Our students often are deeply involved in literacy practices that we aren’t aware of, practices that may be far more diverse and multicultural than we expect them to engage in. If we become aware of these practices, then we can make connections between these other literacies and the ones they use in our courses.
Included among these unexpected literacy practices are the
collecting of anime (Japanese animation) and manga (Japanese comic books). The
availability of these texts has proliferated in the
You may already have heard of some of these texts from your own children and students, but not have known their origins: Pokemon, Hamtaro, Dragonball Z, and Yu-Gi-Oh are some of the most popular anime being shown on Western television.
Many of the series most popular with Western children, adolescents and young adults are shown on Cartoon Network. One of the most interesting things about Cartoon Network is that of all the American networks airing anime, it is the least likely to obscure the programs’ Japanese origins. In fact, Cartoon Network has recognized that anime fans are a major percentage of its audience. Other networks that show children's anime include KidsWB, FoxBox, and ABCFamily. KidsWB is the network most likely to Americanize a series by changing Japanese names to American names and editing storylines to suit Western mores. Interestingly enough, both Cartoon Network and KidsWB are owned by AOL/TimeWarner.
Glossary of anime and manga terms
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