About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherLexington Books/Fortress Academic

ISBN-101793643563

ISBN-139781793643568

eBay Product ID (ePID)4065004577

Product Key Features

Number of Pages336 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameJapanese Role-Playing Games : Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the Jrpg

Publication Year2024

SubjectMedia Studies, Asia / Japan, General, Video & Electronic

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaSports & Recreation, Social Science, Games & Activities, History

AuthorFanny Barnabé

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.8 in

Item Weight18.6 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width5.9 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

Dewey Edition23

ReviewsBringing together some of the most insightful voices in Japanese game studies, Jeremie Pelletier-Gagnon and Rachael Hutchinson provide a roadmap to a crucial genre of games: the Japanese Role-Playing Game (JRPG). From Pokemon and Final Fantasy to lesser-known games like EarthBound, this book shows that the JRPG is a crucial lens onto global game studies and the continuing impacts of Japanese game studies on it. This volume offers an insightful set of case studies and suggests some unique vantages onto the JRPG: from platform analysis, to Japan's media ecologies, to tutorial characters, to disability. This will become a go-to resource for anyone interested in the JRPG, Japanese games, and game studies in general. --Marc Steinberg, Concordia University Japanese Role-Playing Games features a diversity of contributors from established and emerging scholars who use important and representative JRPG titles as master keys that unlock doors to many of the major themes and ongoing discussions in the fields of Game Studies and Media Studies [...] The editing is consistently excellent, and the curated list of references are extremely useful resources. Japanese Role-Playing Games is a powerful contribution to both Asian Studies and Media Studies that sets a strong and positive precedent for future academic work on video games. -- "Asian Studies Review" This book is an essential addition to the role-playing game studies literature. Its focus on Japanese computer role-playing games (JRPGs) is wonderfully and deliciously broad, deep, and diverse in its authors, perspectives, and games. There is plenty here to sate the intellectual curiosity of readers interested in the staples of the JRPG canon who are also unafraid to head into the wilderness of Japanese games that have mostly escaped the critical eye. --Jose P. Zagal, University of Utah, Japanese Role-Playing Games features a diversity of contributors from established and emerging scholars who use important and representative JRPG titles as master keys that unlock doors to many of the major themes and ongoing discussions in the fields of Game Studies and Media Studies [...] The editing is consistently excellent, and the curated list of references are extremely useful resources. Japanese Role-Playing Games is a powerful contribution to both Asian Studies and Media Studies that sets a strong and positive precedent for future academic work on video games., This book is an essential addition to the role-playing game studies literature. Its focus on Japanese computer role-playing games (JRPGs) is wonderfully and deliciously broad, deep, and diverse in its authors, perspectives, and games. There is plenty here to sate the intellectual curiosity of readers interested in the staples of the JRPG canon who are also unafraid to head into the wilderness of Japanese games that have mostly escaped the critical eye., Bringing together some of the most insightful voices in Japanese game studies, Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon and Rachael Hutchinson provide a roadmap to a crucial genre of games: the Japanese Role-Playing Game (JRPG). From Pokémon and Final Fantasy to lesser-known games like EarthBound, this book shows that the JRPG is a crucial lens onto global game studies and the continuing impacts of Japanese game studies on it. This volume offers an insightful set of case studies and suggests some unique vantages onto the JRPG: from platform analysis, to Japan's media ecologies, to tutorial characters, to disability. This will become a go-to resource for anyone interested in the JRPG, Japanese games, and game studies in general.

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal793.930952

Table Of ContentAcknowledgments A Note on Names and Sources List of Figures and Tables Introduction Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon and Rachael Hutchinson Part One: Genre Chapter 1: Evolution of a Genre: Dragon Quest and the JRPG Yuhsuke Koyama Chapter 2: Japan's Hard(ware) Power: Consoles, Culture, and the Mass Appeal of Japanese Role-Playing Games Nökkvi Jarl Bjarnason Chapter 3: Tutorial Characters and Rhetorical Strategies: Comparing Mother and Final Fantasy Fanny Barnabé Chapter 4: Challenging Linearity: Microstructures and Meaning-making in Trails of Cold Steel III Joleen Blom Chapter 5: "Is JRPG Old Fashioned?": Genre, Circulation, and Identity Crisis in Black Rock Shooter: The Game Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon Part Two: Representation Chapter 6: Harmonized Dissonance: Parodies of Japan's America in Earthbound Benjamin Whaley Chapter 7: From Cleric to Daemon: Narrative and Ludic Agencies of Female Characters in the Tales of Series Loïc Mineau-Murray Chapter 8: Beyond Status Effects: Disability and Japanese Role-Playing Games Andrew Campana Chapter 9: Empathy for the Blind: Negotiating Disability in Final Fantasy XV Rachael Hutchinson Chapter 10: Everyday Aesthetics and Social Reform in Persona 5 Frank Mondelli Part Three: Liminality Chapter 11: Creating Community in Persona 3: Japanese Role-playing Games as Networked Practice Douglas Schules Chapter 12: Networked Asymmetry: Uncanny Traces in the Dark Souls Series Daniel Johnson Chapter 13: Pseudo-allegory in Final Fantasy XIV William Huber Chapter 14: Traces of Change in JRPG History: Mythological Thinking in Fate / Grand Order and Pokémon GO Daichi Nakagawa About the Contributors

SynopsisJapanese Role-playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG examines the origins, boundaries, and transnational effects of the genre, addressing significant formal elements as well as narrative themes, character construction, and player involvement. Contributors from Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia employ a variety ......, This book examines the origins and boundaries of Japanese digital role-playing games. A geographically diverse roster of contributors introduces English-speaking audiences to Japanese video game scholarship and applies postcolonial and philosophical readings to the Japanese game text., Japanese Role-playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG examines the origins, boundaries, and transnational effects of the genre, addressing significant formal elements as well as narrative themes, character construction, and player involvement. Contributors from Japan, Europe, North America, and Australia employ a variety of theoretical approaches to analyze popular game series and individual titles, introducing an English-speaking audience to Japanese video game scholarship while also extending postcolonial and philosophical readings to the Japanese game text. In a three-pronged approach, the collection uses these analyses to look at genre, representation, and liminality, engaging with a multitude of concepts including stereotypes, intersectionality, and the political and social effects of JRPGs on players and industry conventions. Broadly, this collection considers JRPGs as networked systems, including evolved iterations of MMORPGs and card collecting "social games" for mobile devices. Scholars of media studies, game studies, Asian studies, and Japanese culture will find this book particularly useful.

LC Classification NumberGV1469.6.J37 2024