1.
CONNECTING THE WORLD
ANIME AND MANGA
STUDIES SYMPOSIUM
THE WORLDWIDE
VISUAL LEXICON AND TERMINOLOGY
OF ANIME, MANGA, AND FANDOM
BY LAWRENCE BRENNER

2.
INTRODUCTION
• I’m Lawrence Brenner
LawrenceBrennerMedia lawrencebrenner

3.
INTRODUCTION
• Last year I presented on The Rise of Cosplay Economy here
• It has been updated, expanded
and includes

4.
HASTAGS FOR THE PRESENTATION
• #visuallexicon
• #animelexicon
• #cosplaylexicon
Ask your questions and keep the conversation going with these
Remember I’m @lawrencebrenner
Due to time constraints, I will not be able to cover everything I want to in
this presentation so keep the conversation going.
AX and Symposium Hashtags
• #AX2014
• #AnimeSymposium

5.
ANIME AND MANGA ARE GLOBAL
CAUSING A GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING
• In the beginning anime and manga made its way around the world,
showing the same visual content across languages
• Now many people around the world can now view the same
programming and content simultaneously
• All through streaming services
• Through this all the imagery from anime and manga content was
and is shared
• Creating a unified visual understanding
• This understanding extends to properties related to anime and
manga such as videogames, figures, and other transmedia
properties and creations

6.
PERCEPTIONS OF EMOTIONS AND
CHARACTER STATE OF MIND AND
INTENTS
• Innocence
• Humorous Sets of Emotions
• Evil
• And many more

7.
WHAT MAKES YOU INNOCENT?
• Wide eyes with large pupils, show innocence
• Experience and intent, can remove innocence

8.
SHOW ME THE FUNNY: ANGER
• Anger can be a form of humor
The anger square,
representing “cross
popping” veins, is
only the beginning

9.
SHOW ME THE FUNNY: ANGER
• Some examples of the cross
• This can show the annoyance of the character even from behind

10.
SHOW ME THE FUNNY: ANGER
• Anger can be a form of humor

11.
SHOW ME THE FUNNY: THE SWEAT
DROP
• Worry, comedic fear, embarrassment, all from the drop

12.
SHOW ME THE FUNNY: THE SWEAT
DROP
• It can show things from all beings even those that would otherwise
have limited expressions

13.
SPARKLES OF ADMIRATION
“The Sparkles of Admiration, has
been passed down the Armstrong
line for generations.”

14.
NOSEBLEEDS: LOVE, LUST, AND
MORE

15.
YOU MAY BE DEFINED AS EVIL,
BUT ARE YOU?
• What is evil?
• Evil via the visual lexicon more speaks of the intents of characters
and the characteristics of their actions
• Not by being something we might define as evil

16.
FOR EXAMPLE: SEBASTIAN
You see…
I am simply….
One Hell of a butler.
If you don’t watch Black Butler
Sebastian is a demon.

17.
“I'M JUST KILLING THE SPIDERS TO
SAVE THE BUTTERFLIES.” THE
ASPECTS OF EVIL
• Eyes
• Since anime and manga place much emphasis of the eyes and face,
lots can be determined
• Now remember, this shows the “evil intents” of the character, not
necessarily if they are evil themselves
• Usually though in more serious works these are evil characters

18.
THE LOOKS OF EVIL:
IT CAN BEGIN YOUNG

19.
THE LOOKS OF EVIL:
A FEW SECONDS BEFORE

20.
THE LOOKS OF EVIL:
SCARY SHINY GLASSES

21.
THE LOOKS OF EVIL:
SCARY SHINY GLASSES

22.
THE LOOKS OF EVIL:
GLOWING EYES

23.
DEATH, LIFELESS, AND EMPTINESS
See the death and emptiness, loss of will
It can also show mind control

24.
SHOCK AND HORROR
Humorous Shock and Horror True Horrible Shock and Horror
A humorous look Small eyes, a look of terror

25.
KAMPAI! DRINKING IN ANIME AND MANGA
Notice the red
sections under the
eyes as they drink
and become drunk.
You see the styling
you know they have
been drinking.

26.
IDENTIFICATION FROM SILHOUETTE
Who’s that Pokemon?
Many characters can be identified via
silhouette or elements combined

27.
SYMBOLS CAN SAY EVERYTHING
• These can speak of the heroes, villains, organizations
• This is more commonly seen in American media, but there is plenty
of it in anime and manga

28.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL
LEXICON
• When you see a character, you know who it is
• Many characters, especially popular ones, have distinctive looks and
features
• These can be from all forms of media (anime, comics/manga, toys,
games, etc)
• Combinations with popular concepts, can also create new and yet
still easy to identify variants

29.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL
LEXICON
• Mukokuseki is common in anime and manga
• It literally means "stateless" (i.e. "without nationality")
• Think about every series not based in “our world” and some that are,
what characters identifies as from anywhere?
What’s Japanese about
anyone here?
Visual elements define the characters, the
story tells their origins

30.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL
LEXICON
• How about Anime Expo 2014’s Cosplay Guests?
• If you did not know what country they were from could you guess? (Just
from cosplay photos)
Giada is from Italy
Doremi and Tasha
are from Korea
Giada TashaDoremi
The world is global now and
anyone can be from
anywhere. This means that
characters are awesomely
cosplayed all over the world
by all.

31.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL
LEXICON
• The story determines where the character is from
• Visual elements of the character, such as hair, style(s), outfit(s)
determine the visual recognition of the character
Both are Mai Shiranui
From King of Fighters
The iconic look, the
colors and outfit and
hair make Mai
Iamajahaha as Mai (right)
An official character
design (right)

32.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL LEXICON: ART ADAPTIONS
• Visual elements of the character, such as hair, style(s), outfit(s) determine the visual
recognition of the character
• Created fan art versions keep these elements and the character is easily recognized
Yaya Han as the Art Nouveau version of Chun-Li
designed by Kim Razvan Courtney
http://razvan-sedekiah.deviantart.com
Visit Yaya at 920/922
An Official
Character Design

33.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL
LEXICON:
ANTHROPOMORPHISM AND MASHUPS
Jaime Poison as
Hipster Ariel
Jessica Nigri as
Captain Teemo
Saiyan Homer
The combination of elements
makes each part of the
mashup identifiable.
Visit Jessica at Sentai Filmworks (1301) Crop Top by Adorkable Apparel

34.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL LEXICON:
ORIGINAL VARIANTS
• Visual elements of the character, such as hair, style(s), outfit(s) determine the visual recognition of
the character
• Original Variant Versions Combine Concepts such as Christmas and Bring Them To The Character
• This is slightly different than a mashup and is more about the
elements of concepts and characters combined
• On occasion these sometimes are thought of by fans as an
official variant (such concepts are seen official figures/art often)
Christmas Jinx by Kinpatsu Cosplay
Official Jinx Art and Skins

35.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL
LEXICON:
GENDERBENDS
KO Cosplay as Death the Kid Miggy Jagger as Liz Thompson
Notice the
elements of Death
the kid, the hair,
clothes, and logo
And of the
Thompson
Sisters

36.
COSPLAY IS ITS OWN VISUAL
LEXICON: FASHIONS FROM FANDOM
Evangelion
Dresses by
Han Solo Dress
• Elements of characters become part of
everyday wearable fandom fashions.
• Multiple small business and parts of large
businesses exist based on creating fandom
and cosplay-inspired fashions.
• Her Universe has lines of licensed fashions
called “Everyday Cosplay”
Urban Mermaid
Crop Top
(seen above)

37.
FANDOM CON CONCEPTS
• The terms for conventions vary around the world.
• Cons, festival, expo, and especially by event name (after all you call
many things by brand name)
• The characters and concepts are global
• Cosplay is global, cosplay photoshoots are global
• Cosplayers have international friends and fanbases
• So is the concept of cosplay print sales, fandom product, sales
• As are visiting international conventions

38.
SOCIAL ICONOGRAPHY AND PLATFORMS
• The terms for conventions vary around the world.
• Cons, festival, expo, and especially by event name
• The services we connect to them on that is the most important
• These are the global social media networks
• They connect the sources of fandom and connect fans together
• Further creating, expanding, and connecting the lexicon