Anime and Manga for Grown-Ups June 7, 2011

There is a strong cultural assumption in the U.S. that all animation and comic books are juvenile forms of entertainment. The mediums are actually far richer than that, and nowhere else is this truer than in Japan. The Japanese have developed a rich industry producing thousands of titles both in print and animated. Any genre you are familiar with has been mined and combined with visuals to help tell the story. Don't assume everything is family entertainment or sitcoms. Join us to explore works that range from respectable literature to delightful trash, and everything in between.

Gilles Poitras, the Access Services Librarian at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, is best known for his three books: The Anime Companion, Anime Essentials, and Anime Companion 2, as well as writing for the magazines Newtype USA and Otaku USA. He also sits on the senior board of Mechademia, an annual scholarly anthology of essays on anime, manga, and fan culture.