Magic in Japanese Popular Culture

This thesis examines the depiction of magic in Japanese popular media in order to find out how certain forms of popular media reflect societal views regarding national identity, youth, and gender. Through this examination, I aim to explain the context surrounding the cultural ideas being exported through Japanese popular media and their global influence. Various primary sources of Japanese popular media were analyzed, namely anime, manga and light novels. These works were analyzed under the theoretical frameworks provided by a number of anthropologists and Japanese popular culture scholars. By combining the disciplines of pop culture studies and anthropology, this analysis of magical Japanese popular media examines not only what the kinds of cultural messages are being expressed through magic in popular media, but who benefits from the popularity of magical power fantasies, and what effects these messages and fantasies have on Japanese society.Bachelor of Art