When, around Christmastime, journalists and other commentators discuss what they consider to be the most memorable depictions of Christmas and related themes in “global cinema”, one title that consistently finds its way into these discussions is an anime film...
When, around Christmastime, journalists and other commentators discuss what they consider to be the most memorable depictions of Christmas and related themes in “global cinema”, one title that consistently finds its way into these discussions is an anime film – Tokyo Godfathers, directed by Satoshi Kon. Kon, tragically passed away from pancreatic cancer on August 24, 2010 at the age of 47. At the time of his death, he was already recognized as one of the most noteworthy directors working in Japanese animation, and since then, his stature has only grown. Accordingly, while reflecting on the anime that he contributed to, it is also important to mark how anime scholars have approached his work.
Previously, I presented a basic content analysis of scholarly works on Satoshi Kon’s films, with the goal of determining which ones of his films were the most frequently studied. And now, supplementing this, I believe it is also useful to present essentially a comprehensive bibliography of English-language scholarly publications on Satoshi Kon and his works, especially designed to commemorate both the 60th anniversary of his birth, and 30 years since the first such publication.
As with other similar specialized resources, this bibliography is based on materials in the larger Bibliography of Anime and Manga Studies. It is based on searches for relevant terms in various major specialized academic databases, as well as in Google Scholar, and, where possible, direct examinations of relevant publications to identify other cited materials. The earliest article in the bibliography that I am currently away of is dated 1993 – on Kon’s manga World Apartment Horror; the most recent is from earlier this year, on “giallo tropes and gender in Perfect Blue“. Between these are 36 other publications – for a total of 38 – consisting of 1 full-length monograph, 7 chapters in edited essay collections, and 30 individual articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. And, with as many as six of these added in just the last two years, it may be entirely safe to assume that non-Japanese scholars will continue to be interested in Satoshi Kon and his works for the foreseeable future.
Satoshi Kon – A Bibliography of English-language Scholarly Publications – 1993-2023-?
2023
Woodard, Sean. “But illusions don’t kill”: An examination of giallo tropes and gender in Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue.In Matthew Edwards & Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns (eds.). Bloodstained narratives: The giallo film in Italy and abroad (pp. 164-181). Jackson: University of Mississippi Press.
*** NEW ***
2022
Freedman, Alisa. Down in the dumps: Tokyo wastelands and marginalized groups in Japanese film and anime.In Jennifer Coates & Eyal Ben-Ari (eds.). Japanese visual media: Politicizing the screen (pp. 97-117). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
[Tokyo Godfathers] Jensen, Casper Bruun, Auld, Eaun, & Brown, Steven D. In the forest of virtuals: The modes of existence in Tokyo Godfathers. Mechademia: Second Arc, 15(1), 15-33. Keene, Andrea Constance. Japanese pop idols: A feminist pragmatist read of Perfect Blue. Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture, 7(2), 200-219. Kennell, Amanda. Satoshi Kon’s Opus through his anime. International Journal of Comic Art, 24(2), 246-267. Wells, Paul. The best part about goth sluts is how versatile our aesthetics can be: Latour, Kon, and animating cosplay performativity. Mechademia: Second Arc, 15(1), 34-53.
[Perfect Blue; Millennium Actress]
2021
Grajdian, Maria Mihaela. Social critique and visionarism in Kon Satoshi’s animation movies. BRUKENTHALIA. Romanian Cultural History Review, 11, 1199-1210.*** OPEN ACCESS ***
2020
Carew, Anthony. Dreams and nightmares: The animated worlds of Satoshi Kon. Metro, 205, 68-75.*** NEW *** Loriguillo-Lopez, Antonio, Palo-Errando, Jose Antonio, & Mazal-Felici, Javier. Making sense of complex narration in Perfect Blue. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 15(1), 77-92.
2019
Josephy-Hernandez, Daniel E. Reflections on the translation of gender in Perfect Blue, an anime film by Kon Satoshi. MonTI. Monografias de Traduccion e Interpretacion, special issue 4, 309-342.*** OPEN ACCESS ***
Torrecila Cabrera, Angelica. Allegories of Japanese women in Paprika by Tsutsui Yasutaka and Kon Satoshi. Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies, 19(3).
*** OPEN ACCESS ***
2016
Levy, Dylan. A girl divided: The fragmented sh?jo in Perfect Blue. Flow: A Critical Forum on Media and Culture, 22(07).*** OPEN ACCESS *** Teodorescu, Alice. Blurring the screen: The fragmented self, the database, and the narratives of Satoshi Kon. Ekphrasis: Images, Cinema, Theory, Media, 15(1), 63-74.
[Perfect Blue, Paprika] Vernon, Alice. Digital sleep and the performance of lucidity in Paprika. Performance Research: A Journal of the Performance Arts, 21(1), 115-119.
2014
Annett, Sandra. The nostalgic remediation of cinema in Hugo and Paprika. Journal of Adaptation in Film & Performance, 7(2), 169-180. Mishra, Manisha, and Mishra, Maitreyee. Animated worlds of magical realism: An exploration of Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress and Paprika. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 9(3), 299-316. Villot, Janine. Chasing the Millennium Actress. Science Fiction Film and Television, 7(3), 343-364.2013
Chang, Yen-Jung. Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress: A feminine journey with dream-like qualities. Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 8(1), 85-97.*** OPEN ACCESS ***
Schaub, Joseph Christopher. Otaku evolution: Changing views of the fan-boy in Kon Satoshi’s Perfect Blue and Paprika. In John A. Lent and Lorna Fitzsimmons (Eds.), Asian Popular Culture: New, Hybrid and Alternate Media (pp. 59-78). Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books.
2012
Norris, Craig. Perfect Blue and the negative representation of fans. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 4(1), 69-86. Perkins, Chris. Flatness, depth and Kon Satoshi’s ethics. Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 4(2), 119-133.[works covered: Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent]
2011
Wells, Paul. Playing the Kon trick: Between dates, dimensions and daring in the films of Satoshi Kon. Cinephile: The University of British Columbia’s Film Journal, 7(1), 4-8.2010
Figal, Gerald. Monstrous media and delusional consumption in Kon Satoshi’s Paranoia Agent. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts, 5, 139-155. Ogg, Kerin. Lucid dreams, false awakenings: Figures of the fan in Kon Satoshi. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts, 5, 157-174.2009
Gardner, William. The cyber sublime and the virtual mirror: Information and media in the works of Oshii Mamoru and Kon Satoshi. Canadian Journal of Film Studies, 18(1), 44-70.*** OPEN ACCESS *** Osmond, Andrew. Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. Perper, Timothy, & Cornog, Martha. Psychoanalytic cyberpunk midsummer-night’s dreamtime: Kon Satoshi’s Paprika. Mechademia: An Annual Forum for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts, 4, 326-329.
*** OPEN ACCESS ***
2008
Diffrient, David Scott. From Three Godfathers to Tokyo Godfathers: Signifying social change in a transnational context. In Leon Hunt and Leung Wing-Fai (Eds.), East Asian Cinemas: Exploring Transnational Connections on Film (pp. 153-171). London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ortabasi, Melek Su. National history as Otaku fantasy: Kon Satoshi’s Millennium Actress. In M. MacWilliams (Ed.), Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime (pp. 274-294). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.2007
Mes, Tom. Requiem for a dream: The films of Satoshi Kon bring the depths of the subconscious into bright anime light. Film Comment, 43(2), 46-48. Ortabasi, Melek Su. Indexing the past: Visual language and translatability in Kon Satoshi’s Millennium Actress. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 14(4), 278-291. Ortabasi, Melek Su. Teaching modern Japanese history with animation: Satoshi Kon’s Millennium Actress. Education About Asia, 12(1), 62-65.2006
Napier, Susan. Excuse me, who are you: Performance, the gaze, and the female in the works of Satoshi Kon. In S. Brown (Ed.), Cinema Anime: Critical Engagements with Japanese Animation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (pp. 23-42). Rickards, Meg. Screening interiority: Drawing on the animated dreams of Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue? IM: Interactive Media – E-Journal of the National Academy of Screen & Sound, 2.*** OPEN ACCESS ***
2005
Bryce, Mio, & Stephens, John. Japanese popular culture and character fashioning: The quest for subjective agency in the animated films, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Perfect Blue. International Journal of the Humanities, 1, 311-321.2004
Sharp, Jasper. Perfect Blue – Satoshi Kon, Japan, 1997. In Justin Bowyer (Ed.), The Cinema of Japan and Korea (pp. 161-168). London, UK: Wallflower Press. Yokota, Mamao. Satoshi Kon’s transition from comics to animation. International Journal of Comic Art, 6(1), 250-265.1993
Pollack, David. The revenge of the illegal Asians: Aliens, gangsters, and myth in Kon Satoshi’s World Apartment Horror. Positions: Asia Critique, 1(3), 677-714. The post Satoshi Kon (1963-2010) – An Anime Studies Retrospective appeared first on Anime and Manga Studies.The post Satoshi Kon (1963-2010) – An Anime Studies Retrospective appeared first on Anime and Manga Studies.
