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How have animation fans in Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Canada formed communities and dealt with conflicts across cultural and geographic distance? This book traces animation fandom from its roots in early cinema audiences, through mid-century children´s cartoon fan clubs, to today´s digitally-networked transcultural fan cultures.

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Introduction: Frictive Pictures PART I: ANIMATION AND THE MIRACULOUS CINEMA 1. Cartoon Internationale 2. World War Cute PART II: AFTER THESE MESSAGES: TELEVISION ANIMATION IN THE AGE OF "POSTS" 3. Kid Vid: Children and Science Fiction TV Fandom 4. Channel Surfers: Cowboy Bebop´s Postnational Fans PART III: ONLINE CONVERSATIONS ACROSS DIFFERENCE 5. "Love at First Site" 6. World Conflict/World Conference: Axis Powers Hetalia Conclusion: "Adding To" Transcultural Animation Fan Communities

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"Annett grapples with what it truly means to be a fan. What are the ´complex flows and frictions´ that propel certain shows to transcultural popularity? And what kind of world is it where teenage girls can be overheard describing the Holy Roman Empire as ´cute´? Annett watches the watchers, and examines the forces that create their subculture." - Jonathan Clements, author of Anime: A History

"This expansive and imaginative study of anime and fan communities takes on really big questions - and succeeds in whittling them down to size, steadily paring away the macrological framework of national histories, cultures, and territories, to expose the complex grain and weave of interactions between fans and animations. Annett generates new awareness of the challenges and possibilities of media environments by honing in on the key question: what can we do with animation?" - Thomas Lamarre, McGill University, Canada

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Sandra Annett is Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.

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