TY - JOUR AU - Balgimbayeva, Nargiz PY - 2019/06/20 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The Re-creation of Yokai Character Images in the Context of Contemporary Japanese Popular Culture: An Example of the Yo-kai Watch Anime Series JF - Mutual Images Journal JA - MI VL - IS - 6 SE - Articles DO - 10.32926/2018.6.bal.recre UR - https://mutualimages-journal.org/index.php/mi/article/view/Vol6-3 SP - 21-51 AB - <p style="text-align: justify;">Supernatural creatures have always been an irreplaceable element of Japanese culture. Starting from the oldest collection of myths such as <em>Kojiki</em> to modern manga, anime and video games – they have always attracted the attention of people of all ages. However, modern <em>y?kai</em> have changed dramatically in terms of both visual representation and their role in the context of the work they appear in. The images of <em>y?kai</em> used in modern popular culture are re-created in various ways in order to appeal to tastes of different kinds of audience. Undoubtedly, the <em>y?kai</em> of today are not what they used to look like before: the element of fear may still be there, but after watching a TV series about <em>y?kai</em> both children and adults would most likely to refer to them as <em>kawa?</em> not <em>kowai</em>. To explain these changes, the author will present the <em>y?kai</em> image re-creation process taking place in Japanese animation on the example of the <em>Yo-kai Watch</em> anime TV series (the original Japanese TV series), the influence of which can be seen in modern contemporary Japanese culture.</p> ER -