ANIME AND MANGA FANDOM: YOUNG PEOPLE’S MULTILITERACIES MADE VISIBLE

In June of 2004, the following letter to the editor appeared in my local newspaper in response to a feature article the paper published about the Tokyo International Anime Fair. In the letter, high-school student Tatianna Smith (2004) expressed her keen interest in the Anime Fair, an annual convention sponsored by the city of Tokyo that draws tens of thousands of industry representatives and fans of animated films and television: I am writing in response to the article, “Suddenly, Japan is cool,” in the May 12 edition of the Post-Standard. I am a big fan of all things Japanese, especially “J-pop,” manga (comics), video games, and anime. So, of course I was drawn instantly to this article as soon as I heard about it from my friend. My first reaction was, “I hate whoever went there instead of me.” My next reaction was that I thought it was cool that someone went to Japan and told the story of the Tokyo International Anime Fair. I must say that I enjoyed this article, even though it did not give me all the information that I would have liked. I would have enjoyed it if you would have given me a link to a Web site so that I could learn more about the Anime Fair.