The Stage

Material presented at MCAD's 2001 "Girls and Mobilesuits" Anime Seminar. All images are properties of their respective artist, publisher, or distributor, and used for academic purposes only.

Like European Romantic pieces (e.g., Frankenstein), many stories are touched with the brush of fantasy.

Many stories have an edge of the fantastic
Yet most stories also have a familiar core
Examples:

Obviously fantastic worlds range from Macross/Robotech to the setting of Mononoke Hime.
In many settings, the characters start off in the "real world":

Escaflowne's heroine starts off a "normal" student
...as does Fushigi Yuugi's
...as does Inuyasha's

Less obvious:

Kimagure Orange Road is a boy's "soap opera"...
with the twist that our hero has psychic powers.
In Me Gumi No Daigo, our hero is a firefighter...
with a sixth sense for saving lives.
In Dandoh!!, our hero is a young golfer...
with an unusual sensitivity to the forces of nature.

We see a connection from the familiar to the grand and unfamiliar.

Next... the characters.