Anime and Philosophy

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Anime and Philosophy Page 36

by Josef Steiff


  Mihawk (character)

  Milgram, Stanley

  on obedience

  on suspension of morality

  Milgram Experiments

  Milton, John:

  Paradise Lost

  Mima (character)

  mimesis:

  of art and life

  and sacrifice

  mind and body, interaction of

  mindbody

  mind-body problem

  Misato (character)

  Mitchell, Robert:

  Data Made Flesh

  Miyazaki, Hayao

  on nostalgia

  on Shinto

  Mobile Suit Gundam (anime)

  and Just War Theory

  One Year War in

  and weapons of mass destruction

  Momotaro (character)

  money:

  and corruption

  as distillation of lives

  and human alchemy

  as Philosopher’s Stone

  Moore’s Law

  Moravec, Hans

  Robot

  Morgan, Michael

  Morgan, Robin

  Morpheus (character)

  Mulan (film)

  Murakami, Takashi

  mutants, as literary device

  My Neighbor Totoro (anime)

  Napier, Susan

  Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke

  Naruto (anime)

  natural selection versus domestic selection

  Nausicaa (character)

  Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (anime)

  apocalyptic environment in

  consequentialism in

  ethical issues in

  warfare in

  Nemuri Kyoshiro (anime)

  Neon Genesis Evangelion (Eva)

  (anime)

  agency in

  angels in

  anxiety in

  Christianity in

  “Death and Rebirth” (episode)

  “End of Evangelion” (episode)

  EVAs in

  evolution in

  fatalism in

  SEELE in

  Night Shift Nurses (anime)

  Ninja Resurrection (anime)

  Ninja Scroll (anime)

  Nobunaga, Oda

  Nonaka, Tekuya

  Nosaka, Akiyuki

  Noumena

  objects, as standing reserve

  Ochi, Hiroyuki

  Octavius, Marcus (character)

  Ode to Kirihoto (anime)

  Ohmu (characters)

  One Piece (anime)

  One-Pound Gospel (anime)

  Original Video Animation (OVA)

  Oshii, Mamoru

  otaku

  Otomo, Katsuhiro

  outsourcing of responsibility

  Paprika (anime)

  Paranoia Agent (anime)

  Pascal, Blaise

  Pascal’s wager

  Perfect Blue (anime)

  Philosopher’s Stone

  Pigeon Blood (anime)

  Pinker, Stephen:

  How the Mind Works

  Pita-Ten (anime)

  Plato

  Cratylus

  Phaedo

  Republic

  on sensationalism

  Plutarch

  Pokemon (anime)

  Police (band):

  Ghost in the Machine

  Porco Rosso (anime)

  pornography, and sex crimes

  posthuman(ism)

  in anime

  and consciousness

  in popular culture

  and representation

  and transcendence

  “powering up,”

  Princess Mononoke (anime)

  Puppet Master (character)

  boundaries of

  as posthuman

  Purgatory Kabuki (anime)

  Puri Puri (anime)

  Rabello (character)

  religion:

  exclusivist view

  inclusivist view

  pluralist view

  Rico (character)

  robot, and moral standing, question of

  Robotech (anime)

  Roots Search (anime)

  Ryle, Gilbert

  The Concept of Mind

  Sade, Marquis de

  St. Lunatic High School (anime)

  Saint Tail (anime)

  samurai

  Samurai Champloo (anime)

  Sartre, Jean-Paul

  Sasuke (character)

  Satō (character)

  Schrödinger, Erwin

  Searle, John

  seinen

  Seita (character)

  poor choices of

  Seneca

  Serial Experiments (anime)

  Setsuko (character)

  7 Seeds (anime)

  Sexual Decisions (textbook)

  Shinji, Ikari (character)

  Shinto

  essentialist

  existential

  Folk

  Shrine

  State

  Ship of Theseus

  Shirow, Masamune

  shōjo

  Short, Sue:

  Cyborg Cinema and Contemporary Subjectivity

  shunga

  Signorielli, Nancy:

  Violence in the Media

  Singer, P.W.

  Children at War

  Sins of the Sisters (anime)

  slippery slope

  Smith, Adam

  on competition

  on specialization

  The Theory of Moral Sentiments

  Wealth of Nations

  social exclusion, in America

  Social Learning Theory

  Socrates

  Son Goku (character)

  Soul Rescue (anime)

  Spirited Away (anime)

  nostalgia in

  Shinto in

  Spriggan (anime)

  Stand Alone Complex (anime)

  Star Trek: The Next Generation (movie)

  Stellvia (anime)

  student hero

  Studio Ghibli

  Super Saiyan (character)

  Suzumiya Haruhi (anime)

  Syllabus, Ross (character)

  belief options of

  Takahata, Isao

  Takashi (character)

  Tamil Tigers

  Tarkovsky, Andrei:

  Nostalghia

  technology, concerns about

  Tenma, Dr. (character)

  Tentacle Rape erotica

  Tetsuo (character)

  identity of

  Tezuka, Osamu

  Thich Nhat Han

  Thurtle, Phillip:

  Data Made Flesh

  Tobio (character)

  Toffoletti, Kim:

  Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls

  Tokugawa Period

  Tokyo Revelations (anime)

  Tomino, Yoshiyuki

  Totoro (character)

  Transformers (anime)

  Triella

  Trinity Blood (anime)

  pluralism of

  Truman, Harry

  Tsurumaki, Kazuya

  Turing, Alan

  Turing Test

  Twelve Kingdoms (anime)

  Twin Dolls (anime)

  Ultimate Reality:

  exclusivist view

  inclusivist view

  pluralist view

  Ulysses 31 (anime)

  Urotskidoji

  US Catholic Conference:

  “Pastoral Letter on War and Peace,”

  usury

  Utilitarianism

  U2 (band)

  value, creation of

  Vampire Hunter D (anime)

  Vegeta (character)

  violent entertainment, question of role of

  Virgil:

  Aeneid

  The Virgin Mary Is Watching (anime)

  Walzer, Michael

  Just and Unjust Wars

  wandering redemption seekers

  Wegener, Paul:

  Der Gol
em

  Wicked City (anime)

  Wilks, Jon

  Winfrey, Oprah

  Witch Hunter Robin

  Wood, Robin

  Xavier, Francisco

  X-Men

  yin and yang

  Yokoyama, Mitsuteru

  Yorita, Kenichi

  Yu-Gi-Oh! (anime)

  Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters (anime)

  Yupa, Lord (character)

  Yusuke (character)

  YuYu Hakusho (anime)

  Zeh (character)

  Zeniba (character)

  08th MS Team (anime)

  Zeta Gundam (anime)

  zombies

  Zoro (character)

  1 A notable exception is the kikai ningen (literally, machine human) in Leiji Matsumoto’s Galaxy Express 999. The protagonist Tetsurō desires a machine body because he believes it will secure him eternal life, hence social status and wealth.

  2 In Japanese this is, “ .” The term “ataerareta” implies that the girls have no control over their situation. The phrase, “chiisa na shiawase” conveys that the happiness given to the girls is not total or deep happiness.

  3 This chapter is a revised version of a conference presentation given by the authors at the CERI International Conference, “Le Manga, 60 Ans Après . . .” [Manga, Sixty Years On . . .], Maison de la Culture du Japon, Paris, (15th March, 2008).

  4 This term is used in order to identify the shift between a mind-body split—following Descartes—and mindbody unification.

  5 A cyborg is a hybrid of “human” (using a minimalist, biological-organic definition) and machine, whereas an android is a wholly technological being. Motoko is a cyborg, but a figure like the Terminator is an android.

  6 I have several people—I think they’re people!—to thank for helping with this chapter: Joel Wright (Bard College ’06) for drawing my attention to Open Court’s Popular Culture and Philosophy series; Robyn Bianconi (Bard ’07) for drawing Joel’s attention to me; and especially Leah Faye Norris (Bard ’11), who gave an early draft of this chapter her full mental attention even though she was embodied on spring break.

  7 Thanks and praise to Hiroyuki Ochi, Chiaki Konaka, and their company for the Armitage franchise. If you by chance read this, please regard this as a much belated tribute from an American fan. (^o^)/

  8 In the Highlander stories, it’s against the rules of “the game” for Immortals to fight on holy ground. This is a rule that no Immortal will break, no matter how evil his opponent might be.

  9 On the difference between Japanese and Western origin myths, see Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Oriental Mythology (1976), pp. 9-13.

  10 The real-life maker of this candy, Sakuma, now sells candies in these tins as a Grave of the Fireflies licensed product, with Setsuko’s picture on the tin. Apparently, the fact that the tin is her cremation urn is not seen as a barrier to marketing.

  11 Studio Ghibli was only saved from financial ruin thanks to the extreme popularity of Torturo-licensed toys.

  12 A live-action version was produced for Nippon TV in 2005, based on the critical success of the anime.

  13 At least, unless I have a blood seal.

  14 All quotes from Aristotle are from his Politics, Book I, Chapters 9 and 10, Benjamin Jowett translation.

  15 Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 84, iii. All Aquinas quotes are from the translation by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province.

  16 That’s Dennis Kozlowski. Google him! Of course, he’s only a single famous example, but the ultra-rich make similarly outrageous choices all the time.

  17 Koestler coined the term ‘holon’ to describe something which is simultaneously a whole and a part.

  18 Others include Metropolis’s robot Maria, Eve of Destruction’s Eve VIII, Terminator 3’s T-X, and on television: the Bionic Woman, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ Cameron, and several of Battlestar Galactica’s Cylons. Only the Bionic Woman functions as a central protagonist.

  19 The design was based on London’s nineteenth-century Crystal Palace Exhibition Hall, a museum devoted to the technology of the Industrial Revolution.

  20 Thanks to Erika Harada for her translation of parts of Ghost in the Shell and Mimi Musker for her criticism of earlier versions of this chapter.

  21 This explains the genetic similarities that Ritsuko Akagi finds between Angels and humans in Episode 5.

  22 Consider Professor Fuyutsuki in Episode 24 where he exclaims once it is discovered Kaworu is the seventeenth Angel: “SEELE has sent an Angel to us.” Gendo then says: “The Old Man wants to advance his schedule, using us as his tools.”

  23 For the sake of consistency, I will follow the story as presented in the theatrical retellings, released in the United States by Manga Entertainment under the names Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion. I rely on Pioneer’s 2001 Special Edition of Akira. All quotations are from the subtitles of those releases.

  24 The philosopher John Leslie has argued in “Is the End of the World Nigh?” (in The Philosophical Quarterly), that, regardless of the cause, the end of the human species is more likely near to us that than not.

  25 This line of argument follows many philosophers of technology like Arnold Gehlen and Friedrich Engels. See Engels, The Dialectic of Nature, pp. 170-183.

  26 Bill Joy, “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” in Wired 8:4 (2000), pp. 238-246. Martin Heidegger, “The Question Concerning Technology” in Basic Writings, pp. 311-341.

  27 In case you’re wondering why a robot sprouts from a boy’s forehead, according to the interview included on the DVD release that I watched, it’s because the director likes robots. Simple! There’s also a baseball-themed episode for essentially the same reason.

  Volume 47 in the series, Popular Culture and Philosophy®, edited by George A. Reisch

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  Copyright © 2010 by Carus Publishing Company

  First printing 2010

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing Company, a division of Carus Publishing Company, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 300, Chicago, Illinois, 60601.

  Printed and bound in the United States of America.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Anime and philosophy : wide eyed wonder / Josef Steiff and Tristan Tamplin [editors].

  p. cm.—(Popular culture and philosophy ; v. 47)

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  eISBN : 978-0-812-69713-1

  1. Animated films—Japan—History and criticism. 2. Animated television programs—Japan—History and criticism. 3. Steiff, Josef. II. Tamplin, Tristan D. III. Title.

  NC1766.J3A53 2010

  791.43′34—dc22

  2009050134

 

 

 


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