JAPAN 75
Anime
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Discussion and analysis of seminal works of Japanese animation, or anime, created from 1980s to present. Engagement with works in variety of styles, and that deal with broad range of themes. Reading and discussion of recent scholarship on anime produced by scholars working in diverse modes, from philosophical to anthropological. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2026 - Overall the class itself is actually interesting and changed the way that I analyze and digest films! The workload is fine, the grading is a little harsh (sometimes unreasonable, but manageable), but the films are interesting! Where I run into the issue is how unforgiving and not understanding the professor is!!!! Starting at the end of week 7, the professor began to take lecture attendance by handing out a paper quiz in the beginning of class (I am currently mid-lecture as I write this review). So far, he has taken attendance for 2 lectures. The first lecture, I will admit, I missed due to my own personal decisions. The second lecture, I had a midterm scheduled at the exact same time, so obviously I could not attend. I emailed both my TA and the professor and went up to the professor before the lecture began. I explained my circumstances to him, and he said “That sucks that you had a midterm at the same time. I won’t give you the points though. Just participate in discussion and maybe those credits will help your grade.” What I am hearing is that if you were to get into a near-fatal car crash, break every single bone in your body, and show up to lecture the next day putting on a brave face, he would not care about any points you lost at all! Despite getting above a 97% in every category, because I have missed 2 lectures, I am projected to get an A- and MAYBE an A if I score extremely well on the final paper. The issue I have with this lecture participation is that there is no set amount of points allocated for this category at the beginning of the quarter. The professor gets to decide how many quizzes and how much it can weigh in on your grade whenever he chooses. This is completely unfair and honestly a form of tyranny for an Anime professor. This brings me to my next point. The only instructions for our essays are “Students are required to submit two five-page, double-spaced papers, each presenting a carefully argued, well substantiated close reading of an anime we watched for class. Papers must cite specific scenes, providing precise UCLA Media Reserves time stamps.” Other than these two sentences, there was no rubric or explanation about the paper at all. However, the professor had high expectations and told the TAs to grade us harshly and look for specific things. While I scored well on the essay, I know that a majority of people scored lower than what they expected. I believe this is extremely unfair considering we were provided little to no instruction and guidance. Overall, if you are interested in film analysis and difficult/unforgiving professors, take this class!
Winter 2026 - Overall the class itself is actually interesting and changed the way that I analyze and digest films! The workload is fine, the grading is a little harsh (sometimes unreasonable, but manageable), but the films are interesting! Where I run into the issue is how unforgiving and not understanding the professor is!!!! Starting at the end of week 7, the professor began to take lecture attendance by handing out a paper quiz in the beginning of class (I am currently mid-lecture as I write this review). So far, he has taken attendance for 2 lectures. The first lecture, I will admit, I missed due to my own personal decisions. The second lecture, I had a midterm scheduled at the exact same time, so obviously I could not attend. I emailed both my TA and the professor and went up to the professor before the lecture began. I explained my circumstances to him, and he said “That sucks that you had a midterm at the same time. I won’t give you the points though. Just participate in discussion and maybe those credits will help your grade.” What I am hearing is that if you were to get into a near-fatal car crash, break every single bone in your body, and show up to lecture the next day putting on a brave face, he would not care about any points you lost at all! Despite getting above a 97% in every category, because I have missed 2 lectures, I am projected to get an A- and MAYBE an A if I score extremely well on the final paper. The issue I have with this lecture participation is that there is no set amount of points allocated for this category at the beginning of the quarter. The professor gets to decide how many quizzes and how much it can weigh in on your grade whenever he chooses. This is completely unfair and honestly a form of tyranny for an Anime professor. This brings me to my next point. The only instructions for our essays are “Students are required to submit two five-page, double-spaced papers, each presenting a carefully argued, well substantiated close reading of an anime we watched for class. Papers must cite specific scenes, providing precise UCLA Media Reserves time stamps.” Other than these two sentences, there was no rubric or explanation about the paper at all. However, the professor had high expectations and told the TAs to grade us harshly and look for specific things. While I scored well on the essay, I know that a majority of people scored lower than what they expected. I believe this is extremely unfair considering we were provided little to no instruction and guidance. Overall, if you are interested in film analysis and difficult/unforgiving professors, take this class!
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - I took this class in Spring 2020, the first quarter offered completely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall this wasn't a difficult GE, though the workload (mainly the amount of writing) was disproportionately high. As a result of the quarantine/new online format, lecture times were modified to be once a week, and what were originally meant to be in-class screenings were now the responsibility of the students to watch in their own time. Despite the lectures being online, they were never recorded and attendance was taken for part of a participation grade. Grading was 10% participation, 10% weekly quizzes, 30% online assignments (mostly posting responses on the forum), 20% research project proposal, 30% final research paper. Every week we were required to watch an assigned anime movie, with the lecture later that week discussing the movie, its context and impact, and possible interpretations. Additionally, we needed to submit 1) a written response to the movie and 2) a response to another student's response. I don't know if it was the quarantine draining my motivation or just my inability to write, but I personally found coming up with these weekly responses the most difficult part of the class. Most, if not all, of the grading is done by your TA, so if you end up with a chill TA the class should be a breeze. In addition to the screening and responses, there was also weekly reading, with anywhere from 1 - 5 articles/excerpts from books assigned. Quizzes, taken on CCLE, were not terribly difficult, but there would be an occasional hyper-specific question on either the week's anime or readings. Professor Kanesaka himself was extremely accommodating during this time, and made the final paper completely optional (and guaranteed those who submitted would get at least an A- on the assignment). His lectures, though a little dry at times, were informative, and I feel I really learned a lot in this class.
Spring 2020 - I took this class in Spring 2020, the first quarter offered completely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall this wasn't a difficult GE, though the workload (mainly the amount of writing) was disproportionately high. As a result of the quarantine/new online format, lecture times were modified to be once a week, and what were originally meant to be in-class screenings were now the responsibility of the students to watch in their own time. Despite the lectures being online, they were never recorded and attendance was taken for part of a participation grade. Grading was 10% participation, 10% weekly quizzes, 30% online assignments (mostly posting responses on the forum), 20% research project proposal, 30% final research paper. Every week we were required to watch an assigned anime movie, with the lecture later that week discussing the movie, its context and impact, and possible interpretations. Additionally, we needed to submit 1) a written response to the movie and 2) a response to another student's response. I don't know if it was the quarantine draining my motivation or just my inability to write, but I personally found coming up with these weekly responses the most difficult part of the class. Most, if not all, of the grading is done by your TA, so if you end up with a chill TA the class should be a breeze. In addition to the screening and responses, there was also weekly reading, with anywhere from 1 - 5 articles/excerpts from books assigned. Quizzes, taken on CCLE, were not terribly difficult, but there would be an occasional hyper-specific question on either the week's anime or readings. Professor Kanesaka himself was extremely accommodating during this time, and made the final paper completely optional (and guaranteed those who submitted would get at least an A- on the assignment). His lectures, though a little dry at times, were informative, and I feel I really learned a lot in this class.
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