Singing in the Rain

Anime is a multibillion dollar industry in America. The anime fan culture in America is one of the largest subcultures in the country. Anime has definitely become a multicultural phenomenon that shows how globalization has affected the spread of media and culture around the globe.

When looking at anime editing from its original Japanese version to the new American version, it is important to look at not just anime, but the broader ideas that surround it. The subtopics to form my literature review need to encompass the general theme: America’s interpretation of foreign culture. At the same time, my subtopics will also adress the more specific theme regarding the difference between American and Japanese culture, through the editing of anime. 

With this in mind, I decided to come up with the following nine subtopics: globalization of culture, assimilation of foreign culture in America, American culture, Japanese culture, anime fans and culture in America, anime audience, subtitling anime, the influence of anime in America, editing and dubbing of anime in America. These are the most pertinent subtopics, that I believe I will need to adress in my paper. However, that does not mean that this list will not change, as there still is lots of uncharted territory to explore. 

Happy that I'm getting somewhere.

Of these subtopics, globalization of culture, and the assimilation of foreign culture in America adress the more broader theme of the digestion of foreign culture in America. These are important in giving the reader a sense of what the importance of my whole paper will be. Globalization and assimilation will give me material to use for contextualizing the purpose of my paper. 

Looking at how American culture absorbs Japanese culture requires that we first define what either are. Therefore, the subtopics that look to define American and Japanese culture are essential to my literature. Further, before I look at how anime is edited, I need to look at anime fans and culture in America in general. This could be a more specific subtopic under the overall American culture subtopic. Also, going with the fans and culture, I will have to compare the audience of anime in Japan and America. Moreover, looking at the influence of anime in America, and the most influential anime in America will help point me in the right direction regarding which anime series to study in my methods.

The last subtopic is the most specific and relevant one. Before I go and compare how dubbing of anime changes the themes in anime, I need to understand how this dubbing process actually work. It is also important that my reader has a clear picture of how the dubbing and localization process works regarding an anime.

In this past week, I have been able to read and put four sources on my document. All of them have given me interesting material to work with—although I have yet not found an article that I can call my foundational source. But, there is still plenty of time and, surprisingly, hundreds of research papers, even books, on anime. 

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Call Me Ishmael

Captain’s Log. Week 2.

Days Adrift: 14

Ship: Holding well against the storm.

Crew: Cook fell ill. First Mate now temporary cook. 

Davy Jones: Hasn’t taken anyone yet. 

Rescues: Found a drifter. Called himself Dobie Gray. Said he got lost in rock-n-roll. 

Research: Sea below.

After scouring the articles in the depths of the JStor, I finally came to a decision: I would pursue my research in anime, not glaucoma. I found that it would be very difficult for me to find a feasible topic on glaucoma that introduces something new to the academic conversation—especially since so much research is being devoted to glaucoma. On the other hand, I found that there was a significant academic conversation surrounding anime, but at the same time, there was also a unique niche that I could pursue for my research.

Currently I have refined my search to the following topic: the localization of Japanese anime in America. In the class discussion on Thursday, I found that it would be too difficult for me to look at anime as a whole, instead I should focus on specifically one genre of anime. I decided to then focus specifically on the action genre of anime, since this genre is the most popular in America. However, on Friday, when presenting in front of the class, I realized that focusing on the action-genre was still too much. 

I decided to follow in the footsteps of the research papers I had read. Many of the research papers on anime did case studies on a specific anime series or movie. To narrow my broad topic, I decided that I should focus on one or two specific anime series—conducting a case study of each and extrapolating those findings to a broader spectrum. However, I still have lots of work to do in terms of narrowing down my focus. I still need to do considerable research to find the most suitable anime(s) to focus on. 

Still hunting.

Moving forward, this week, I am planning to read more sources from JStor to get a better look at the academic conversation. From what I have read in the past week, much of the academic conversation regarding anime surrounds the anime fan. Many of the research papers focus on profiling the anime fan and looking for reasons as to why anime has become so popular in America. I found only one article that addressed localization of anime in America—however it only focused on the success of a specific localized anime in America. My goal is to dig deeper to find more specific sources so that I can start molding a research question. This coming week will be directed towards finding more relevant sources that I can use to compile my literature review and build my research question. But, in the end, I am really happy that I chose to look into anime, and I know that I will be able to take this topic to great places by the end of the year. 

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Winter Is Coming

Just to kick it off, here is a haiku:

Senior year is here.

Life is getting easier.

Is it really? 

So much action packed into one week. A new building. Another delightful year of school. An even larger number of little ones running around in the hallways. A brand new year to do research. YAY!! 

In the realms of A.P. Research, over the week I have progressed pretty far from where I was on Monday. I am currently divided between two completely different topics: Japanese anime in America and glaucoma. Both these topics have a large influence in our society. Japanese Anime has become a pop cultural phenomenon in America. From Pokémon to Dragon Ball Z, anime has taken a deep-rooted cultural seat in America. On the other hand, glaucoma affects millions of people around the world, and is the leading cause of blindness in seniors in America. Both these topics have lots of questions to be answered and studies to still be done. Currently, I am leaning more towards anime, as I have had more success with finding topics to research in anime, than glaucoma.

I have found a few research papers that focus on the prevalence of Japanese anime in America. However one pointed out the importance of fan-made English subtitles in the proliferation of anime in America. This piqued my interest, and I decided to delve a little deeper into the translation of anime to English. It turns out, that there is a huge controversy surrounding this: dub or sub?

English subtitles (sub), that are inserted into anime, stick very closely to the original Japanese version of the anime. Nothing about the anime, story line or characters is changed from the original Japanese version. On the other hand, there is dub localization or dub. Large distribution companies buy the rights to an anime in America and have voice-over actors replace the original Japanese dialogue with English dialogue. But these dubbing companies are notorious for “Americanizing” the anime. They edit the Japanese anime to make it more suitable for American audiences and more similar to American culture. 

What I can do with this topic is look at the differences in the original Japanese anime and its English dubbed version. Through this, I can look for the changes that occurred and look for a cultural trend. This, I could then relate to a unique interpretation of how American society digests or interprets foreign cultures.

On the other hand, I can look at glaucoma. There are several different forms of glaucoma, but the core problem that causes glaucoma is the same. Glaucoma is caused by an abnormal Intraocular Pressure in the eye, which can damage optic nerve endings—leading to loss of vision in most patients. What I am currently looking into is the actual process of diagnosing and treating glaucoma. I read an article in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, where the authors argued that glaucoma has two major problems: under-diagnosis and over-treatment. This sparked my interest and really narrowed my focus. 

However, what scares me in terms of taking this topic forward is how I will be able to conduct research in this field or contribute something new to the academic conversation of glaucoma. I have found various credible studies that have already looked at the areas that I am interested in. So I will have to look for something more nuanced as my topic, and something more accessible, if I am to pursue my research in glaucoma. 

In the end, I am definitely looking more into anime, than glaucoma. In the coming week, I will explore more sources regarding both anime and glaucoma. But I will definitely focus more on anime, and unless I hit a definite dead end in anime, I am hoping that, by Friday, I will have a definitive topic in anime. 

Even Jon Snow knows. Winter is coming.

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