The History Of Japanese Science Fiction
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- Опубликовано: 15 янв 2025
- The History Of Japanese Science Fiction
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As is the case with all of these documentary style videos, we barely scratched the surface, hopefully this will inspire you to seek out more for yourselves.
May i recommend a great podcast called Read Japanese Literature, they have a few videos on RUclips, this one is about Science Fiction - ruclips.net/video/C3_2seTqMy4/видео.html
Outlaw Bookseller also has a video about Yukio Mishima and Japanese SF in general - ruclips.net/video/Bx2lqgTcbIY/видео.html
Did you read "Upgrade" by Blake Crouch yet?
Ghost in the Shell, Ergo Proxy, Battle Angel Alita, Evangelion, Psycho Pass, Blame, Paranoia Agent, Gantz, Steins Gate, Serial Experiments Lain, so many great stories.
yeah.... agreed
I had to go back and add,
Darker than Black
Great script and well presented, but too short... I could have happily listened to you talk about Japanese SF for a lot longer. Great stuff.
Thanks Alan, this is a debate we are always having behind the scenes. Would the video be better if it was 40 minutes long? Maybe. Will the audience disappear after 10 minutes? Probably
@@MediaDeathCult I think your audience really appreciate what you do now and would stay with you for the ride. But I accept that’s a personal view and that I might be wrong. Excellent programme though. You and the Secret Sauce of Storytelling have really got me engaged with SF again. Thank you.
@@MediaDeathCultmaybe, but in this case you left me wanting more. Besides the obvious common recommendations like Akira, GitS and evangelion, what should we be seeking out? What books are there? What isn’t in the top 100 general manga and anime lists that is really cool? What is really different from the western material we’re used to?
Thanks for mentioning Polish sci-fi literature. Maybe someday you'll do something similar about it. I'm pretty sure you'll like not only Lem's books, but also Zajdel's (in my opinion the best) and Huberath's.
I would like to somehow cover the whole world in practical slices
The rise of Manga in the US speaks volumes about the failure of modern US comics to connect with the general audience, and much about the vast quality and quantity of excellent Manga stories. Japan's tradition of adults reading Manga, and treating it a another form of artistic storytelling, is more 'European mainland' in outlook, where comics are not just snobbishly dismissed as 'kiddies picture books', as they often still are in the US and UK.
The sad thing is, only the mainstream Marvel and DC comics are terrible. There’s tons of indie comics that are just as good as most manga.
@@nightmarishcompositions4536 Even then Marvel and DC put out a lot of good stuff - it's just that eventually it'll get retconned or watered down or otherwise messed with in favour of maintaining the giant, unwieldly shared universe where characters barely change.
@@thisspaceforrent5737 Absolutely, and you can still get comics in the equivalent stores of other countries. I see cheap, kid-oriented comics in supermarkets in Ireland all the time. 2000AD and locally repackaged superhero stuff is a little harder to get unless you go to a dedicated newsagents/magazine store but still more accessible than just specialist stores. Most towns and larger settlements have at least one place you can get some sort of comics.
You say that but let’s face it, there are excellent manga but probably at least 70% is trash not fit for the over 15s.
I think it's rather rtant to highlight the diference between "super robot" and "real robot", because it points towards one of the most important aspects of Japanese science fiction: the pushing of boundaries. Super robot is the initial popular genere where giant almost magical robots fight impossible threats in heroic, but basic stories. They were mainly aimed at children. With Gundam, in 1979, things changed. It was the start of the "real robot" genere, where the robots and the worlds are expected to be plausible, complex and even hostile; and the character deep and far from heroic power fantasies. The horror of war and its efects on the human mind and spirit were at the forefront. Of course Gundam initially failed because they marketed it in the same way and to the same audience as the super robot stuff... but then it came back like a typhoon thanks to the cult following it had developed among adult audiences eager for narratives that gave them something to think about, that offered them characters that felt real and relatable in a society struggling to (re)find its identity and navigating heavy political tensions.
Thanks!
Thank you
I must say that this type of videos is the best on your channel
This is an amazing channel. I tried watching other book tube science fiction channels and this is the best. The others no offense seem lame and kinda amateurish. Your videos are just cooler and also have real substance about the genre. Not just cool to be cool but cool because it's so good.
Thank you so much, i agree with everything you said
Outstanding content and visuals. Thank you, Moid and Sir Charlie!
Beautiful production. Top notch!
The Media Death Cult videos on the history of science fiction from England to America, and now re: Japan, are amazing to zappy! I'm looking forward to MDC videos on the history of SF from China and Russia and every other country that has produced work from my favorite genre. And while I don't think I'll be around to see it, I hope one day Moid releases a video about the history of science fiction from Mars and beings from other planets, other galaxies.
Good job, Moid!
Blame is best sci-fi manga written ever. You must read it.
Thank you, I will check it out
@@MediaDeathCult awesome
Yeah, and the author Tsutomu Nihei's background in Construction and architectural engineering can really be seen in his mangas, some of the pages are just breathtaking.
Blame is definitely a must read manga! Love it to death
Great episode. My earliest introduction to SciFi was watching Star Blazers on WUTV (Fox Buffalo) in the 70s early mornings at the babysitters waiting for school to start (my Mom started work early)
In recent years, the connections between manga and anime have actually connected up to prose literature as well. Light Novels, prose books with frequent illustrations in a manga style are incredibly popular, and making inroads in the west thanks to e-publishing are as often a source of an anime series as manga these days, and usually once it's adapted in one medium the other follows suit.
There's an insanely popular genre right now that came first from light novels called Isekai - a character from the normal world - usually someone with a boring life, limited or niche skills and interests - finds themself in another world where it turns out that they're very special for some reason, like their niche interest is exactly what is needed to save the day. They're a prime example of what starts out as prose fiction and rapidly gets adapted to manga and anime.
Another excellent episode Moid . You should be on the bbc mate very educational 👍🏻
Another superb review. Why do you not have more subscribers? Are there so few reading Scifi any more? Thanks for this historical review.
Outstanding content as usual! Thanks🤘🏼
You're a genius Moid. Fantastic stuff. (And the other guys too of course).
They made one of the better "alternate history" sci-fi movies out of a Japanese short called "Never Let Me Go." Another "alt history" sci-fi effort is Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle."
So, here I was, reading Absolution Gap (yes, I am a bit late to the party) here in Japan, when I got this notification. It is like the whole universe was in phase for a blip of second. These new videos are sensational (even though I am wondering how many cans of beans remain under the stairs).
Japan has my favorite sci-fi stories of all time, that to me, vastly outshine any western sci-fi story I’ve ever consumed. My personal favs are Gintama, Aria, Texhnolyze, 20th Century Boys, Pluto, Blame, and Psycho Pass. Though these stories are not at all heavy scifi and don’t really get into grand scifi concepts either(except maybe blame, Pluto, and psycho pass). Instead the scifi is more just a backdrop. It’s the themes and characters that make these stories incredible to me.
Loved this. I would like to see a part two, maybe that would deal with the issue of how long to make the vids. Good luck with the move, look forward to seeing the fab newe library.
For a survey of Japanese SF, I would strongly recommend Kurodahan Press's "Speculative Japan" anthologies (full disclosure: I did some translation for this series' later volumes). The first of these traces its history all the way back to the 1970s, when Judith Merril got involved with a project to translate Japanese SF into English. Unfortunately, a finished anthology didn't see the light of day until 2007, but we've got it now, and Kurodahan went on to produce 3 additional volumes.
Most of volume 1's stories are from the 60s and 70s, with two from the 80s and one from 2002. It has something from most of the major figures of early Japanese SF. Volumes 2 and up include more recent works, though there are some older ones as well.
Thank you
I really do like these new topic specific exposé pieces.
GITS pretty much the best SciFi I ever read and watched
I would suggest on one end, Haruka Yakachiho's Crusher Joe and Dirty Pair, which both interesting takes on space opera (the latter had some amazing western adaptations from Adam Warren and Dark Horse), and on the the other end, Yukinobu Hoshino's 2001 Nights and Two Faces of Tomorrow. (The latter being an adaptation of some of James P. Hogan's works). Hoshino's style is more realistic, but is compelling all the same. They were also translated by Studio Proteus and published by Dark Horse Comics in the 90s.
Another top notch video.
Thank You
Haters will say that you just use a screen background to pretend you were in Japan (just joking!!) Excellent content, I mean... you say Japan and I will immediately watch it. And the edition was great.
Great video!! I new to the fairly new to the channel, been binging on your videos ever since, and I just love the ever increasing quality of your work. Most recently, there seems to be a rise in Chinese science fiction. I'm wondering if you have anything planned for that??
Thanks, indeed we do, similar video about Chinese Science Fiction coming soon
Enjoyed this! I completely forgot about the Japanese Megacorp social phenomenon but you're totally right. Corps like Mitsubishi were so incredibly dominant back then. I've also never thought to compare Britain with Japan for some reason - interesting thought experiment there. You didn't mention Ghost in the Shell but glad you showed it - what a bullet that was into the American psyche.
Good stuff.
What Japanese SF have you read in novel form? I'd be interested in hearing more about those. The Haikasoru line of books translates a number of SFF classics from the 60s to the present, from space opera to very hard sf, some very odd indeed. I love your recognition that our exploration of SF through their eyes is akin to seeing an alien culture. It's one reason I've loved exploring their culture, because if we can't understand them, what hope have we of understanding aliens?
Gosh, you've really up your game from the old days... ;-) You know what I mean. Great work.
Thank You
Great video thank you!
Fantastic video. Would love to see one of your indepth videos on Russian scifi history. Not as globally impactful but how authors used it to mask their opinions on life under Soviet rule is incredible.
Thanks, a similar Russian/Soviet video will happen soon
Talking about Manga I was wondering if you would touch on the erotic part of it and yep you did 👍🏼
Now Of course the Western World has had its Barbarella and co but the feeling is not the same.
I ‘ve read some interesting South Korean SF recently and Chinese . Although they are 3 different cultures there is also a big connection between them.
Nice video and nice Japanese Cherry flowers themed Hawaii shirt 🤗
Love the idea of looking at the history of SF starting from different cultures 🤗
You can cover the World like this …. Wearing the appropriate Hawaiian shirt ofcourse 🤗
AMONG the three, not BETWEEN the three. Also, we shouldn't mention that his Hawaiian shirt is 🔥
@@tarico4436 ha thank you . Yep English is not my mother language so always nice to get some corrections 🤗
Well his shirts are 🔥 and part of the fun so 🤗
@@ilselauwers6009 I was saying a bad joke about the Hawaiian fires currently still smoldering. Sorry. And I do wish the survivors well.
Also, thank you for not blowing up at me for my helping with your English. You wouldn't believe how much 💩I get for merely helping!
Bring on the sex robots!!! Oh wait, the frisky japanese have coin-operated machines for that?
どうもありがとう、モイド.。
Godzilla and sheet
My girlfriend just came in the room and asked me what I was doing. I said I was watching a video on the history of Japanese science fiction. Now I don't have a girlfriend anymore.
Why didn't you talked about Japanese light novels😢?
I think you are missing Doraemon.
Doraemon is more of a semi-educational comedy series, but it does have some elements of science fiction.
I have a nearly lifelong history with both Japan and with science fiction, though not always Japanese sci-fi.
In the early 80s our national broadcaster seemed to show nothing but Japanese cartoons (also Monkey), and British stuff from that guy in the blue box, the Goodies, and so on. I think maybe the ABC got a bulk discount on Japanese shows or something :D Whatever the reason, Japanese "soft power" was already getting hooks in my young brain even in my earliest school years.
We used to watch fansubs on VHS long before anime was even a word here, and then Akira punched my generation square in the nuts and really brought Japanese animation into the broader consciousness here.
I''m all grown-up now, so my dislike of anime is at a similar level as my dislike of most all media.
Thank goodness for weird corners of RUclips! And thanks for the vid MDC.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a pretty good Japanese sci fi, it has some good characters with some interesting flaws and a mysterious story. It takes a while to get good (13ish episodes in) But the movie End of Evangelion is worth it.
There's also a manga adaptation that was made after the show.
I actually liked the manga a little more. It did a better job of developing some of the characters, especially Shinji.
Say it with me #Meiji (MayG)
then ww2 happened and depiction of Japanese people appeared correct
Thanks!
Thank You Hugh