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Beautiful Fighting Girl
From Cutie Honey and Sailor Moon to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the worlds of Japanese anime and manga teem with prepubescent girls toting deadly weapons. Sometimes overtly sexual, always intensely cute, the beautiful fighting girl has been both hailed as a feminist icon and condemned as a symptom of the objectification of young women in Japanese society. In Beautiful Fighting Girl, Saito Tamaki offers a far more sophisticated and convincing interpretation of this alluring and capable figure. For Saito, the beautiful fighting girl is a complex sexual fantasy that paradoxically lends reality to the fictional spaces she inhabits. As an object of desire for male otaku (obsessive fans of anime and manga), she saturates these worlds with meaning even as her fictional status demands her ceaseless proliferation and reproduction. Rejecting simplistic moralizing, Saito understands the otaku’s ability to eroticize and even fall in love with the beautiful fighting girl not as a sign of immaturity or maladaptation but as a result of a heightened sensitivity to the multiple layers of mediation and fictional context that constitute life in our hypermediated world—a logical outcome of the media they consume. Featuring extensive interviews with Japanese and American otaku, a comprehensive genealogy of the beautiful fighting girl, and an analysis of the American outsider artist Henry Darger, whose baroque imagination Saito sees as an important antecedent of otaku culture, Beautiful Fighting Girl was hugely influential when first published in Japan, and it remains a key text in the study of manga, anime, and otaku culture. Now available in English for the first time, this book will spark new debates about the role played by desire in the production and consumption of popular culture.
248 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 7, 2011
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830 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
October 21, 2020
“For the world to be real (リアル), it must be sufficiently electrified by desire. A world not given depth by desire, no matter how exactingly it is drawn, will always be flat and impersonal, like a backdrop in the theatre.” (p.162)
Been a couple of years, but thanks to my resourceful friend I finally got to reread this marvellous book at my leisure instead of rushing through it for an essay. Being translated, of course it’s not the best and the chapters lack unity (on top of the constant deferral of the main argument to the final chapter) but each individual chapter offers ideas that still hold relevance today.
While the main topic appears to be the trope of the beautiful fighting girl, Saito’s actual focus is how this beautiful fighting girl emerges as a “remarkable invention of otaku bricolage” (p.31). He posits that only very specific (and Japanese) conditions are able to produce this “fable of fierce flesh” (Allison), and that instead of viewing these girls as symptomatic of feminist advancement/regression, we should go beyond merely cultural analogising and see the way the otaku’s forms relationships with these images as a natural result of rapid media consumption.
Throughout his book, Saito draws on Lacanian concepts like the Real vs. Symbolic vs. Imaginary to urge us not to mislabel what we do not understand. Given that the Real is impossible to access and thus all our conscious experiences can only happen in the realm of the Imaginary, to say that the otaku are divorced from reality is denigratory and borderline delusional. He writes that what we constitute as “everyday reality” is in fact another Imaginary construct, perhaps mediated somewhat by the Real/ Symbolic, but in no way reflecting either. In doing so, Saito makes a strong attempt at rehabilitating the reputation of the otaku, suggesting that non-otaku who believe they are firmly in reality (and hence not neurotic) are in fact in denial; we are all neurotics and we all live in an imagined reality no matter how “real” or material you think your life is.
p.s. - re: the chapter on Henry Darger’s art, I know many critics found it irrelevant/ out of place, but I found it utterly fascinating!
Been a couple of years, but thanks to my resourceful friend I finally got to reread this marvellous book at my leisure instead of rushing through it for an essay. Being translated, of course it’s not the best and the chapters lack unity (on top of the constant deferral of the main argument to the final chapter) but each individual chapter offers ideas that still hold relevance today.
While the main topic appears to be the trope of the beautiful fighting girl, Saito’s actual focus is how this beautiful fighting girl emerges as a “remarkable invention of otaku bricolage” (p.31). He posits that only very specific (and Japanese) conditions are able to produce this “fable of fierce flesh” (Allison), and that instead of viewing these girls as symptomatic of feminist advancement/regression, we should go beyond merely cultural analogising and see the way the otaku’s forms relationships with these images as a natural result of rapid media consumption.
Throughout his book, Saito draws on Lacanian concepts like the Real vs. Symbolic vs. Imaginary to urge us not to mislabel what we do not understand. Given that the Real is impossible to access and thus all our conscious experiences can only happen in the realm of the Imaginary, to say that the otaku are divorced from reality is denigratory and borderline delusional. He writes that what we constitute as “everyday reality” is in fact another Imaginary construct, perhaps mediated somewhat by the Real/ Symbolic, but in no way reflecting either. In doing so, Saito makes a strong attempt at rehabilitating the reputation of the otaku, suggesting that non-otaku who believe they are firmly in reality (and hence not neurotic) are in fact in denial; we are all neurotics and we all live in an imagined reality no matter how “real” or material you think your life is.
p.s. - re: the chapter on Henry Darger’s art, I know many critics found it irrelevant/ out of place, but I found it utterly fascinating!
October 9, 2011
If you're an American trying to understand the landscape of anime criticism, or you are interested in media studies in general, this is a must-read. It's some-what dated (because so much has changed since the early 2000s), but the supplementary materials in the appendixes provides the necessary updates for fitting this into more recent developments. Its look at otaku sexuality is nuanced, insightful, and provides a wider understanding than other (rather normative) analyses.
This book may or may not appeal to anime fans because it's not a glorification of the medium (Saito Tamaki admits early in the book that he is not a fan himself). The book takes a sobering look both at how anime portray this particular niche character and how otaku respond to these characters. Its focus is very narrow and its language is geared towards media theorist and psychoanalysts. It's possible to read and enjoy it without a thorough comprehension of Lacan, but the casual reader might find it dull, disjointed, and misleading.
The book is well written and the prose is honest and clever. His definition of otaku is limiting, and I prefer the way that Haroki Azuma assesses what is uniquely-otaku, but Haroki Azuma in one of the appendixes admits the importance this book has had on the field.
This book may or may not appeal to anime fans because it's not a glorification of the medium (Saito Tamaki admits early in the book that he is not a fan himself). The book takes a sobering look both at how anime portray this particular niche character and how otaku respond to these characters. Its focus is very narrow and its language is geared towards media theorist and psychoanalysts. It's possible to read and enjoy it without a thorough comprehension of Lacan, but the casual reader might find it dull, disjointed, and misleading.
The book is well written and the prose is honest and clever. His definition of otaku is limiting, and I prefer the way that Haroki Azuma assesses what is uniquely-otaku, but Haroki Azuma in one of the appendixes admits the importance this book has had on the field.
May 12, 2025
more than analysis of the beautiful fighting girl archetype, it's a metatextual look into the otaku culture. a lot of it is unexpectedly fascinating; saito calls the otaku culture perversion, a sexuality in itself, but he never forcers a negative perception of them on the reader. what i found disappointing is that the beautiful fighting girl is not a character in herself. she is always a tool to psychoanalyse the otaku, a means to an end. she is not her own being, she is a portal. she wasn't created to belong only to the text; she exists mostly outside of it, in reality (riariti). perhaps i went into the book expecting something else, a deep dive into the fighting girl archetype in pre-existing texts; and while the history is there, and somewhat the analysis (the differentiation between the phallic girl and the phallic mother, the dozen types of beautiful fighting girls categorized, japanese vs american portrayal of fighting girls/women), saito left me unsatisfied. however, in my research, i haven't yet found a more thorough compendium on the topic.
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January 23, 2025A rirgirous, empathetic and at times scattershot analysis of Otaku sexuality. It flits between intense pyschoanlytic thought and rather rote media analysis from page to page. The pacing of the text is really ground to a half by the overly heuristic genealogy section wherein Tamaki's experience as a psychoanalyst seems to overwhelm his better judgement as a amateur media critic thus he proceeds to list a collage of "Beautiful Fighting Girl" programmes in various degrees of depth in order to pathologise their existance within 12 of his self made categories. But despite this what shines above all is the authors empathy for his subject, a willingness not to pathologise or prescribe motivations for their actions other than their own claims. His Laccanist influences allowing for a truly unique mode of viewing fiction and fantasy as part of our every day reality, anime as just another part of the imaginary.
January 18, 2025
absolutely a must read for anyone interested in anime or manga, a foundational text of psychoanalysis that levels with the sexuality of the otaku by means of their idolized dirty: the eponymous beautiful fighting girl. therein, we find a rousing view of reality undivided by fiction and truth, “phallus girls” and rituals of adoration. very compelling stuff but a little thin overall for my tastes
“for the world to be real it must be sufficiently electrified by desire. a world not given depth by desire, no matter how exactingly it is drawn, will always be flag and impersonal, like a backdrop in the theater. but once that world takes on a sexual charge, it will attain a level of reality, no matter how shoddily it is drawn.”
“for the world to be real it must be sufficiently electrified by desire. a world not given depth by desire, no matter how exactingly it is drawn, will always be flag and impersonal, like a backdrop in the theater. but once that world takes on a sexual charge, it will attain a level of reality, no matter how shoddily it is drawn.”
April 7, 2023
A classics that doesn't age well. It brings readers back to the 90s, using psychoanalysis and cross-cultural comparison ambivalently, superficially, and sometimes self-defeating. Its primary limitation is to avoid history (i.e. how people in Japan are sexually repressed? what is the sex to repress? what is "Japan" anyway?) and its primary contribution is to leave the future open. Otaku sexuality is vital, but one must look beyond the phallogocentric psychoanalysis (and beyond the Japan-West dichotomy).
Meanwhile I will always enjoy and criticize the phallic girls. Enjoy by criticizing it.
Meanwhile I will always enjoy and criticize the phallic girls. Enjoy by criticizing it.
February 3, 2019
10105: know your Lacan? i will not say it is necessary, but probably helps, as this is a very academic text on the unique development in Japanese culture, anime, manga, tv, film, games, of the phallicgirl, otherwise known as any character like sailor moon... not myself anime educated, this does suggest should try it out. and sympathetic chapter on outsider artist Henry Darger- very weird, very interesting, very disturbing...
June 4, 2020
Interesting take, but Rei worst girl and worst cover.
August 3, 2023
So what I've learned from this, is that Lacanian psychoanalysis absolutely sucks. It seems to be the least human (certainly least female) lens to view humanity through. I'm proud to say, I can get on board with about zero percent of what Saito has to say in this thing lol.
Points for a couple interesting interviews with otaku in the 90's, and a bit of info about some old anime I'm happy to have checked out. (This is all in the beginning so if you're going to read this book, I truly truly recommend tagging out after that)
I'm glad I got to the end though, because my reward for slogging through this book was the afterword by Hiroki Azuma. It was something to the effect of: "When I first read this, I completely disagreed with Saito to the point where I was inspired to write my own book about otaku."
So now I guess I'll give Otaku: Japan's Database Animals a shot lmao
Points for a couple interesting interviews with otaku in the 90's, and a bit of info about some old anime I'm happy to have checked out. (This is all in the beginning so if you're going to read this book, I truly truly recommend tagging out after that)
I'm glad I got to the end though, because my reward for slogging through this book was the afterword by Hiroki Azuma. It was something to the effect of: "When I first read this, I completely disagreed with Saito to the point where I was inspired to write my own book about otaku."
So now I guess I'll give Otaku: Japan's Database Animals a shot lmao
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July 19, 2022i honestly really appreciate what a mess this book is. not everything connects, certain things are contradictory, others don't feel fully fleshed out, but what's most important comes through the clearest, and a lot of its more interesting theories and historical facts would no doubt have been trimmed if this were a leaner text. i think the journey of its author, someone who went into writing this book skeptical at best of otaku, to on the whole endorsing their habits and lifestyles is incredibly fascinating and illustrative of just how much you stand to gain by trying to understand those who don't fit into the ever-strict concepts of normalcy in polite society.
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August 2, 2012Saito uses a Lacanian framework to analyze Otaku culture.
June 22, 2020
The weirdness of Akihabara pushed me into the arms of this book.
Very lucid exploration of Lacan, too. Big blogpost review / retrospective to follow.
Very lucid exploration of Lacan, too. Big blogpost review / retrospective to follow.
September 14, 2019
This book’s title is “Beautiful Fighting Girl” and it attempts to explain the prevalence in anime and manga of young girls fighting - where fighting here is read more as physical violence than abstract struggle - against the forces of evil: an archetypical example amenable to the western anime consciousness might be Sailor Moon where the feminine sailor scouts fight against the forces of evil. This notion stands in particular contrast to what the author terms “amazon women warriors,” which are women who are also allowed to fight but must deny their feminine traits seemingly in exchange for the masculine traits that enable the power to fight.
However despite the focus such a simple title connotes, the book itself actually spends most of its time in various ancillary subjects, including otaku culture, Henry Darger (a man who spent an isolated lifetime constructing a fictional reality which incidentally contains proto-beautiful fighting girls), and a history of anime (only half of which is focused on the titular beautiful fighting girls). It gets to the point that if all one wants to do is explore the idea of beautiful fighting girls, then one should only read the first and last chapter. These two chapters form the core of the book’s true focus on the complicated relationship between fiction and reality, where the beautiful fighting girl emerges as a mere byproduct.
But that last chapter is really something of profound insight. My favorite insight is the observation that in western thought fiction is subordinate to reality and is never allowed to surpass it; in particular that drawn images must be intentionally chaste lest they surpass reality and that various western moral hangups regarding anime and manga flow from this general line of thought. Another is the explanation of the atemporarility of manga, where it follows not chronological time - physical time as measured by a clock - but kairological time - time as experienced by humans. Thus I give this book five stars because of how it opened my eyes about various things. However, I caution any potential reader that this book doesn’t really lead to a single coherent conclusion, and that parts of the book might sound like nonsense (to me, one was the brief foray into hysterics in Chapter 6), so your rating may be lower.
However despite the focus such a simple title connotes, the book itself actually spends most of its time in various ancillary subjects, including otaku culture, Henry Darger (a man who spent an isolated lifetime constructing a fictional reality which incidentally contains proto-beautiful fighting girls), and a history of anime (only half of which is focused on the titular beautiful fighting girls). It gets to the point that if all one wants to do is explore the idea of beautiful fighting girls, then one should only read the first and last chapter. These two chapters form the core of the book’s true focus on the complicated relationship between fiction and reality, where the beautiful fighting girl emerges as a mere byproduct.
But that last chapter is really something of profound insight. My favorite insight is the observation that in western thought fiction is subordinate to reality and is never allowed to surpass it; in particular that drawn images must be intentionally chaste lest they surpass reality and that various western moral hangups regarding anime and manga flow from this general line of thought. Another is the explanation of the atemporarility of manga, where it follows not chronological time - physical time as measured by a clock - but kairological time - time as experienced by humans. Thus I give this book five stars because of how it opened my eyes about various things. However, I caution any potential reader that this book doesn’t really lead to a single coherent conclusion, and that parts of the book might sound like nonsense (to me, one was the brief foray into hysterics in Chapter 6), so your rating may be lower.
January 16, 2021
The depth attempted by Saito's analysis is commendable. His approach uncovers deeply seeded notions of desire and sexuality that very likely drive the emergence of the beautiful fighting girl, at least in part.
Without proper scholastic knowledge of Lacanian psychology however, his analysis begins to sputter in technical discourse and becomes difficult for most enthusiasts to follow without supplementary study.
Ultimately, the journey led by Saito is an engaging one, having been introduced to the psyche of otaku, Henry Darger, and the history of illustrated works in Japanese culture. I can say I have a much stronger, more cohesive understanding of the contextual and psychological motivations that promote patterns in the manga/anime medium.
Without proper scholastic knowledge of Lacanian psychology however, his analysis begins to sputter in technical discourse and becomes difficult for most enthusiasts to follow without supplementary study.
Ultimately, the journey led by Saito is an engaging one, having been introduced to the psyche of otaku, Henry Darger, and the history of illustrated works in Japanese culture. I can say I have a much stronger, more cohesive understanding of the contextual and psychological motivations that promote patterns in the manga/anime medium.
August 3, 2024
Yes, the book is not the best thing to read by itself. The translators of the only English version available at the moment do indeed call attention to the book's major logical flaws. It takes Japanese exceptionalism for granted, is bizarrely sexist to no benefit, and assumes a return to normalcy that fundamentally misunderstands otaku subculture.
Still! The book is a historic work, and its connection of Henry Darger and Lacanian psychoanalysis to otaku sexuality is interesting if not very useful. There is also the oft-spoken-about lineage of Beautiful Fighting Girls in anime history which more than compensates as a pseudo-quantitative chapter.
Still! The book is a historic work, and its connection of Henry Darger and Lacanian psychoanalysis to otaku sexuality is interesting if not very useful. There is also the oft-spoken-about lineage of Beautiful Fighting Girls in anime history which more than compensates as a pseudo-quantitative chapter.
August 5, 2022
A psychoanalytic text on the appeal of female characters in anime, Saito offers some great insights into "beautiful fighting girls" but sometimes misses the mark.
I'm not well-versed in psychology, so some of the more technical sections flew over my head.
The translation also doesn't help, either Japanese people express themselves weirdly or whoever translated the book did an awful job at conveying what Saito is trying to say.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone outside of Japanese otaku tbh.
I'm not well-versed in psychology, so some of the more technical sections flew over my head.
The translation also doesn't help, either Japanese people express themselves weirdly or whoever translated the book did an awful job at conveying what Saito is trying to say.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone outside of Japanese otaku tbh.
March 31, 2022
my first-hand experience with Lacanian psychoanalysis was mostly limited to parsing message boards posts into media analysis and some plato encyclopedia reading but even so I managed to read this and get into it
In particular interest was the idea of otakus as an adaptive strategy to the informationalization of society. I'll be coming back to it more often than not
In particular interest was the idea of otakus as an adaptive strategy to the informationalization of society. I'll be coming back to it more often than not
December 9, 2024
There are some dated sentiments but still many fascinating insights. I'm not well-versed in psychological frameworks so some of the later chapters lost me.
I appreciate a lot the effort to distinguish "fictional" and "real" dimensions. Also thoroughly enjoyed the letter from an otaku chapter.
The Darger chapter was wild.
I appreciate a lot the effort to distinguish "fictional" and "real" dimensions. Also thoroughly enjoyed the letter from an otaku chapter.
The Darger chapter was wild.
September 8, 2019
lacan is fun
February 4, 2022
evangelion
March 23, 2023
Just read the final chapter.
December 4, 2023
It’s not only about otaku but the wider question of attraction to and investment in fictional characters in a millennial mediascape. It was very life affirming actually
January 15, 2015
This is a book which is meant to be an academic analysis by a Japanese psychiatrist of "Beautiful Fighting Girl" anime and manga. The term is used to mean "girl" warriors who are not yet adults. It is contrasted with the term "amazonian woman" which the author uses for Wonder Woman/ Xena Warrior Princess" type characters who are warriors but also fully grown up.
The book is written by a "Lacanian" psychiatrist. "Lacan" is the french Freud, and this means there's a lot of pseud-scientific babble- some of it convincing, some of it not. The lowest point is the author's use of a concept called "hysteria"- I don't actually understand the concept or what he's trying to say- but since it seems to originate from some sort of sexist early 1900s conception of women, I doubt I'm missing much.
The best part of the book (or most useful to me) is the defining of 13 subgenres of Beautiful Fighting Girls and a brief discussion of the history of the tropes:
Splash of Crimson- One woman on a team of males.
Magical Girl- Sailor Moon is the most famous example, a girl with magical powers, evidently.
Transforming Girl- Apparently characters who don't have magical powers so aren't magical girls, but also transform. So "Batgirl" would presumably be a transforming girl, Mary Marvel a "Magical Girl"
Team- A group of all women, such as Charlie's Angel's but with younger characters.
Grit and Determination- describes sports shows, which involves fighting if it's a shows about women martial artists (He counts street fighter's Chun Lee)
Takarazuka- Descends from a type of Japanese theater where all roles were played by women, so women would crossdress as men while playing male characters. Utena and The Rose of Versailles are the most famous examples.
Satorial Perversion- I'm not sure what this means, the word sartorial means "of or relating to tailoring, clothes, or style of dress." so presumably it involves crossdressing or gender bending that's not influenced by theater.
Hunter- girl who has a mission to hunt things. Would apply to Buffy (hunting vampires) or Laura Croft (Hunting Treasure)
Alien Girl Next Door- Something like Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie but with younger female characters.
Pygmalion- Artificial girls (such as robot girls) brought to life. Named after the greek myth involving a carving brought to life.
Medium- Someone who is an intermediary between the human world and spiritual or "other" world. A character who can see ghosts would be an example.
Other world- what science fiction readers call "portal fantasies"- i.e. Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland.
hybrid- Unclear what he means by this- presumably mixed genre-He includes things in this category but doesn't explain why. Sailor Moon is said to be hybrid, I'm guessing because there's a team of magical girls, so it's magical girls and the team genre.
There's parts of the book about japanese fan culture I wasn't personally that interested in- though one noticeable position he takes is the very non- intuitive one that obsessive anime fans who are shut ins (including folks mentally unable to keep a job) are not "mentally ill". It's unclear how he is defining mentally ill, and that sentence I just wrote is so odd that I wonder if I'm misreading something.
I wouldn't particularly recommend this book but it did add some insight here and there to the artistic influences among manga creators.
The book is written by a "Lacanian" psychiatrist. "Lacan" is the french Freud, and this means there's a lot of pseud-scientific babble- some of it convincing, some of it not. The lowest point is the author's use of a concept called "hysteria"- I don't actually understand the concept or what he's trying to say- but since it seems to originate from some sort of sexist early 1900s conception of women, I doubt I'm missing much.
The best part of the book (or most useful to me) is the defining of 13 subgenres of Beautiful Fighting Girls and a brief discussion of the history of the tropes:
Splash of Crimson- One woman on a team of males.
Magical Girl- Sailor Moon is the most famous example, a girl with magical powers, evidently.
Transforming Girl- Apparently characters who don't have magical powers so aren't magical girls, but also transform. So "Batgirl" would presumably be a transforming girl, Mary Marvel a "Magical Girl"
Team- A group of all women, such as Charlie's Angel's but with younger characters.
Grit and Determination- describes sports shows, which involves fighting if it's a shows about women martial artists (He counts street fighter's Chun Lee)
Takarazuka- Descends from a type of Japanese theater where all roles were played by women, so women would crossdress as men while playing male characters. Utena and The Rose of Versailles are the most famous examples.
Satorial Perversion- I'm not sure what this means, the word sartorial means "of or relating to tailoring, clothes, or style of dress." so presumably it involves crossdressing or gender bending that's not influenced by theater.
Hunter- girl who has a mission to hunt things. Would apply to Buffy (hunting vampires) or Laura Croft (Hunting Treasure)
Alien Girl Next Door- Something like Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie but with younger female characters.
Pygmalion- Artificial girls (such as robot girls) brought to life. Named after the greek myth involving a carving brought to life.
Medium- Someone who is an intermediary between the human world and spiritual or "other" world. A character who can see ghosts would be an example.
Other world- what science fiction readers call "portal fantasies"- i.e. Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland.
hybrid- Unclear what he means by this- presumably mixed genre-He includes things in this category but doesn't explain why. Sailor Moon is said to be hybrid, I'm guessing because there's a team of magical girls, so it's magical girls and the team genre.
There's parts of the book about japanese fan culture I wasn't personally that interested in- though one noticeable position he takes is the very non- intuitive one that obsessive anime fans who are shut ins (including folks mentally unable to keep a job) are not "mentally ill". It's unclear how he is defining mentally ill, and that sentence I just wrote is so odd that I wonder if I'm misreading something.
I wouldn't particularly recommend this book but it did add some insight here and there to the artistic influences among manga creators.
May 22, 2011
I found this book hard to read. I had thought it would be more of a history of the concept of the adolescent or pre-adolescent fighting girl in anime and managa. I was mostly wrong about that, though there is a section (chapter 5) that does cover this ground through the time of the original Japanese publication in early 2000. However, this book really is a psychoanalysis or the otaku mentality. While I don't know much about Freudian psychoanalysis, I do know that it all comes back to sex and repressed sexual desires. Sure enough, the author spends most of the book discussing the concept of anime fans developing sexual desire for these fictional characters, which of course causes mental dissonance since the objects of sexual desire are not real and that desire is impossible to be fulfilled.
If I cared for psychoanalytic techniques I may have found the book more enjoyable. I really don't care for that kind of thing, though, nor do I really find it all that persuasive. This book is also a bit of a mess from an organizational standpoint, covering lots of different ground without much context. So, in the end, a bit of a waste of my time, though there was enough good stuff here to keep it from being useless. If I could give the book 2 1/2 stars I would do so, but that is as high as I can go. Can't recommend this unless you enjoy pondering the underlying reasons why anime and manga have gotten as popular as they have. Even then, there is some strange stuff here.
If I cared for psychoanalytic techniques I may have found the book more enjoyable. I really don't care for that kind of thing, though, nor do I really find it all that persuasive. This book is also a bit of a mess from an organizational standpoint, covering lots of different ground without much context. So, in the end, a bit of a waste of my time, though there was enough good stuff here to keep it from being useless. If I could give the book 2 1/2 stars I would do so, but that is as high as I can go. Can't recommend this unless you enjoy pondering the underlying reasons why anime and manga have gotten as popular as they have. Even then, there is some strange stuff here.
July 11, 2012
The best part of this argument is that rather than perverted fans feeling like we are on the fringe of society it actually makes the argument that legitimate sexual attraction to fantasy enables us with heightened experience which is especially suited for our ever changing and multi-faceted world.
January 20, 2014
Fascinating if scattered study of certain anime tropes and the fans who love them - with room for a sympathetic, even moving study of Henry Darger.
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