One U.S. College Now Offers A Course All About Anime

For some people, school can be a drag. There are few things less appealing than waking up early only to trudge on to an 7:00 AM class, but there is one college trying to change that. Well, for anime fans, that is. The University of South Caroline has gotten the approval of otakus thanks to its recent course offering about anime.

Just, don't get too excited. You will still be tested on your Sailor Moon know-how.

If you are a freshmen attending the southern university, then you might want to see whether you can take this anime class. Offered as an English 101 course, "Reading and Writing About Magical Girls" brings anime obsession to a new level. The class was taught by a PhD candidate who's studying English, and they were able to teach two sections of the class during Fall 2016. You can check out the course's objectives below:

"Understand the basic tropes and methodologies of the magical girl genre.

Use the genre to introduce basic tenets of feminism to the course. One of the big themes of this course ended up being the representation of women in media, so this was an important touchstone.

Question whether niche interests like anime can elaborate on theoretical questions of aesthetics versus politics in a meaningful way (for those who may be familiar, the Frankfurt school philosophers were instrumental in this point). In other words, can a text talk about social issues without sacrificing the qualities that make it "art?"

Connect the magical girl genre to larger questions of political importance

Teach students how to write."

Of course, a class like this may be an anime fan's dream, but the course does have its rigorous points. The introductory class was created to make students think critically about texts and media, so college might make Sailor Moon or The Powerpuff Girls more confusing than ever before.

If you're curious about which texts were used in the class, you can check out the list below:

• Little Witch Academia
  Sailor Moon: "A Moon Star is Born!"
  Cardcaptor Sakura: "Sakura and the Blacked Out School Arts Festival"
  Revolutionary Girl Utena: "Nanami's Egg"
  Bakemonogatari: "Tsubasa Cat, Part 2"
  Puella Magi Madoka Magica, in its entirety.
  The Powerpuff Girls: "Equal Fights"
  Steven Universe: "An Indirect Kiss"

So, what do you think? Would you want to take a class on anime, and if so, which titles would you want to explore?

[HT] Rocket News