Limits of the Human

Annotation. Limits of the Human the third volume in the Mechademia series maps the terrain of posthumanity using manga and anime as guides and signposts to understand how to think about humanitys new potentialities and limits. Through a wide range of texts the folklore-inspired monsters that populate Mizuki Shigerus manga; Japans Gothic Lolita subculture; Tezuka Osamus original cyborg hero, Atom, and his manga version of Fritz Langs Metropolis (along with tomo Katsuhiros 2001 anime film adaptation); the robot anime, Gundam; and the notion of the uncanny in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, among others the essays in this volume reject simple human/nonhuman dichotomies and instead encourage a provocative rethinking of the definitions of humanity along entirely unexpected frontiers.