A Micro-exploration of the Social History of Anime in the Early 21st Century: An Appreciation of the Anime " Shakugan no Shana" as an Example

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jmsd.202412322

Author(s)

Junhao Chen

Affiliation(s)

College of Liberal Arts, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

Abstract

Language is a tool for human thinking and communication, but with the advent of the age of visual culture, anime is becoming a brand new form of cultural expression, and this trend is becoming more and more obvious. Combining the history of anime with the intellectual history, we find that the history of anime is not only externally conditioned, but also inherently generalized in the history of anime itself. The study of anime history is part of the study of history, and depends on the philosophy of history in its overall consciousness. History is neither the history of a certain person, nor the history of a certain number of persons. The general appearance of history is depicted by people. How to make the written history consistent with the real history is the responsibility of the historian and cannot be separated from the culture and language that carries it. The author will take the classic Japanese anime "Shakugan no Shana" in the 2000s as an example, and preliminarily explore the reasons for its popularity and decline from three perspectives of plot setting, character setting and world setting.

Keywords

Anime; Social History of Anime; Japanese Anime Culture; Shakugan no Shana; Intellectual History

References

[1] Lv Mei and Song Shanshan. Introduction to Animation. University of Electronic Science and Technology Press, 2018. [2] Shao Yuhang. Japanese Anime Culture - On the Worldview in Anime Culture. Talent, 2013, 15:157-158. [3] Jia Ruikai, Exploring Resource Allocation and Impacts in Japan's Anime Industry," Media Forum. 2023, 6(18): pp. 55-59. [4] Zhao Dongmei and Bao Xinglong. On the Reasons for the Existence of Japanese Anime's "Spaced Love" Effect. Film Review, 2014, 17: 63-64. [5] Masahiro Koyama. An introductory study of Japanese anime. Ocean Press,2017. [6] Xu Tingting. Research on the Development of China's Animation Industry. Cooperative Economy and Science and Technology, 2024,12: pp. 22-24. [7] Wu Zhixin. Taste Animation Analyzing Culture. Zhejiang Gongshang University Press, 2020. [8] Xu Lihan. Subculture to the World - An Introduction to the Development of Otaku Culture in Japan. Proceedings of the International Academic Forum on Culture and Art Innovation, Beijing, China, 2022.