Leiden University Student Repository

Tanck, Robin (2018)

The politics behind the representations of Nazis in Japanese popular culture.

Master thesis | Asian Studies (120 EC) (MA)

In this thesis I will discuss the politics behind Japanese anime and manga. In particular, I will try to elucidate the motivations behind the use of Nazi-inspired characters and Nazi symbolism in popular fiction. My research will be loosely structured around Hiroki Azuma’s infamous “Otaku; Japan’s Database Animals”, in which he discusses the effects of postmodernity on the way in which fiction is produced and consumed. Starting with Hiroki Azuma’s theory on the decline of a “grand narrative” and the increased importance of “moé” in fiction, it is my goal to see if Azuma’s theory holds up against the large variety of Nazi representations in contemporary Japanese popular culture.

popular culture

Japanese Studies

Moé

Author

Tanck, Robin

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

MA Japanese Studies

Supervisors

Wakefield, Bryce

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en