Cardiff-Japanese Lecture Series: An insight into the mechanism of the roles of antiheros in manga and anime under the context of Japanese society

This event has ended.

A webinar with Fumio Obata (University of Gloucestershire) and is the first event in the Cardiff-Japanese Lecture Series which explores sociocultural aspects of Japanese language learning.

The event is supported by the Japan Foundation, London.

Abstract
Traditionally many stories involve rebellious characters who act outside convention but not immorally motivated, for example they never hurt someone for no reason. They are ‘antiheros’ who follow their own principals and rarely reconcile with orders from authorities. In west there are popular outlaw-type characters from classics to recent Hollywood blockbusters. Characters like Hamlet, Robin Hood, Scarlett O’Hara of Gone with the Wind, Batman, Han Solo, Homer Simpson, recently Jack Sparrow and Lisbeth Salander of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo are memorable and often more popular than the classic heroes and heroines. Why are we attracted to them? Is it because their choice of action often lead to a better result? Fumio Obata thinks there are social reasons to why we cherish them. Together we will look into the cases in manga and anime under the context of Japanese society and culture. The talk aims to be stimulating in terms of comparative cultural study.

Biography
Fumio Obata (born 1975, Tokyo) is a graphic novelist whose work focus on cultural differences and social issues. His latest graphic novels include ‘Just So Happens’ (Jonathan Cape, 2014) and ‘The Garden’ (Liminal 11, 2019) written by a Japan based Scottish author Sean Michael Wilson. He is a senior lecture of Illustration at University of Gloucestershire.

Simultaneous Translation
The event will be delivered in the medium of English. You are welcome to ask questions in the medium of Welsh during the Q&A session. If you intend to do this, please contact mlang-events@cardiff.ac.uk by Wednesday 3 March to request simultaneous translation. Please note that 10% or more of those planning to attend will need to request this provision in order for it to be sourced and will be subject to resource availability.

Registration
We apologise that the entire registration page is not available in the medium of Welsh.  Unfortunately, the platform we use does not offer this service.

Recording of Event
Please note this event will be recorded.