Pikachu's Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon

Published by Duke University Press 2004

Pikachu's Global Adventure

The Rise and Fall of Pokemon

Edited by: Joseph Tobin
With contributions by: David Buckingham , Julian Sefton-Green , Anne Allison and Koichi Iwabuchi

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822385813

Overview
Contents

About this book

Pokemon in a transnational and multidisciplinary perspective.

Author / Editor information

Joseph Tobin is the Nadine Mathis Basha Professor of Early Childhood Education at Arizona State University. He is the author of “Good Guys Don’t Wear Hats”: Children’s Talk about the Media, editor of Making a Place for Pleasure in Early Childhood Education, and coauthor of Preschool in Three Cultures: Japan, China, and the United States.

Reviews

“I took a peek at the table of contents for Pikachu’s Global Adventure, then read a little of the introduction, and the next thing I knew I was deep, deep in the book and didn’t want to stop. The writing was that engaging, the information and arguments that compelling.”—Henry Jenkins, coeditor of Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture

“The contributors to this volume are the smartest scholars working today in the areas of global media and children’s media. This book tells an entertaining and surprising tale of how the little Japanese Pokémon transformed children’s culture and global media economics. The changes that Pikachu wrought are only the beginning of fascinating new trends in role-playing games, video games, cartoons, and toys and the accelerated spread of such fads via the Internet.”—Ellen Seiter, author of Sold Separately: Children and Parents in Consumer Culture

“Pikachu’s Global Adventure is a compelling volume, as each essay offers new insights with few weak links or needless repetition.”

-- Jason Mittell Popular Communication

“A valuable contribution to debates about the guiding forces and diverse effects of global media cultures. . . . The fascinating Pikachu’s Global Adventure extends the study of contemporary Japan by taking seriously transnational media in reconfiguring the boundaries of ‘Japanese culture.’”

-- Ian Condry Journal of Asian Studies

"The contributors to this volume provide thoughtful explanations to account for the popularity of Pokémon among children in Japan, America, Israel, and France. Although these essays focus on Pokémon, many of the insights found in this book are also applicable to other examples of children's popular culture that have Japanese origins."

-- Mark I. West Children's Literature Association Quarterly

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
I. CONTEXTS AND ISSUES
1. Introduction Joseph Tobin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. Structure, Agency, and Pedagogy in Children’s Media Culture David Buckingham and Julian Sefton-Green Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
3. Cuteness as Japan’s Millennial Product Anne Allison Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
II. GLOBAL CIRCULATION
4. How ‘‘Japanese’’ Is Pokémon? Koichi Iwabuchi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
5. Localizing the Pokémon TV Series for the American Market Hirofumi Katsuno and Jeffrey Maret Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
6. Panic Attacks: Anti-Pokémon Voices in Global Markets Christine R. Yano Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
III. PLACES AND PRACTICES
7. Initiation Rites: A Small Boy in a Poké-World Julian Sefton-Green Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
8. Pokémon in Israel Dafna Lemish and Linda-Renée Bloch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
9. How Much Is a Pokémon Worth? Pokémon in France Gilles Brougère Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
IV. POKÉMON GOES TO SCHOOL
10. Localizing Pokémon Through Narrative Play Helen Bromley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
11. The Multiple Identities of Pokémon Fans Rebekah Willett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	226
12. Masculinity, Maturity, and the End of Pokémon Samuel Tobin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
13. Conclusion: The Rise and Fall of the Pokémon Empire Joseph Tobin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 306

eBook

Published: February 5, 2004
ISBN: 9780822385813