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xiii b C O N V E N T I O N S In an ideal world, this book would be as thoroughly illustrated as its subject matter, but the exigencies of keeping print costs down (and the difficulty of getting permission to use all of the images that might be appropriate) militate against it. I compensate for the limited number of figures I am able to use by deploying visual metaphors throughout the text. The use of words such as “draw,” “frame,” “illustrate,” “depict,” “render,” “trace,” “portray,” and “visualize” is designed to serve as a reminder of the visual qualities of the media under consideration and to highlight recursive relationships between the literal and figurative registers of these terms. Similarly, through phrases such as “recreating religion” and “entertaining religious ideas” I am mobilizing the simultaneously subversive and allusive power of puns to bolster theoretical points about recursive relationships between religion and entertainment. All figures included in this book either fall within the standards of fair use or are reproduced with the kind permission of the publishers and copyright holders. Photographs are by the author. Citations of manga are from paperback or hardback volumes rather than from weekly or monthly magazines , and I cite only the volumes in my personal collection. Unless I indicate otherwise, the volumes listed should not be taken as making up the entirety of the series. I only translate titles where necessary, and Japanese transliterations of English words (e.g., Ultraheaven, Death Note) have been simply rendered in the English to avoid confusion. Otherwise, I follow authors’ and publishers’ chosen transliterations where appropriate (e.g., Kujakuoh instead of Kujakuō). Japanese names are given in traditional Japanese order, family name first, with the exception of Japanese authors writing in English or in the case of historical figures who are primarily known by other sobriquets. Following Japanese publishers’ preferred conventions, authors and directors are listed with their family names last in copyright acknowledgments for the figures. Some Japanese authors do not follow normal rules of transliteration when rendering their names in the Roman alphabet; I have maintained fidelity to their chosen spellings (e.g., Kubo Tite would usually be written Kubo Taito). xiv Conventions I have retained diacritical marks on all Japanese terms, except for the most common of place names (e.g., Tokyo instead of Tōkyō). In referring to historical periods, for broad historical spans such as Heian or Edo, I have used the word “period,” and for imperial reign dates I have used the term “era.” Where appropriate, I designate Sanskrit with the abbreviation “Skt.,” Chinese with “Ch.,” and Japanese with “Jp.” With the exception of Kuroda Minoru, the names of all interviewees have been changed to preserve their anonymity. All survey respondents and interviewees were the age of majority in Japan (twenty) at the time of the survey or interview; a small number of survey responses from underage respondents were discarded. When citing posts on fan community message boards, I have listed the posts by number rather than by the handles that the posters use. This is both to grant the writers some degree of anonymity and to compensate for the fact that community members often change their online nicknames. All Japanese translations are my own unless otherwise indicated in the text or citations, and I accept full responsibility for any mistakes in translation or transliteration, as well as for any factual errors or sins of omission. ...

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