Garage’s program in partnership with UNIQLO resumes with a lecture by the Japanologist, cultural historian, and manga and anime expert Yulia Magera who will introduce the visual language of Japanese animation.
Fascinating as much as recognizable, manga and anime characters have for a long time attracted fans across the world. However, despite the seeming simplicity of appearance and visual laconism, certain personal qualities, style of behavior, and manner of speech are encoded in their imagery. Using Osamu Tezuka’s Star System and Azuma Hiroki’s “database” theory as her examples, Yulia Magera will explain how authors create their heroes and heroines, how the idea of a cartoon character and its role in a narrative evolved over time, and why characters not embedded directly in the plot nevertheless continue to exist therein. The lecture coincides with the launch of the UNIQLO T-shirts (UTs) featuring winning designs from its Pokémon-themed UT GRAND PRIX 2019 design contest.