Emerging “2.5-dimensional” Culture: Character-oriented Cultural Practices and “Community of Preferences” as a New Fandom in Japan and Beyond

What is “2.5-dimension (2.5 jigen)”?

In recent years, the term “2.5-dimension (ni-ten-go jigen)” has gained much attention within popular culture studies. The term “2.5 jigen” roughly means the space between the two-dimensional (fictional space where our imaginations and fantasy work) and the three-dimensional (reality where we physically exist). Within Japanese anime fandom, fans often use “two dimensions” to mean anime characters, stating, “I am only capable of loving the two-dimensional [characters] (2 jigen shika aisenai).” However, due to the growing success of cosplay and 2.5-D stage performances (theatrical adaptations of manga, anime, and videogames) since the early 2000s, the 2.5-D has begun to be used as an umbrella term to express virtuality embodied by actual human bodies as well as human bodies that look unreal, which I call “virtual corporality” (kyokô teki shintai).

A magazine specializing in 2.5-D theatrical performances, Stage Push!, was published in 2014, and in 2016, the March issue of Da Vinci, Kadokawa’s entertainment magazine featuring 2.5-D, was immediately sold out.¹ These magazines usually focus on 2.5-D stages under the name of “2.5 jigen.” In 2018, when NHK’s year-end traditional entertainment event, Kôhaku utagassen (Red and White Singing Festival) invited the singing group, Tôken danshi, from one of the most famous 2.5-D musicals, Musical Tôken ranbu as a guest, 2.5-D theatrical performances gained national recognition in Japan. Academic critical attention has been also drawn by some publications such as art and culture magazines Yuriika (2015, Eureka) and Bijutsu techô (2016 and 2016, The Art Handbook), featuring special issues on the 2.5-D cultural phenomenon. These magazines primarily focus on 2.5-D stages as cultural products.

The Japan 2.5 Dimensional Musical Association, founded in 2014, defines 2.5-dimensional musicals as “theatrical presentations based on Japanese manga, popular animation and video games.”² This is the typical categorization of 2.5-D stages as seen from the production side for promotional purposes. However, fans use 2.5-D very differently, usually taking pleasure in realistic reproduction and reenactment of anime/manga/videogame characters (“virtual corporality”), fictional worlds, and the interaction between characters/actors and fans. As a matter of fact, 2.5-D theatrical performances are not stand-alone productions but, just like anime and manga, they have multiple episodes within a series, called a “season” (shiizun) in Japanese. For example, the first season of Musical Prince of Tennis ran from 2003 to 2010, with sixteen plays (or episodes) in which each had a run of between a few days and a few months.³ The merchandise sold during the event is one of the major motivations for fans to visit theaters. They exchange their unwanted merchandise among fans outside the theaters for their desired products, such as canned badges and photos of cast members in costumes. This exercise is called “trading,” and these venues serve as sites for fans to construct their communities of fandom. As such, if we can extend the scope from the cultural products themselves to the fans’ engagement developed through their deep commitment to character-oriented consumption of popular culture, then 2.5-D can be utilized as a means to detect wider cultural phenomenon among fans of popular cultural contents such as manga, anime, and videogames.

I define the 2.5-dimensional culture as “cultural practices which reproduce the fictional space of contemporary popular cultural products (such as manga, anime, and videogames) along with the fans’ interplay between the real and fictional spaces.”⁴ Emerging as a cultural phenomenon in Japan in the early 2000s, 2.5-dimensional culture includes 2.5-D theatrical per-formances, cosplay, voice-actor/character concerts such as Love Live! School Idol Project (2010–), anime-induced tourism (also known as contents tourism), cheering-along version of anime movie screening (ôenjôei), and virtual YouTuber (or V-Tubers, such as Kizuna Ai). Ôenjôei...