‘Japanimation’ invites visitors to learn about art form

An exhibit on display now at Pattee Library focuses on Japanese animation, or anime, from its historical origins to its influence on pop culture.

“Japanimation: Exploring Anime,” samples the University Libraries’ comprehensive collection of anime films, plus books and documentary films about anime, according to Glenn Masuchika, information literacy librarian and the exhibit’s curator.

“Anime, or the style of Japanese animated film and television, has become one of the most universally recognized forms of multimedia entertainment,” Masuchika said. “During the last 15 years, half of the total animated films shown worldwide have been anime.”

The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 16, and in addition to movies themselves, the exhibit features three dimensional art and movie posters.

“Each poster corresponds to films held in the University Libraries’ anime film collection, including well-known staples such as ‘Spirited Away” and ‘Princess Mononoke,’ as well as lesser-known comedies ‘Tekkon Kinkreet’ and ‘Tokyo Godfathers’ and the darkly dystopian classics ‘Akira’ and ‘Grave of the Fireflies,’ ” Masuchika said. “The exhibit also boasts a reproduction of Totoro from the film, ‘My Neighbor Totoro.’ ”

Anime’s interesting visual style has led to adaptation and influence around the globe.

“The impact is mostly visual, and the anime style has been adopted by many Western cartoon shows,” Masuchika said. “A small sampling would include ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender,’ ‘The Legend of Korra,’ ‘The Powerpuff Girls,’ ‘Teen Titans,’ ‘Teen Titans Go,’ ‘Justice League’ and ‘Samurai Jack.’ One can see the influence of the anime style in recent movies such as Disney’s ‘Big Hero Six’ and ‘Frozen.’ ”

Legendary anime director Hayao Miyazaki has crossed over into Western culture, winning an Academy Award for best animated feature film in 2003 with “Spirited Away.”

The exhibit is a continuation of a previous University Libraries exhibit Masuchika curated in 2014 titled “Sumi and Samurai: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Akira Kurosawa” — the former, a master of Japanese animation and the latter, a maker of many movies, including chambara, or sword fighting movies.

“I noticed that many viewers were drawn to the colorful posters advertising Hayao Miyazaki’s work, and I believed an exhibit on Japanese animation would not only be an interesting exhibit, but would showcase a fine collection,” Masuchika said.

The exhibit is open to the public and available for viewing during regular fall semester Pattee Library operating hours.

“The exhibit is a celebration of the beauty and elegance of an art form that is rapidly gaining acceptance as a medium for scholarly work,” Masuchika said. “It is also a reminder that the Penn State University Libraries has a collection of Japanese animation that can fully support studies in fields as far-reaching as comparative literature, world religions and philosophies, art and art history, Asian studies, cinema studies and graphic design. We invite all those interested to learn about this art form, which has become so ubiquitous in American culture, to see the exhibit.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 2:31 PM with the headline "‘Japanimation’ invites visitors to learn about art form."