Popularising the Nuclear: Mangaesque Convergence in Post-war Japan

In the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 3/11, one disputed issue has been the acceptance of precedent nuclear energy policies among the wider population, despite Japan being a country of high seismic risk and a nation that experienced atomic bombing on its population during World War II. This paper investigates how the transmedia constellation of the mangaesque intersecting manga, anime, pop-art, governmental educational characters and youth subcultures has been strategic in domesticating contested meanings of nuclear related issues, as well as being deeply informed itself in its ground-breaking stages (Astroboy-Tezuka Osamu, Barefoot Gen-Nakazawa Keiji, Little Boy-Murakami Takashi) by these issues, contributing ultimately to their naturalisation and hegemonic reproduction from ‘below’.