Open Collections

Wolf, Skyler

University of British Columbia

Since the turn of the twenty-first century and the boom in interest in Japanese horror from international audiences, scholars have taken an increased look at the J-horror production cycle from the perspectives of both the films themselves and the industry which enabled these texts’ popularity. Since the J-horror cycle, however, many changes have occurred in Japanese horror production. Noting a newfound international popularity, some small Japanese studios pivoted their mode of production to capitalize on an overseas market. This thesis uses the studio Sushi Typhoon as a case study into this phenomenon. It examines not just the studio itself but its audience and their online footprint as a means of understanding who continued to watch Japanese horror as it began to wane in popularity in comparison to the J-horror boom. Sushi Typhoon notably created body horror to pivot away from the psychological films which Japanese horror were initially associated with, in large part a response to the departure of the domestic audience and the international arthouse audience who grew bored of J-horror’s cookie-cutter narratives. Sushi Typhoon’s marketing perceived a more niche cult audience, particularly cisgender heterosexual men. Noting this market, Sushi Typhoon’s films and marketing heavily emphasized hypersexualized female characters and exaggerated special effects. The studio’s marketing appears successful, as the fanbase which exists online indeed espouses many misogynistic remarks which gatekeep potential female audiences. This thesis registers the similarity between the Sushi Typhoon fanbase and the anime fanbase of the early Internet, making a case for these male fanboys seeking a space which gives them a perceived special insight into understanding “Japan” which non-fans lack. The thesis looks to Sushi Typhoon’s presence at international film festivals and how a “low art” private channel paid special attention to encouraging a cult feeling for their fanbase. The increasing turn to non-Japanese audiences reveals one method by which Japanese producers increasingly understand the value of subcultural capital and that the domestic box office is no longer their sole source of income.

Text

2025-02-25

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90421

Asian Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/