Apocalypse in Contemporary Japanese Science Fiction This page intentionally left blank Apocalypse in Contemporary Japanese Science Fiction Motoko Tanaka apocalypse in contemporary japanese science fiction Copyright © Motoko Tanaka, 2014. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-37354-0 All rights reserved. First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-47666-4 ISBN 978-1-137-37355-7(eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137373557 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by SPi Global First edition: January 2014 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my son, Kaishin This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xiii Note to the Reader xv Introduction 1 1 The Trajectory of Apocalyptic Discourse 9 2 Apocalypse in Japan 31 3 Apocalyptic Science Fiction from 1945 to the 1970s 63 4 Apocalyptic Science Fiction in 1980s Japan 81 5 Apocalyptic Science Fiction after 1995–Sekaikei Works 111 6 Apocalyptic Imagination after 2011 135 Conclusion 147 Notes 157 Bibliography 175 Index 183 This page intentionally left blank List of Figures 4.1 The collapsing Giant Warrior tries to fire (from the film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) 91 4.2 Tetsuo’s arm begins to mutate (from the film AKIRA) 100 5.1 Evangelion Unit 01 fighting with the progressive knife (from TV animation series Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 2) 114 5.2 Newly appointed Kannami arrives at the air base (from the film The Sky Crawlers) 128 6.1 Godzilla fires with his atomic breath (from the film Godzilla) 138