwork, in it's native culture. Then you can look at the citizen's response to it. Or you could examen foriegn audiences and their interest in the genre.

      There is probably a great deal to learn, the best way to become wise is to teach yourself how to think, not what to think.

      "Only when you are looking for them will the Red spades and Black Diamonds appear" - Ray (Christopher Lloyd, Interstate 60)
      • at the risk of sounding like a troll.. i will say this.. i have nothing, absolutely nothing against studying anime... i study it too (and not just the tentacle rape scenes)... i just believe that you don't need to go to class for this..

        there are enough geeks out there who you can get with and learn (like one of the people who replied to this thread said .. "join the college anime club".. even if you don't have one.. SOMEONE is bound to have anime... watch it with your friends.. sit and discuss over a couple of beers.. if you want to get a background on how other people/cultures see it.. watch it with a japanese exchange student and discuss it with him.. get some foreign students (hell _i_ was a foreign student who was turned from mild anime fan to rabid anime freak by my american friends in college) and watch it with them.. THAT will give you a better view than a class will.. not to mention increase your social life

        Cost of anime videos : $20

        Cost of beer : $20
        Cost of pizza : $30

        Introducing someone to the joy of anime : Priceless
        compare that with spending $800 to sit in a class for a structured lesson.. which would YOU pick?

        Suchetha
        • well, knowing the people who I watch anime with, I doubt there's much I can learn from them, besides their opinions on things.

          I'm betting that if you had a oriental history major teacher teaching the class there'd be a lot to learn, things that your friends and a few beers won't teach you.
        • Seeing as how most of us college students pay a fixed rate regardless of the number of classes taken (over 12 hours), why not? YOu fins people with similar interests to you as well as have something to do with your time and you can enjoy going to class.

  • Did the author just hit Google with... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by KNicolson ( 147698 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:43PM (#5148747) Homepage
    "anime site:.edu" [google.com]?

    Anyway, I wonder how much they will be teaching what they think anime should be, versus what it really is? I ask as I've read this book on Takarazuka Revue [amazon.com] which describes it basically as a hot-bed of azn lezbo tranny pr0n, whereas everyone Japanese who I've spoken to (including my wife, who studied at the associated drama school and college) says it's just fantasy escapism, especially because the average real-life Japanese man is so crap, the otokoyaku[*] provide an idealised view of what men could be.

    [*] Obligatory Japanese word inserted to pretend I know what I'm talking about.

  • Gasaraki and film in general (Score:5, Interesting)

    by frozencesium ( 591780 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:44PM (#5148749) Journal
    Come on...this series needs a course devoted to it. I mean mechs, spirituality, politics, culture? I'm sure everyone else here will probably either say Lain or Neon Genisis Evangelion.

    of course...the anime art form is something that should be studied. for one, it offers some great content and social/political messages that wouldn't be accepted in "mainstream" media. second, artwork and story telling go hand in hand. after all, isn't that what artwork (of any form) is supposed to do, to speak to the viewer and convey some message/story?

    anyone who flames me saying that hollywierd puts out decent artwork hasn't been to the theaters lately. most of it is tripe. it's entertaining yes, but it's still tripe in an artistic sense. of course there is the rare gem out there, but it's not often that people can (or care to) recognize the difference. for this reason film classes in general (including anime classes) are a way to help people gain some perspective and recognize art for art, and not just art for the sake of entertainment.

    after my first film class i couldn't watch any movie in "pan and scan" anymore. it helped me understand composition, writing, story telling, and substance...something which is lacking in most of the "modern" world.

    -frozen

    • film class (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by cdf12345 ( 412812 )
      I loved my film class, got to watch classics like mr. smith goes to washington and It Happened One night, I really appricaite film so much more now,

  • Anime's roots (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Quanza ( 25456 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:45PM (#5148759)
    I just wonder how many people realize where the word "anime" really comes from. For those who never knew, `anime' is really just the Japanese-truncated pronunciation of the American word `Animation'. So it amuses me that "anime" now essentially signifies "Japanese cartoons", when in truth everything from Batman to Donald Duck are "anime" as well.

    gotta love how cultures mix and bounce things around.
    • I love how various anime fans I know go running around using the words like 'bakas' (hurray for pluralizing Japanese words \o/) in the middle of English sentences, squealing at the site of pockey, and insisting that you tack -chan at the end of their names.

      Now if you will excuse me I am off to play me some Arrow Arrow Stomp, it is soooo~ cool because it is Japanese. Or maybe I'll go watch some Haibane Renmei [psu.edu]

  • How about an official one? (Score:4, Informative)

    by lingqi ( 577227 ) on Thursday January 23, 2003 @11:48PM (#5148771) Journal
    anime-juku [anime-juku.com] offers web-based anime production courses in english and japanese.

    they have a trial course that you can try if you got a graphics pad.

    I got the link when I was browsing around studio Ghibli [ntv.co.jp]

  • ...that UT had an anime class. I need one more elective credit for graduation. Would be nice, although, I wouldn't know what college they would put it under.
  • we have a jaanese culture class that touches on anime :-p

  • possible final exam... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ice-nine ( 149145 ) <`gentaro' `at' `gmail.com'> on Friday January 24, 2003 @12:11AM (#5148893)
    Essay question (90 minutes, no open books):
    Explain FLCL.

  • Anime 101 (Score:3, Insightful)

    by NeoMoose ( 626691 ) <neomooseNO@SPAMdespammed.com> on Friday January 24, 2003 @12:16AM (#5148919) Homepage Journal
    Considering that it can be called a valid art form as any other form of hand-drawn animation is then it's hard to see why there is anything wrong with this at all. In fact, I find it interesting that something like this wasn't already in place.

    Sure, anime hasn't been very mainstream up until recently, but I have seen some absurd art classes in my life. I'm not lying, but I have seen classes advertised as being "Studies of Hungarian Art from the 13th Century". Well, a class on anime can't do much worse, can it?

  • Great article about the importance of Anime (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cdf12345 ( 412812 ) on Friday January 24, 2003 @12:16AM (#5148923) Homepage Journal
    remember this? It was posted on /. a while back

    http://www.kampo.co.jp/kyoto-journal/media/anima te d.html
  • Oh, there is a career in anime, you just have to be one of the best. You can't be a mediocre artist and try to get into something big enough to pay your bills with. You have to be top notch, just as with any other form of art.
  • A lot of people see this sort of thing as a huge joke but I don't. Studying something in-depth that revolves around entertainment is really no different than a kind of community service. By being well educated about a specific form of entertainment, you become a better creator of that form of entertainment, improving the quality of life of those who indulge in this entertainment. As such, you help the industry evolve and improve faster. The concept of taking an Anime college course will prove to be quite beneficial to the Anime industry itself, I think.

  • I hear the alternative title was (Score:3, Funny)

    by sielwolf ( 246764 ) on Friday January 24, 2003 @12:52AM (#5149057) Homepage Journal
    A Bachelor Degree in Waiting Around to Collect Your Trust Fund.

    Give you something to talk about between skiing the Alps and summering in Barbados.

    The Humanities strike again!
  • It looks like Underwater Basketweaving has some competition now.

  • DeCal (Score:3, Interesting)

    by vandel405 ( 609163 ) on Friday January 24, 2003 @01:44AM (#5149262) Homepage Journal
    I just want to make a point that I think many people may not be aware of. I'm currently a student at UC Berkeley and we have all kinds of classes like this, from history of video games, stock market course, male/female sexuality, simpsons to 80's pop-culture. BUT, they are all taught by STUDENTS. And the students can teach anything here at UCB as long as they get a faculty adviser. The adviser doesn't really play a part in the course though.

    DeCal stands for Democratic education, it is students teaching students. Don't be confused and thing NYU highered a new Anime history. They didn't, and UCB didn't high LoTR profs or Simpsons ones either, students are teaching these classes...

  • Finally... (Score:3, Funny)

    by incom ( 570967 ) on Friday January 24, 2003 @01:46AM (#5149268)
    I can fulfill my dream of writting my thesis on why Goku would win in a deathmatch against Superman.

  • Why are they doing this? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by peachpuff ( 638856 ) on Friday January 24, 2003 @01:51AM (#5149294)

    I could see them offering a course that uses anime as a sort of 'case study' for some real academic field, the way art majors examine a particular period or movement and fit it into their overall study of art.

    Unfortunately, that's not what seems to be happening here. This looks like another pop-culture cop-out course.

    I know people will get upset and point out that entertainment and pop-culture are worthy of study. That's true, but it should be serious study. If you want to teach a 100-level course on pop-culture, keep it broad and stress the basic themes and concepts of pop-culture with a variety of examples. If you want to focus on a specific medium/time-period/region combination, make an upper-level class that takes a specific academic perspective and targets a particular major.

    In other words:
    bad: Sociology 110 -- Sit-coms
    good: Sociology 428 -- Sit-coms and wartime escapism in America

  • What's next?

    Classes on how the banter between Space Ghost, Moltar and Zorak (in a typical Space Ghost Episode) is a crypto facist metaphor for nuclear war?

    Dolemite
    _______________________
  • My name is Alan Holman. I'm the head-writer of BANANA CHAN [geocities.com], a web-based series of anime scripts and manga with a plot which is carefully calculated, by me, to use ideas from EVERY anime. I know it seems like a lofty goal, but my innovative scripts [geocities.com] are pulling it off quite well, and they tell a unique, compelling sci-fi story about "folding time", and about the evolution of a town and its people. I've been working on this project for more than a year, and the research which I've went through has made me an expert on anime plots -- I've read more plot summaries and scripts than anyone else on the planet!...probably. My point: If anyone is hiring people to teach these classes, don't hire a fan; instead, hire someone like me, someone who has taken the time to make a web-site like my web-site: Banana Chan. [geocities.com] Ten episodic scripts are on the site so far, and the story will continue on February 15th. [The second manga [bananachan.envy.nu] is coming sooner.]
  • You can major in Gameboy if you know how to bullshit..."
  • Im am not a film major nor am I an anime fan but I did take a film class about techno thrillers which had Ghost in the Shell as a viewing and topic. This was over a year ago here at UC Santa Cruz by the way. And this year I walked in on another class' showing of what I think was Ghost in the Shell, not too sure, its very possible it was something different because it was a different teacher.
  • Greetings, minna!

    This is my first post in here, but spying this subject from a post in AnimeNewsService.com got me over here to share a little something that may spark interest.

    Anyways, I've been volunteering work for the last couple weeks at Eastern KY University (Richmond, KY), running an international student lab class "English Translation Made Real" where I conduct Animé translations from Japanese->English with the help of several Japanese Exchange students and a few Japanese class students.

    It may sound fun, but it is a lot of work, but the benefits are two-way. The students get participation credit for taking the course, and I get translations to the latest animé and manga that I can drum up for translating.

    Because of the classroom environment, the translating process is more laborious, as many students are honing their translation skills, but the care taken seems to bring about more accurate and technically correct translating scripts.

    Anyways, that's my 8 yen. If anyone reading this knows a group or a club in need of translation help, try out what I did, and get a local school to help sponsor a translation class. ;2)
  • ...Will this train me to be a Pokemon Master?

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