Written by Daniel – In this post I’ll be looking at how fan artists and cosplayers have gone about creating and recreating characters; Earth-Chan (Planet Earth), Oppy (The Opportunity Mars Rover), and Black Hole-Chan (First Photographed Black Hole). This post will delve into the history of how anthropomorphic fan interpretive characters have evolved alongside scientific discoveries, and asking how are they getting people to engage with environmental sciences and astronomy, or even if they can…
These characters are the creation of anime and manga fans. This is immediately indicated in the consistent style the characters have been drawn in between different artists (mimicking the traditional style of Japanese comics and animation). Furthermore the lexis ‘chan’ is a Japanese title meaning ‘child’ or ‘small’ in English. It is a common title used in anime and manga, particularly of the ‘school-girl’ or ‘maid’ genres, the common usage of the title has subsequently resulted in western audiences incorporating the term within their own fan art and sub-cultural lexicon. (Artists are credited throughout, a full list is included at the end of the article). (more…)
FNORD 