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
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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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