Drawing on ethnographic research including interviews with artists at some of Tokyo's leading animation studios, Ian Condry focuses attention on the collective social energy that has made anime a global cultural phenomenon.

Note on Translations and Names ix
Introduction. Who Makes Anime? 1
1. Collaborative Networks, Personal Futures 35
2. Characters and Worlds as Creative Platforms 54
3. Early Directions in Postwar Anime 85
4. When Anime Robots Became Real 112
5. Making a Cutting-Edge Anime Studio: The Value of the Gutter 135
6. Dark Energy: What Overseas Fans Reveal about the Copyright Wars 161
7. Love Revolution: Otaku Fans in Japan 185
Conclusion. Future Anime: Collaborative Creativity and Cultural Action 204
Acknowledgments 218
Notes 221
References 227
Index 237