Eiji Ōtsuka

is a Japanese social critic, folklorist, media theorist, and novelist. He is currently a professor at International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto. He graduated from University of Tsukuba with a degree in anthropology, women's folklore, human sacrifice and post-war manga. In addition to his work with manga, Ōtsuka is a critic, essayist, and author of several successful non-fiction books on Japanese popular and otaku subcultures. He has written the Multiple Personality Detective Psycho and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service manga series. One of his first animation script works was Mahō no Rouge Lipstick, an adult lolicon OVA. Ōtsuka was the editor for the bishōjo lolicon manga series Petit Apple Pie.

In the 1980s, Ōtsuka was editor-in-chief of Manga Burikko, a leading manga magazine where he pioneered research on otaku subcultures in modern Japan. He has published a host of books and articles about the manga industry.

In July 2007, he received a doctorate in artistic engineering from Kobe Design University. His doctoral dissertation is "From Mickey's format to Proposition of Atom: the origin of postwar manga methodology in wartime years and its development".

Biography

Early life Eiji Ōtsuka was born on 28 August 1958 in the city formerly known as Tanashi, Tokyo (currently Nishitōkyō, Tokyo). His father, as a repatriate from Manchuria, suffered poor living conditions in repatriate housing prior to his acceptance into university. Ōtsuka's father was a member of the former Japanese Communist Party, but he left the party due to disagreements regarding party policy. Ōtsuka graduated the University of Tsukuba in March 1981. There, he studied Japanese folkloristics under the guidance of professor Tokuji Chiba. Ōtsuka gave up the notion of attending graduate school after he was told by instructor Noboru Miyata that his "ideas are too journalistic and not suited for academics". The suspect (and later convicted perpetrator), Tsutomu Miyazaki, was found to have possessed a large collection of manga, which at the time meant that the manga subculture was "repeatedly" linked to Miyazaki in the press and in popular imagination, creating the image that "young people involved with amateur manga are dangerous, psychologically disturbed perverts." Ōtsuka contested this popular perception, later writing that he "became somewhat angry about how judgment of [Miyazaki's] crimes kept shifting onto otaku hobbies or tastes." This was a large influence on Hiroki Azuma's theories of otaku, and Azuma's writing consequently helped give narrative consumption "canonical status within manga and anime criticism".

Works Critical essays まんがの構造――商品・テキスト・現象 Construction of Manga――Product・Text・Phenomenon, Yudachisha, 1987 物語消費論 A Theory of Narrative Consumption, Shinyousha, 1989 システムと儀式 System and Ritual, Chikumashobō, 1992 戦後まんがの表現空間 Expression space of post-war manga, Houzoukan, 1994 キャラクター小説の作り方 How to make The Character Novels, Kōdansha, 2003 アトムの命題 Proposition of Atom, Tokumashoten, 2003 おたくの精神史 ―― 1980年代論 The Intellectual History of Otaku ―― 1980's Theory, Kōdansha, 2004

Novel 木島日記 [Kijima Diary]

Manga 魍魎 戦記 MADARA Madara (1987–1994) JAPAN Japan (1994–1995) 多重人格探偵サイコ Multiple Personality Detective Psycho (1997–2016) 木島日記 Kijima Diary (1999–2003) リヴァイアサン Leviathan (1999–2005) 黒鷺死体宅急便 The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (2000–present) 探偵儀式 Detective Ritual (2004–2009)

Anime (1985 OVA), Original creator

Critical Works in English Translation