COWL 80 Dungeons & Dragons &...Yokai!? Global Transformations of Japanese Fantasy

Explores adaptations of Japanese fantasy across media forms and national boundaries. Argues that the genre of Japanese fantasy emerged through a network of trans-cultural and trans-media adaptations which inform each other to shape understandings of the genre today. Exploration of the fantasy genre includes the transnational circulation of folklore, historical romance, high fantasy, dark fantasy, sword and sorcery, cosmic horror, and secondary world fantasy. The learning objectives of this course are obtained through group projects, theorizing collaboration, and tabletop role-playing games, including Dungeons & Dragons and The Call of Cthulhu.