Rhythm and Change: Exploring Interpretations of Blackness in Japanese Animation

Abstract

The influence of anime and Japan on Black popular cultures is well documented in recent literature. However, significantly less attention has been given to the opposite: the influence of Blackness and Black popular cultures on anime and Japan. This research project takes an African American studies approach to explore how Blackness is interpreted and re-interpreted for anime, with special attention given to the rise of hip-hop in Japan between 1990 and the early 2000s. The two anime examined for this study were Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990) and Afro Samurai (2007).